《I Shall Evolve Everything》 Chapter 1 Prologue ?[Wee to the Lond realm] [Your species has been chosen to fight for sovereignty of all realms. Fight and Conquer in this Grand game of Crowns!] [Realm Announcement: All crowns have been given tier 9 level 9 housing, a special summoning token, and a 3 day novice protection note: a minority of crowns will awaken a talent] ... [You have awoken your talent, please open your status to confirm] ''Status'' Darwin thought bringing up a panel [Name: Darwin] [Territory tier/level: 9/1] [Skills: None] [Talent: Evolution*] [Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simte evolution in a smaller time frame.] "Evolution, how ironic" Darwin thought out loud thinking how ironic it was to get a talent so deeply rted with his namesake. ''Although a tier 1 talent huh, without anything to evolve it seems useless but with the special summoning token given to us if my luckes around I''ll be able to dominate this realm from the start '' Darwin thought already scheming on how to use his talent to the fullest. After taking a breather to calm down Darwin took out the special token and then crushed the token. A secondter the broken token scattered into a kaleidoscope of lights before coalescing into a figure. [Congrattions! you have summoned an Infant Alicanto] A brilliant bird with glowing wings of copper green appeared in a sh of bright lights. It had threerge tail feathers with a slender body. The Alicanto despite its size saw Darwin and immediately hopped over to snuggle up to him seeming to ask for attention. Looking at the Alicanto brought up its status screen [Species: Alicanto] [Tier/Level: 8/1] [The Alicanto is a nocturnal bird with wings that glow at night. The glow is dependent on the type of ore it feeds on. Because it feeds on ore it can not fly however depending on when itsst meal was it might weigh down enough to temporarily fly and gain greater agility at the cost of decreased defensive hide. Due to the Alicanto''s eating habits they have a supernatural sense for ore deposits. While looking for ore a legendary Alicanto was followed by a greedy saint to which the Alicanto created a pitch ck darkness and led the legendary ss saint off a cliff] "I''ll name you Ali it might be a little unoriginal but it is the best I can give you my little Ali" In response to her naming Ali gave a happy trill and hopped around Darwin. Seeing this Darwin pat Ali''s head. After ying with the little bird for a bit Darwin was ready to test his talent on Ali. ''Evolution'' Darwin thought focusing on Ali. [Choose a path of evolution: Ore - the Alikando has spent its time in an ore rich environment allowing it to better digest ores. Alikando has evolved to process ores and integrate their toughness with greater efficiency Power - the Alikando has spent its time being preyed on byrger creatures. The Alikando has given up all its toughness for speed and power. The Alikando evolved to refine the ores it has eaten into sharp talons and fangs] ¡­ Looking at the options given to him Darwin could see the advantages in both. The ore route of evolution would be better for protection but the downside is the amount of resources required to have a decent amount of protection not to mention how many rare ores it would need to eat to gain toughnessparable to other mythical creatures. On the other hand the power route would require minimal resources as Ali would have gone through periods of starvation with predators topete for its resources allowing it to do much more with limited resources. Darwin would also be able to capitalize on this early period by having abat focused pet to conquer other civilizations while they are still developing. However the downside of this was how frail Ali would be. After a moment of thinking Darwin chose to go the power route. After choosing the power route Ali disappeared without a trace however in the corner of Darwin''s vision he could see a little environment where his Alicanto was fighting for survival. Moments after noticing this in a sh of light Ali reappeared looking slimmer and more powerful. She had a aura to her as though she would rip apart Darwin for the slightest of slights however after a moment passed and the bird noticed him the feeling dissipated still there but restrained. Ali seeing it''s owner chirped and shed forward tackling him into a hug. While being squashed by 50 pounds of bird Darwin brought up Ali''s information. [Species: Alicanto] [Name: Ali] [Tier/Level: 6/5] [The Alicanto is a nocturnal bird with wings that glow at night. The glow is dependent on the type of ore it feeds on. Because it feeds on ore it can not fly however depending on when itsst meal was it might weigh down enough to temporarily fly and gain greater agility at the cost of decreased defensive hide however this Alicanto has undergone evolution it has discarded its defensive abilities to focus entirely on offense instead of using the ore it ate to increase its defense and offence equally it instead sharpened its talons with white copper allowing it to pierce magical defenses. Due to the Alicanto''s eating habits they have a supernatural sense for ore deposits. Legend has it that while looking for ore a mythic Alicanto was followed by a greedy saint to which the Alicanto created a pitch ck darkness and led the miner saint off a cliff leading to the death of the legendary ss saint] Chapter 2 Seeking Territory ?''Now that I have sufficient protection I can safely explore.'' looking round him Darwin takes in his surroundings. trees with vegetation interspaced between. Specks of light pierce the thick canopies above him. Water could be faintly heard to his right. The forest seems to be thriving but the buzzing of insects, the scuttle of animals, the croaks of toads all are nonexistent. Taking in the facts Darwines to a conclusion, given theck of sounds means that a predator is near. Ali is no different after experiencing her own version of bloody evolution she instinctively crouches in a ready position. Fangs bared, eyes narrowed, ws drawn, the Alicanto is ready for battle. *Gaooooooh!* Apanying the roar was the rumbling of footsteps. Barrelling through the treeses what has to be thergest bear Darwin had ever seen. Nuzzle stained with blood and eyes with no soul the bear lunges at Darwin. Ali, seeing this, tackles the bear to the side, stopping its initial lunge. Its front paws pinned to the ground the bear can do nothing as the bird bites into its neck ending its life [Your pet Ali has killed an aether enhanced brown bear ] [For being the first human crown to kill an aether enhanced lifeform you have been awarded a basic summoning pool blueprint] [Realm announcement the Crown Darwin has sessfully killed the first aether enhanced lifeform FAME +1] [Announcement the realm rankings have been unlocked] [Current rankings] 1. Darwin (FAME 1) 2. N/A 3 N/A 4. N/A 5. N/A ¡­ ''So this is the power of a tier 6 with a single move it subdued then killed this bear, and judging by the announcements this is supposed to be a great challenge, one worthy enough for it to garner fame.'' Darwin thinks to himself. ''Obviously this is only a challenge because of how early into thispetition we are.'' Darwin shakes his head bringing himself back to reality and more importantly to the blueprint he now holds. [Basic Summoning pool] [The most basic summoning pool. Allows the owner of the blueprint to construct the basic summoning pool(10 units of stone, 10 units of wood, 1 aether core)] ''Aether core, could it be'' Darwin thought looking at the corpse of the bear lying near him. "Ali open its chest and look for a core, '''' Darwinmanded. Ali, hearing the order, begins to use its ws to pierce the hide of the bear''s chest and after digging around for a bites out with a dimly lit orb. [bronze grade aether core] [an aether core is formed from the gathering of aether either from the atmosphere or formed in an aether enhanced lifeform] ''HA yes I was right these aether enhanced species do have aether cores, although it is the lowest grade the blueprint doesn''t specify a grade so it should be fine'' Darwin thought to himself. ¡­ To the east was a waterfall flowing into a cove. The cove was surrounded by trees and fertilend. ''This is the perfect ce to establish my territory.'' Darwin thought. He could use the waterfall for fresh water and since thend was fertile Darwin could start his own farm to be self-sufficient, the only thing missing was a source of stone since the forest would essentially give him unlimited wood as long as he rented. Taking out the housing token Darwin crushed it and established his territory. [Congrattions on establishing your territory] [As your Territory is the lowest grade it spans half a mile in radius, you may construct buildings with either a blueprint or manually within your territory note that manually made buildings do note with any bonuses] The house could barely be called a house at best it would be called a rickety wooden shack. It looked like it could be blown over with the slightest gust. The only redeeming feature was the undamaged wood and the roof. The inside was not much different, just a wooden chair, bed and table. ''Info'' Darwin thought while looking at the house [Crowns house] [Tier/Level 9/1 ] [can be upgraded(1 unit of wood, 1 unit of stone)] "Units again? How much is a unit anyway?" Darwin thought out loud As if called, the system exined how a unit of something is equal to 10 pounds of a resource. Pondering for a bit Darwin decided to have Ali gather enough resources to both construct the summoning pool and upgrade the house. Ali went and knocked over a tree intending to bring it back to Darwin when suddenly the knocked over trunk disappeared into specks of light. [Your pet Ali has gathered 108 units of wood. Transferring to warehouse] [Name: Darwin] [Territory tier/level: 9/1] [Skills: None] [Talent: Evolution*] [Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simte evolution in a smaller time frame.] [Warehouse: 108 units of wood, 1 aether core] Checking his pockets for the aether core it turns out that it was transferred to his warehouse. "Ali dig down and see if you can find some stone" Darwinmanded after he finished checking his pockets Ali chirped hearing themand and dug down and found a quarry of stone After a little over 30 minutes Ali had gathered enough stone for 55 units. Checking his status again Darwin saw [Name: Darwin] [Territory tier/level: 9/1] [Skills: None] [Talent: Evolution*] [Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simte evolution in a smaller time frame.] [Warehouse: 108 units of wood, 55 units of stone, 1 lowest grade aether core] Bringing up the status of the house again Darwin clicked on the upgrade button. Immediately after the resources were taken from his warehouse and fused into the house. The wood looked strong enough to actually survive the night and the foundation was no longer of wood but stone. Bringing up the status of the house showed Darwin that the house had been upgraded a level [Tier/Level 9/2 ] [can be upgraded(2 units of wood, 2 units of stone)] After upgrading the house Darwin brought out the blueprint for the summoning pool. [Basic Summoning pool] [The most basic summoning pool. Allows the owner of the blueprint to construct the basic summoning pool(10 units of stone, 10 units of wood, 1 aether core)] Seeing that the blueprint called for an aether core Darwin wondered if he could evolve the core so that maybe the summoning pool woulde out stronger with a higher tiered core. ''Evolve'' Darwin activated his skill on the aether core after taking it out. [bronze grade aether core] [an aether core is formed from the gathering of aether either from the atmosphere or formed in an aether enhanced lifeform] [can be evolved Gather: the aether core has sat absorbing aether in a moderately aether rich environment. Evolves into a green bronze tier aether core] *Note cores are divided into several tiers: bronze, green bronze, iron, ck iron, silver, white silver, gold, green gold, tinum, ck tinum, emerald, white emerald* Chapter 3 Constructing The Basic Summoning Pool ?[bronze grade aether core] [an aether core is formed from the gathering of aether either from the atmosphere or formed in an aether enhanced lifeform] [can be evolved Gather: the aether core has sat absorbing aether in a moderately aether rich environment. Evolves into a green bronze tier aether core] ''It seems there is only one option to evolve the aether core'' Clicking on the Gather option the core disappears and a small window appears in the corner of Darwin''s eye. Looking at the window it shows a lush greenery with an aura of power. All around the nts are green particles all floating into what appears to be an altar. In the center of the altar is the Core that Darwin had chosen to evolve. All the particles that are floating towards the altar are absorbed into the core and for what seems like an eternity the core grows and grows before suddenly beingpressed, the once dull gray orb shining with a green bronze luster. [green bronze grade aether core] [originally a bronze grade aether core but after absorbingrge amounts of aether it has evolved into a green bronze grade(can be evolved)] ''I can evolve it further! Lets see how much farther I can push this'' Darwin thought in excitement. ''Evolve'' Imand while pressing the evolve button [green bronze grade aether core] [can be evolved] [Aether: the core has continuously absorbed aether. Evolves into an Iron tier core Nature:the core has continuously absorbed nature aligned aether. Evolves into a nature aligned Iron tier core Polluted: the core has continuously absorbed polluted aether. Evolves into a polluted Iron tier Core] ''More choices'' Darwin thought ''It seems that the bronze core could not hold an element but the green bronze was able to, either way that''s not too important right now, what is important is the choice. While there are three choices, pollution can be taken out immediately. The nature aligned core seems the most obvious seeing that i''m in a forest a nature aligned core should be more powerful. The aether option is tempting too. I can keep evolving this neutral option and I might get more optionster down the line but that''s all spection'' Darwin continued in his thoughts. ¡­ ''I got it'' After pondering for a bit Darwin decided that the nature core would be more productive, while the aether core might give more options the nature core would be strengthened in his current environment giving Darwin the most advantages. Darwin pressed on the nature option and the green bronze aether core in his hands disappeared. A forest filled with life. A great tree pierced the heavens. At the outer edges an altar sits. The nature energy of the great forest pours into the core. Gradually the green bronze core is filled with energy expanding before it ispressed into an iron like sphere with bits of green interspaced between. [Nature aligned Iron tier core] [Originally a green bronze tier core the core absorbed the vast nature energy of a great forest transforming it into a Nature aligned Iron tier core(Can be evolved)] Deciding to take the nature core to its limits Darwin starts to rapidly evolve the core. Before he could click the evolve button a series of notifications rang out [Realm announcement the Crown Aofe has sessfully advanced their territory to tier/level 8/1 FAME +1] [Current rankings] Darwin (FAME 1) Aofe (FAME 1) N/A N/A N/A ''Seems like this person must have awakened some territory enhancement talent or more likely a resource gathering talent'' Darwin thought before thinking of the initial summoning token. ''Ah she most likely got some powerful creature or manpower which allowed her to quickly explore and find a ce to establish her territory and then had them gather resources to quickly upgrade her territory.'' After shaking his head to get those thoughts out Darwin focused back on evolving the core in hand. ¡­ After several evolutions the final product tested in Darwin''s hands. An emerald orb the size of his palm with colors that seem made to draw the eye [Nature aligned White Emerald tier core] [Originally an emerald tier core the core absorbed the nature aligned energy of the great Yggdrasil evolving it into the highest tier core(can not be evolved further)] Taking out the blueprint Darwin decides to build the basic summoning pool. [Basic Summoning pool] [The most basic summoning pool. Allows the owner of the blueprint to construct the basic summoning pool(10 units of stone, 10 units of wood, 1 aether core)] The ground near Darwin was dug out then instantly being lined with wood. Stone was shaped into an altars shape. And in the middle a stone tform was made facing the sky, a hole dug in the middle, of the perfect shape for the White Emerald colored orb in his hand. [Please ce the Aether Core in the altar toplete the Basic Summoning Pool] Darwin leaped down into the dug out hole before striding towards the middle of the altar. With the core in his hand he ces it in the holepleting the Basic Summoning Pool. [Basic Summoning Poolplete] [Due to the high quality materials used in construction the Basic summoning pool has automatically risen to a tier 1 nature aligned summoning pool] [As the first to construct a summoning pool you have been awarded with +1 towards the quantity of summons] [Realm announcement the Crown Darwin has sessfullypleted the first summoning pool FAME +1] [Current rankings] 1. Darwin (FAME 2) 2. Aofe (FAME 1) 3. N/A 4. N/A 5. N/A After he finished reading the notifications Darwin checked the info of the summoning pool [Basic Nature Aligned Summoning pool] [Tier/level 5/1] [Skill: Allows owner to summon 5(+1) nature aligned troops per day] [Created with the highest quality nature core but limited by the poor quality wood and stone the summoning pool was elevated to tier 5(can be upgraded: 10 units of gold tier wood, 10 units of gold tier stone)] ''It seems that the poor quality materials limited the tier of the summoning pool, anyways I should summon my troops before it gets dark'' Darwin thought before clicking the summon. [You have summoned 6 tier/level 5/1 5-tailed kitsune] Chapter 4 The Kitsunes ?[Species: Kitsune] [Name: Tama] [Tier/Level: 5/1] [The Kitsune are characterized by the number of tails one possesses with 9 being the utmost. A new tail is only gained after sufficient growth in either power or age. Usually 100 years for every tail is the general rule. After having gained their ninth tail the Kitsunes fur will turn white or golden color and ascend the heavens. Kitsune are known for their illusions powerful enough to be indistinguishable from reality and their ability to transform into humanoids. Other notable abilities are their ability to take on a ghost like form, possession of others, invisibility, and their control over lightning and fire] [Species: Kitsune] [Name: Hoshi] [Tier/Level: 5/1] [Species: Kitsune] x4 ... After looking through the status of all the Kitsunes Darwin approached them. "My lord this one is named Tama" "And I am Hoshi" "we are the leaders of this small tribe, we hope that you can ept us as subordinates" Tama says. "Yes" Darwin says immediately "Thank you my lord we shall serve you loyally!" Hoshi and Tama both exim "I want you to¡­" Before Darwin could finish his stomach grumbles. "F**k, I forgot to take the bear corpse for food!" Darwin exims. Looking back to the Kitsunes Darwin thinks then orders them to take Ali and go back to where she killed the bear and bring the corpse back if it was still there. "Yes my lord" They both answer and after leading them and the other Kitsunes to where Ali was resting they set off. ¡­ Ali led them back to where she had killed the bear but by the time they got there the bear was already taken by someone or something else. "Should we head back to the lord?" Tama asks Hoshi "I think we should take a bit of a detour to find some prey Lord might be disappointed if wee back with nothing" Hoshi responds "Yes that seems reasonable," says Tama After searching around for a bit Hoshi, Tama, Ali, and the 4 other Kitsunes are able to track down a deer. Tama casts an illusion on the deer, making it seem as though none of them were there. The deer could not see, hear, smell, nor feel its encroaching demise. With one swift w to the neck Ali slits the deer''s throat ending its life. ... Back in the territory while waiting for his subordinates toe back with food Darwin busies himself with setting up a fire pit and fire. To set up the fire pit all Darwin needed was a ce some stone and wood. The actual fire could be made by one of the Kitsunes when they get back with food. After taking one unit of stone and two units of wood out of his warehouse Darwin drew arge circle in the middle of his territory then lined it with stone. Darwin intends for the amount of subordinates to increase with time which means more mouths to feed so he makes the pitrge enough to cook 2 whole carcasses at the same time. To hold the carcasses Darwin takes two of therge sticks and sticks them right next to the pit, angled so they cross each other. Then he does the same for the other side before putting a stickrge enough to cross the gap on the sticks. By the time he had put the finishing touches on the second carcass holder his subordinates had returned. They bring to me a deer corpse then kneel. "My lord, regretfully we were unable to find the bear corpse." Tama says apologetically before continuing, "However we were able to track this deer." She says gesturing to the deer at my feet. "Good while you were unable to bring back the bear corpse you still brought food," I say to the Kitsune before continuing to ask, "I am not knowledgeable in the preparation of a fresh kill do you or any of your subordinates know how to skin the deer so that we can cook it?" "Yes, this one knows how to prepare and cook game, I''ll start preparations immediately" Tama replied. "Thank you Tama,e find me when you are done." Darwin replied. Tama immediately started to prepare the deer. Starting with draining the blood. After a couple of minutes of draining she then preceded to use her ws to skin the deer being careful not to damage any of the meat. After she was done skinning the deer Tama then went to light the wood in the pit. Using her control over fire she created a spark which she flicked to the pile of wood resulting in an explosion of me which quickly settled down into a bonfire. Piercing the deer with the stick hanging over the fire she then put the deer over the fire. After about an hour of cooking the deer was done. Tama then ordered one of the Kitsuneying around to go and find their lord. ... After leaving Tama to cook the deer Darwin went over to the house and upgraded it with his remaining materials. [Tier/Level 9/9 ] [can be upgraded(10 units of wood, 10 units of stone, one bronze aether core)] After upgrading to the max level of the tier the house no longer looked shabby. It looked like a proper wood cabin on the outside. On the inside however was the true transformation. Instead of the one room it started out as the cabin had expanded by twice its size despite looking the same outside. In the first room was a fully functional kitchte with a small stovetop and a little fridge with a freezer attached. Above it was a little cab with tes and utensils. Near the kitchte was a table with two chairs. The next room was a bathroom and shower connected to seemingly nowhere. Thest room was a surprisingly cosy bedroom with a twin sized bed and nightstand. Just as Darwin was going to sit down, one of the Kitsunes had found him "My lord, Tama instructed me to inform you that your meal has been prepared." "Tell Tama that I will be out in a moment," I reply "Yes, my lord," With that the Kitsune left. After seeing that the Kitsune was gone Darwin opens his status. ¡­ [Name: Darwin] [Territory tier/level: 9/9] [Skills: None] [Talent: Evolution*] [Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simte evolution in a smaller time frame.] [Warehouse: 50 units of wood] ''Seems like I used up all of my resources except 50 units of wood, let''s see it was 45 units of wood and stone for the house then another unit of stone and two of wood for the pit then another 10 of wood and stone for the altar plus the core," After doing the mental math to confirm everything was right Darwin set out to eat. ¡­ "Here my lord, I gave you extra" Tama says handing Darwin a dish of what looks like a half a pound of cooked meat. "Extra?" Darwin questions "Yes, a growing boy should eat more especially one just entering his teenage years" Tama replies. "I guess, thank you for your consideration Tama" I thank her then sit down to devour the food in front of me. ¡­ After eating the kitsunes all transformed back into their fox forms then found some trees to curl up near while they slept. Darwin went to sleep in the bed of his house. ¡­ [Realm Announcement: congrattions to the remaining crowns on surviving your first day, the chat functions have been unlocked] Chapter 5 Unexpected Rot ?AN: I am going to be writing Darwin in first person [Realm Announcement: congrattions to the remaining crowns on surviving your first day, the chat functions have been unlocked] [Additionally the friend List and Marketce have been unlocked] I click the chat option before scrolling through the rabidly appearing messages. [Realm server: 100k users] [Everyone, I panicked and used my novice protection immediately. Now I''m stuck with no water or food, please is anyone generous enough to give me something please...] [To the person above me have you tried using your special summoning token. I used it and got a tier 9/5 Aether enhanced eagle. He''s awesome, he may not have killed of anything but he was able to scout and lead me to a safe area where I established my territory.] [I already summoned but it was just a useless farmer¡­ fml] [Ha sucks to be you two I got myself a 8/1 Dwarf, he came with shovels and pickaxes we just dug ourselves into the ground] [LOL Rock and stones bud, rock and stones] [Did anyone get any talents, I unfortunately didn''t] [I did, bow down to me for I can set wood on fire] [Lol you might as well not have a talent. A lighter would be more useful than you] [Speaking of fire does anyone know how to make one?] [Send me a unit of resources and I''ll tell you] [F**k that that''s a scam, let me run this guy out of business, first you need to find some small twigs for the fire. Then you just run a stick really hard on a price of wood till it sparks, remember to gather some extra logs for keeping the fire going] [Not very detailed but thank you] [yeah, thank you] x1000 ... [Anyone else notice how low the number of people there are in here] [Yeah I did, but there were no other channels to go to] [It must mean that humans are spread to many realms] [It must be there are over 20 billion humans fromst years count no way are we the only surviving ones] ¡­ After scrolling through the chat for a bit I saw that there was not much else to gleam from the chat so I got up to go to the bathroom and do my daily business. I look into the mirror to style my hair and what greets me is a 150cm tall androgynous male with long whitish grey hair. The weird part was the blue highlights that suddenly appeared at the end of my hair. I shook my head to get the thought out of me I had more important things to worry about either way. After I had thrown off that line of thought I finished styling my hair into a single ponytail. Exiting the house I was greeted to the sight of Tama reheating the leftover deer over the fire. Noticing me Tama approaches me. "Good morning my lord, I hope you had a pleasant sleep. I have prepared some breakfast for you should you want it." Tama says to me before holding out a tter withsts nights leftovers reheated. Taking the food I thank her before devouring my food. "I would like to inform you, my lord, that during the night there was no less than 5 attacks on our territory. No need to worry though as I was able to take care of it myself." I swallowed my current bite before asking, "What happened to the corpses then we could use them to create a stockpile of food" "We had nowhere to store them so I had one of my subordinates store them by the riverside." Tama replied. "Good bring them to me I''ll store them." I ordered Tama took four other Kitsunes to where they stored the carcasses. ... After reaching the riverside Tama and the four others saw the rotting corpse of the carcasses they had stored. "What should we do?" one of the Kitsunes asked Tama. "We should bring one back for proof and inform the lord." Tama replies. ... Just as I finished eating my breakfast I see Tama and the others dragging over a rotting carcass. "My lord, the carcasses have rot as if it had been left out for a fortnight instead of a day" Tama reports. "It seems that food rots faster to discourage hording but does it work rot faster in the warehouse" I say to tama before continuing to order her and the others to hunt for fresh food. This does not bode well if food rots this fast then I will need to devote more resources to food gathering than I would. I think to myself. Chapter 6 New Summons ?The C¨´-s¨¬th was close Tama could smell him. If Tama had to give the C¨´-s¨¬th anything it was its wits. It had consistently shook them off despite the injuries they had given him in their first encounter. They had tracked him down to this cave where his smell had stopped. Stepping closer to the cave Tama suddenly stopped. All the hairs on Tama''s back raising an indescribable fear washing over Tama She had hunted her whole life yet the feeling this forest cave gave her was more dangerous than any prey she had ever hunted. She shivered just looking at it even invisible as she is she still felt watched ? "Tama, wha...what should we do?" One of her subordinates whispered out her fur standing on edge. "Mark the location, it should be of interest to the Lord" Tama said her voice unusually cold. "We''re leaving we''ll find prey elsewhere." ... After sending Tama and some of her subordinates to gather food to test some theories of mine I headed over to the summoning pool to conduct todays summoning. [Summon] Without any fanfare, what appeared to be 6 humanoids appeared. The one that caught my eye the most was the one in the middle. She had straight long mint green hair flowing all the way to the ground, A petite frame that could not be taller than me and most contrasting of all she had this motherly aura that made stress just flow away. However I was not affected, it seemed as though my mind just acknowledged her aura then brushed it off. Deciding to stop this train of thought I checked her status. [Name: Melia] [Species: Meliae] [Tier/Level: 4/2] [Born from the blood of a god, the Meliae are a subspecies of nymphs with nobat power. They however make up for this fact by their ability to grow ash trees which give birth to humans skilled in craftsmanship. It is said that the bronze age was started when a Meliae nted the first ash tree giving birth to a genius unparalleled in the art of craftmanship] Just as I observed Melia so to did she observe me. After a moment of observation wherein neither of us moved, Melia took careful strides towards me before... "OH! you are just too cute!" She scoops me up and starts to hug me her cheek nuzzling against mine. "My name is Melia but you can just call me Mom, Mother, Mommy? Whatever you feel mostfortable with" I look up to her giving her my most nk stare. Seeing my nk stare Melia put me down before coughing into her hand. "Ah, how presumptuous of me," she begins hiding her amused smile behind her hand. "You are my new king, seeing theck of subjects I expect that you will have me popte your kingdom." "Yes, If you could focus on increasing the poption of my kingdom, It would do wonders to get ahead in thispetition of mine." I reply "Competition?" Melia asks "Yes, us humans have been selected topete for sovereignty of all realms and again your help will be much appreciated." "Oh, you poor thing to be selected for something as bloody as this," Melia says before scooping me up into another hug. ... Finally being able to shoo off Melia into nting some ash trees I head back to the fire pit to wait for Tama and the others to get back. It was not too long after that that Tama appeared before me with a dead pig in her mouth. She looked unusually tense too as if something had deeply disturbed her. "My lord, we were unable to secure more prey than this pig." Tama reported. "No need to be apologetic this should be enough even with our new editions" I replied dismissing her concerns. "New editions? Never mind that Ie bearing... news. I am not sure if it is good or bad" Tama hesitantly starts. "News?" I ask "Yes, while out hunting we encountered a cave, if it was just that it would have been of no concern but at the time we were hunting a C¨´-s¨¬th, a tier 6 creature known for its stealth, and this cave or whatever was residing within was able to kill him. It has me fearful whatever that was was enough to put me into a flight or fight response" Tama reported. "I guess it is time then, should of done this sooner I guess." I tell Tama [Species: Kitsune] [Name: Tama] [Tier/Level: 5/1(Can be evolved)] [The Kitsune are characterized by the number of tails one possesses with 9 being the utmost. A new tail is only gained after sufficient growth in either power or age. Usually 100 years for every tail is the general rule. After having gained their ninth tail the Kitsunes fur will turn white or golden color and ascend the heavens. Kitsune are known for their illusions powerful enough to be indistinguishable from reality and their ability to transform into humanoids. Other notable abilities are their ability to take on a ghost like form, possession of others, invisibility, and their control over lightning and fire] Chapter 7 Interlude Aoif ?[Wee to the Lond realm] [Your species has been chosen to fight for sovereignty of all realms. Fight and Conquer in this Grand game of Crowns!] [Realm Announcement: All crowns have been given tier 9 level 9 housing, a special summoning token, and a 3 day novice protection note: a minority of crowns will awaken a talent] In a world of darkness, those messages were the only thing I could see. I was born blind and up to this moment I had seen nothing but those messages pierced that veil of blindness with such force that I had to stagger back. [You have awoken your talent, please open your status to confirm] All of a sudden I could see... It wasn''t normal I could tell that much. But the monochrome area I found myself in was fascinating, even just being able to see shapes was amazing. [Name: Aoif] [Territory tier/level 9/1] [Skills: None] [Talent: Sight*] [Sight: A tier 3 talent which allows the user to see the world in order of potential] ''Ah, a miracle, it must be, I''ve been granted sight'' [Realm announcement the Crown Darwin has sessfully killed the first aether enhanced lifeform FAME +1] [Announcement the realm rankings have been unlocked] [Current rankings] 1. Darwin (FAME 1) 2. N/A 3 N/A ? 4. N/A 5. N/A ''Its... its so beautiful'' The message was ordinary but what took my breath away was the brilliant light. It was like a kaleidoscope of all the worlds colors all mixed to make something that I could not take my eyes off of. ''This is just his name. His color should be even more beautiful'' I thought to myself ... I had stared at that color for what seemed like and eternity to myself before I finally remembered how that message mentioned a special summoning token. I took out the special summoning token and my world was filled with light. It was not a constant light it was everchanging constantly changing colors. I instinctually knew that in order to use this I would need to crush it. I did not want to though, that light was beautiful and I could stare at it forever but to do so would be my greatest folly, that I knew. To crush it at its peak would give me an even brighter light. So crush it I did, when the light reached its peak a brilliant tinum light I decisively crushed it. [Delta] [tier/level 3/9] [Delta is an Automaton at the peak of tier 3, she carries with her a white gun holstered on her side. Additionally she likes cute things and will hug them till ordered otherwise] A bright white light filled my vision appearing right after I crushed the token. The light approaches me, reaching towards me before I am scooped up. ... It has been at least 30 minutes of rough running when Delta finally put me down. "Establish your territory," Delta briefly says before continuing to exin "Good area, I''ll go grab food" "Ah, thank you, Delta" I respond With that Delta leaves. I feel a brief pang of sadness at the light leaving me but to not tarnish her work I establish my territory while she finds food. [Congrattions on establishing your territory] [As your Territory is the lowest grade it spans half a mile in radius, you may construct buildings with either a blueprint or manually within your territory note that manually made buildings do note with any bonuses] [Crowns house] [Tier/Level 9/1] [can be upgraded(1 unit of wood, 1 unit of stone)] By the time I had established my territory Delta had already came back. "I''ve established my territory but it says it needs wood and stone to be upgraded" I tell Delta. "Wait here" Delta inly says, disappearing soon afterwards. ... I could hear it, this time Delta came back carrying something heavy "I have gathered the necessary resources." Using them I continually upgrade my house. [Crowns house] [Tier/Level 9/2] ... [Crowns house] [Tier/Level 9/3] ... [Crowns house] [Tier/Level 9/4] ... [Crowns house] [Tier/Level 9/5] ... [Crowns house] [Tier/Level 9/6] ... [Crowns house] [Tier/Level 9/7] ... [Crowns house] [Tier/Level 9/8] ... [Crowns house] [Tier/Level 9/9] [can be upgraded(10 units of wood, 10 units of stone, one bronze aether core)] "Delta," I addressed her, "To upgrade this further we need a bronze aether core." "Here" Delta inly holds out a bronze colored core. I take it and upgrade the house once more [Crowns house] [Tier/Level 8/1] [Congrattions on being the first human crown to advance your territory to tier 8, you have een rewarded with a tier 8 summoning token] [Realm announcement the Crown Aofe has sessfully advanced their territory to tier/level 8/1 FAME +1] [Current rankings] Darwin (FAME 1) Aofe (FAME 1) N/A N/A N/A AN: brownie points to anyone that can tell who I based Delta off of Chapter 8 Tamas Evolution ?[Species: Kitsune] [Name: Tama] [Tier/Level: 5/1(Can be evolved)] [The Kitsune are characterized by the number of tails one possesses with 9 being the utmost. A new tail is only gained after sufficient growth in either power or age. Usually 100 years for every tail is the general rule. After having gained their ninth tail the Kitsunes fur will turn white or golden color and ascend the heavens. Kitsune are known for their illusions powerful enough to be indistinguishable from reality and their ability to transform into humanoids. Other notable abilities are their ability to take on a ghost like form, possession of others, invisibility, and their control over lightning and fire] I pressed the evolve button bringing up the option menu. [Choose a path of evolution] [Illusion: The Kitsune is put into a situation wherein the only way to survive is to use illusions. The Kitsunes Illusions have grown powerful enough to fool reality and manifest illusions that can deal physical harm ] [Stealth: The Kitsune is deprived of all physical and magical attacks and put in a situation wherein they must deceive using their transformations, possessions, illusions and invisibility to survive. The Kitsune has evolved to be a master of stealth, able to infiltrate almost any civilization] [Elemental: The Kitsune is put into an aether rich environment aligned with fire and lightning. The Kitsune has given up on all abilities other than fire and lightning, in return they have gained an understanding so deep of said abilities that it costs them little to no energy to userge scale fire and lightning abilities that might have once taken them out of battle.] "Tama" I called "Yes, my Lord" "I can use my talent to evolve you in three separate ways" I start take a breath then continue "Illusion where you develop illusions powerful enough to fool reality, stealth where you give up all offensive to be a master infiltrator, or elemental, the same as stealth where you give up all abilities but gain powerful lightning and fire abilities. A fair warning, I have never tried this on someone who could talk but from my perspective it takes but a moment for the things I choose to evolve so when you choose to me it would seem as though you have evolved to tier 4 or even tier 3 in a moment." "It is up to you to decide how you are going to evolve, find me when you are ready" Finishing my speech I head towards... towards where ever Milia has set up. ... Tama was conflicted she never expected such a bomb to be dropped on her, even now she could not believe that her Lord was able to help her increase her strength that easily. The way he just casually mentioned jumping tiers like that was so unbelievable that was it not her Lord she would haveughed but he lookedpletely serious. Not that she would have doubted him, he was her Lord there was no room for doubt. Steering her thoughts away from that heretical train of thoughts she instead put her effort into deciding how she would choose to evolve. Stealth was out right away, while it might be terribly useful to be able to infiltrate an enemy camp or kingdom Tama was a protector of her lord and to leave him on his own would be sacrilegious. For that reason alone stealth was out, not to mention how much more useful it would be to have one of her lesser subordinates evolve in stealth. So it was between Illusion and Elemental. Elemental would give me ess to kingdom destroying magic but that''s all no versatility. I would have to constantly practice just to gain ess to spells that help not destroy and for that the Elemental path has to go. That leaves Illusion, ''This...'' Tama thinks, ''has potential,'' Illusions could misdirect the enemy from ever even approaching her Lord and even if they doe close she can use solid illusions to protect her lord and confuse the enemy even more. ''I have decided'' Tama deres to herself. Looking up Tama realized that it was already dark outside, at least 2 hours have had to have passed for it to get dark. "I should inform my Lord of my decision," Tama mumbles to herself. Chapter 9 Tamas Evolution (2) ?Finding my lord was not that hard, I just needed to follow his scent. He was over talking with the new summons. Something about the poption... Nothing that I need to concern with though. Once a lull in the conversation was reached I appeared next to my Lord. "I have decided my Lord, I will choose the Illusion path of evolution." "Ok, I''ll start the evolution now, be sure to take note of what happens." My lord states. I go to reply but after a flick of my Lords hand he disappears from view. ... I opened my eyes to a great desert. Nothing but sand in all directions. ''My lord said I would evolve towards illusions.'' I thought, ''What sort of situations would stimte my illusions.'' Just as I was thinking a worm like thing popped out of the ground. It was huge not just in the its bigger than me huge but as big as two redwoods stacked on top of each other. And that huge worm was barreling towards me. My immediate reaction was to evade and get out of its sight, so that''s what I did. I waited as the worm grew closer to me before I leaped to the side transforming into my humanoid form for more reach. As soon as my hands touched the ground I summersaulted away again finally evading the worms attack. I transformed back into my fox form then dashed away. ... "haah, haah" I panted it had been more than an hour of continuous evading and running with no sign of the worm being shaken off. During that time I had tried on numerous asions to use my Illusions to shake the worm off my tail but it would just not work. It was as if the worm was being told where I was at all times. There was no way my illusions are ineffective. Even creatures with no sensory organs can still be effected . ''It''s like the world itself is guiding the enemy toward me'' ''wait...'' I thought ''If the worm itself isn''t immune then the world itself must be guiding it towards me'' ''I need to test this'' I think to myself Casting a quick illusion on the worm, I make it seem as though I took a right then I excluded my actual self from the worms perception. All the while I went forward while watching it like a hawk. Lo and behold the worm for just a tiny second actually looked right and seemed like it received directions to the exact position of mine because it didn''t just go to where I was but it spit acid at my exact location. ''Acid, that''s new" I thought to myself right after dodging ''And convenient, it''s like the world wants me to think in that direction'' ''If it does want me to think in that direction than who am I to deny the world my attempt'' I think before focusing. The first step to casting an illusion is to define the target, in this case the world but what is the world is it the actual world or is it everything within or is it the leylines that run across the world, ''I need to define this before I can even continue'' I think ''Lets try the whole first'' thinking that I define the whole as the target. It takes all my focus but there is something so I dig deeper I turn myself invisible. "AHH!!" I spit out blood the pain is immeasurable but I can''t let that distract me I need to keep evading so I grit my teeth and pick up my speed to make up for the distance I lost while spitting blood. ''Seems like that worked but I''m just to weak to effect the whole thing'' I murmur to myself. ''Lets do the same thing this time but something easier'' I grit my teeth and prepare to cast the illusion First target the world. Then the intent, appearing a few feet to the left Lastly the activation.... "AHH f**k" my leg was pierced by acid losing all mobility. Chapter 10 Tamas Evolution (3) ?''Target'' ''Intent'' ''Activation'' Taking more than half of my energy the illusion activates misdirecting the worm to leap at the wrong direction. "Hah, I finally did it" I exim "I fooled the world" It had taken hundreds of hours and hundreds of attempts but I had done it I had foo... Pain, the familiar feeling of being swallowed whole and digested happens in an instant. ... ''Back at the start'' I sigh "F**K!!!!" I yell "S***T!!!!" So much effort countless deaths all leading up to finally fooling the world into misdirecting that worm all for it to send another one to me. The only thing keeping my sanity was the slow growth of power even now I can feel myself edging towards tier 4 and gaining my fifth tail. My only spection on why is that all my effort to illusion the worm is growing myself in power. *BOOOM* Said worm takes this time as the appropriate time to appear ''Target'' ''Intent'' ''Activation'' I make an illusion of me running away before sitting down and watching the worm barrel towards the illusion. Another worm appears and this time I''m ready. ''Target'' ''Intent'' ''Activation'' This time instead of making the world just misdirect the worm with an Illusion I try to fool it into thinking that that Illusion is me I make it so that every detail is the same while also excluding myself from its sight. ¡­ It sort of worked I could see for just a moment something solid something that felt real not illusory even to my trained senses Even as I''m swallowed and sent back to the beginning a feral grin makes its way to my face. ''If I can perfect this and trick the world into thinking I have died'' ¡­ After the hundredth death I stopped counting the deaths and instead started to count my progress in how many times I can deceive the world with my now named solid illusions. This time the solid illusionsted a couple minutes leading what was the fourth worm to nowhere before being eaten. The only good thing about the solid illusions is that after they die the world needs to check to make sure it was me which it never is. This usually takes a couple minutes, of course that isn''t enough time for my reserves to refill though. As that was thest of my energy, when the fifth worm appears I just let myself be eaten. I do this because every time I''m reset to the beginning my aether reserves are reset to maximum giving me more chances to try. ¡­ I''m on the cusp of gaining my fifth tail I can feel it. Not only can I feel the fifth tailing in I can also feel how my reserves have more than tripled while my control is being fine tuned. Where before it took more than half of my reserves to Illuse the world now it took one-eighth allowing me to escape from eight worms before I''m eaten and sent back to the start. And that would be if I was only counting the increase in efficiency the tripling of my reserves allowed me to use my solid illusions 24 times as opposed to the eight that I would be able to use with my previous reserves If I continue like this I will only need to reset about 50 or so more times before I cross that threshold into tier 4. ''That would be boring just gradual increase sure it would be an increase of power but that would only let me protect my lord slightly better,'' I think to myself ''Let''s do something crazy'' thinking that I start my illusion ''Target, the world'' ''Intent, while I would normally misdirect my intent now is not to misdirect but I''ll use the world into believing that the worm is dead'' ''Activation'' Pouring all of my strength into the activation it works. The worm just disappears out of existence like it never even existed to begin with. All the while I feel a growth in my back. I had only ever felt this three times in my life so to feel it again exited me. My fifth tail was growing meaning I had crossed the threshold, I now was a five tailed Kitsune a tier 4 existence. ¡­ As soon as the tail finished growing my world was turned dark then I was staring at my lord the very reason why I was able to grow a fifth tail. "Thank you my Lord, you''ve allowed me to grow beyond my potential you have my greatest gratitude, I thought that I might have to just wait but now I¡­ I was able to break through with my own power instead of just relying on time" I sincerely thank my Lord Chapter 11 Tamas Thanks ?"Melia" I start dodging to the right to avoid her lunge at me, "How is the production of ash trees going" Getting up as if nothing had happened Melia beamed at me, "Oh it''s going great we have 12 adult ash trees up and several sprouting, It won''t be long before the ashes coalesce into ¡­ Ah hem workers" "That''s good have someonee and inform me when our workers are ready" ¡­ Sensing a lull in the conversation Tama approaches me "I have decided my Lord, I will choose the Illusion path of evolution." "Ok, I''ll start the evolution now, be sure to take note of what happens." I reply Bringing up the evolution menu I select the Illusion path and the instant I do she is gone. A momentter a screen pops up in the corner of my vision depicting Tama and several worms engaging in what seems like a game of tag. Then not a momentter one of the Worms disappears and Tama is standing in front of me, Five tails wagging behind her. She seems slightly emotional tears in the corner of her eyes as she starts "Thank you my Lord, you''ve allowed me to grow beyond my potential, you have my greatest gratitude, I thought that I might have to just wait but now I¡­ I was able to break through with my own power instead of just relying on time" Finishing that she leaps at me like a puppy, dropping us both to the ground. Her breath against my skin is hot and before I knew it she was peppering my face with little kisses, her golden hair in my eyes obstructing my vision. She swept her long golden hair out of my eyes and I finally got a good look at her. Her cheeks were flushed, her emerald eyes staring into mine with devotion, and a wide smile that contrasted with my image of her, A no nonsense stoic woman. "No fair, I try to do that and he dodges me but you get to do it with noint from Darwin at all." I look over and Melia is staring at us with a pout. As if broken out of her trance Tama blushes, picks me up not saying a word then turns around leaving all the while dragging me along. While I was being carried I checked Tama''s status. [Species: Kitsune] [Name: Tama] [Tier/Level: 4/5(Can be evolved)] [Skills: Solid Illusions*, Denial of Reality*] [Solid Illusions: Tama has transcended normal Illusions allowing her to form tangible illusions that can do real damage.] [Denial of Reality: Through tricking the world Tama can convince the world through illusions that her target never existed, erasing said target from existence.] [The Kitsune are characterized by the number of tails one possesses with 9 being the utmost. A new tail is only gained after sufficient growth in either power or age. Usually 100 years for every tail is the general rule. After having gained their ninth tail the Kitsunes fur will turn white or golden color and ascend the heavens. Kitsune are known for their illusions powerful enough to be indistinguishable from reality and their ability to transform into humanoids. Other notable abilities are their ability to take on a ghost like form, possession of others, invisibility, and their control over lightning and fire. ] ¡­ Tama took me to the house where she set me down on the bed thenposed herself. "My lord, your talent¡­ that evolution of yours it is¡­" She trails off taking a shaky breath before continuing "It is dangerous. It allowed me a newly evolved 4 tailed to grow a fifth with my own power, something that only the most exceptionally talented of our race could do. You must understand that for a Kitsune to grow a new tail they must wait a century before a new one will pop up and that''s if one is talented but for you to help me gain a new tail in a matter of moments that¡­ that is dangerous¡­" "I know, I never expected a tier one talent to be anything but exceptional." "Tier one!" Tama yells. "Yes, is that so rare?" I ask. "There has only been one tier 3 talent holder in the Kitsune race in thest 5 centuries as a whole, that''s how rare a tier 3 talent is, let alone a tier 1 like you" Tama says uncharacteristically flustered. "That''s enlightening¡­" I start before I''m interrupted by a series of notifications [Realm Announcement: The realm has been invaded by the Gaul civilization] [Prepare to defend rewards will be given to the highest contributing Crowns] [Along with defending there will be bonus rewards to Crowns that take out the outpost bases] Chapter 12 Assault ?[Realm Announcement: The realm has been invaded by the Gaul civilization] [Prepare to defend rewards will be given to the highest contributing Crowns] [Along with defending there will be bonus rewards to Crowns that take out the outpost bases] ¡­ [Did everyone see the message] [Yeah, I saw it] [I didn''t just see it, I saw an outpost base being constructed] [You did is there any information you can give for us to survive better] [Yeah stay the hell away, I have a information talent where I can see the tier and level and the weakest are 9/9 while the strongest are 8/2] [Really that powerful!!] [Can anyone put context to that] [Darwin or Aoife might be able to they were able to take out aether enhanced creatures which are at least mid tier 9] [@Darwin @Aoife can you help us. Please we need to know] ¡­ [You have been mentioned in a discussion would you like to reply] Checking the messages adjacent to the one I was mentioned in I decided to at least give them a general idea of how strong our enemies would be ''After all we could be thest of humanity for all I know it would be a shame for a great chunk of us to go extinct just because I gave no information to them'' I mused Opening chat I sent a message Darwin: [You guys should wait I''ll send a scout to engage and gauge the enemies power, I wouldn''t want you guys dying on me, we might be thest of humanity after all] [Thank you Darwin I''ll just dig a hole until you can confirm their strength] [Did anyone else notice how Darwin''s name was sent on the chat while ours always appear nk, any theories] Aoife: [@Darwin, I have sent a friend request I would like to meet up to discuss a potential alliance] [Well seeing that Aoife''s name appeared while ours didn''t it must be that you need sufficient fame to appear with a tag in chat] ¡­ "Send one of your subordinates to find and eliminate one of the enemy camps, then report on the minimum strength required to kill each troop and the overallbat power" I ordered Tama. "Yes my lord," Tama says before departing from the house It only took her a period of a few minutes to order one of her subordinates thene back to me "It is done, you should rest for now, if you could hand me the pig you stored I could cook it for you or if you would prefer a different meal then I could go and hunt for you." Tama reports "Here" I hand Tama the pig to which she goes outside to prepare and cook it. ''Seems that the rot does not happen if it is in my inventory or maybe it''s just slowed down.'' I think to myself ¡­ I had been ordered bydy Tama to scout the Gaul civilization by destroying one of their outpost bases The first thing I did was climb a tree to scout for any base being constructed. I was up there in the tree for only a minute before towards the north I saw a clearing of trees being knocked down. Marking the location down in my memory I climb down the tree and head towards the direction where the trees were being knocked down. I ran through the forest being careful to not leave any tracks that could be used to find the Lords territory. After about 10 minutes of careful sprinting where I crossed at least 15 miles of distance I found the chopped down trees. They were being set down to act as a makeshift wall while what seems like a humanoid beetle gavemands to the smaller ones. ¡­ After observing the camp for an hour a couple facts were made clear to her. The first being that thergest Gaul was the leader and the second and most important one being that the worker Gauls are mindless when not being instructed by what I''ll call the queen Gaul. The sun had already set darkening the already dark forest. It was pitch ck and if it wasn''t for my night vision I would have been blinded. ''Tama wanted information on the minimum required power to destroy the base and kill each type of Gaul'' I thought to myself ''First order of business is to attack one of the workers and see their defense and attack power'' Finishing the thought I then prepared to use tier 8 strength to ambush the worker. When one of the workers wandered off to grab more wood I followed and right as he was about to punch the tree to knock it down I pounced. Surprisingly the Worker wasn''t able to react in time and its head was severed. However what was more unexpected was that the Gaul Worker didn''t immediately die, it just moved around like a headless chicken punching at anything it could sense. [Congrattions to Crown Darwin for being the first to kill one of the invading Gauls +10 points] Ranking 1. Darwin (10) 2. N/A 3 N/A 4. N/A 5. N/A ¡­ 10. N/A [What there are rankings for this, what is this a game event] [Have we been seeing the same things? Does this whole situation not look like a game to you] [Yeah it does it was sarcasm in case your inbred brain couldn''t handle that] [If there are rankings that means there are prizes, does anyone know what they are?] [I don''t know, I assume that like an event when this ends the first to tenth will get something we should just ask them] ¡­ After killing the worker the Queen was alerted. Instead of leaving I just stood there waiting, they possessed nothing that could threaten me so there is no point in running or even using tactics. It took them a significant amount of time to get to me, a whole 90 seconds, if I was inclined to leave they would never have caught me. But I didn''t. I was just lying in wait with a vulpine grin on my face in anticipation of the iing ughter. When the Queen finally got there she brought along an entourage of 24 workers. The workers were set in a loose formation. There were 12 groups of 2 forming a V and inside the V was the Queen. To test their tactics I charged head in transforming into my fox form for this. The first pair of workers that I charged tried to grapple me. While I lunged at the first pair the 4 nearest pairs of workers circled around while I was handling the first two. Forming a circle they brought their swords to bear piercing down on me. If I had not dodged they would have pierced me and the ones holding me but instead they just killed their own allies. Having seen enough I stop ying around and shed at each of their necks enough to decapitate them. Thest seven pairs were spread out with 5 charging at me while thest 2 pair went over to the queen. The 10 workers or a pair of 5 were all killed in an instant and then I dashed towards the queen intending to finish this up. ¡­ [Congrattions to Crown Darwin for being the first to kill a Queen Gaul + 50 points] 1. Darwin (300) 2. N/A 3 N/A 4. N/A 5. N/A [It hasn''t even been 10 minutes but he already killed a Queen I didn''t even know existed.] [I know right, what kind of cheat does he have to be able to do this] [Maybe they are just weak?] [Definitely not I tried to kill one but my aether enhanced crocodile was almost killed forcing us to retreat] [That difficult, and it''s only the second day that''s not enough time for us to develop] [Well technically it''s the third day it just crossed midnight] [How do you know that smartass] [Ahh¡­ It''s kind of embarrassing but I gained a talent where I can tell the exact time] [That''s hrious a time telling Talent] [Hey at least I have a talent unlike the majority of you guys.] Chapter 13 Sight ?The sun rises out of the horizon signaling the start of the third day in this realm. Sounds of construction in the distance drew my attention. Looking out the window I could see what seemed like primitive huts housing about 30 people all tirelessly working on housing. "Seems the ash trees have bloomed" I mutter to myself Ignoring the sounds of construction I start my day with a shower and all the basic hygiene necessities. After a quick breakfast provided by Tama, she started to report on the strength of the Gaul civilization. "The Gaul civilization, or at least what was sent to this realm are rtively low on the food chain..." Tama begins Listening to the lecture it can be summarized as so. The Gaul civilization is no threat to us, theirbat power being low, the only hup is that the Queen is able to effectivelymand her troops which while dangerous loses out when faced with such firepower that anything they do can just be shrugged off. ¡­ Sending a message containing details on the Queens tactics and how to defeat them to the chat was a rtively quick process. After I sent the information I remembered how Aoif had sent me a friend request intending to forge an alliance between the two of us. Adding Aoif as a friend, I sent her a message. [I saw your message for an alliance, what would that entail] Almost immediately after, as if she was constantly watching her messages she replied. [Thank you for epting my friend request, as you know I am the only other human other than you to have an achievement worthy of being acknowledged by the system as so I assume you have spected that I have a great talent or luck] [Yeah, I have spected but I assumed it was some sort of territory talent due to the nature of your achievement] [Let me end your spections then by saying that it was my talent that allowed me to survive and it is my talent that made me contact you. My talent is sight it allowed me to summon the highest talent summon from our initial summon and even now when I look at your name I see talent greater than even the greatest system provided summon, I see so much potential] [Ah but the greater point of this contact is to suborn myself to you, I have no interest in ruling. If I could just watch the greatest color then I would do anything, My intuition is telling me that you are the greatest I will ever see.] [This¡­] [I know that it is asking a lot of you to give me your trust but you as well as I know that the rewards for this event include a subordinate contract, take me in for the duration of this event and at the end when we receive subordinate contracts let me suborn myself to you.] [I don''t know what to say, but for now I will put my trust in you. How can I find you to take you back to my territory.] [I will have my summon fire a re into the sky intermittently. Pleasee find me then I desperately want to see your color. Here are my general coordinates so that the re will be useful (xx,xx,xx) ] ¡­ I grabbed Ali for transportation and Tama for protection then headed straight for the coordinates. It wasn''t a long trip however that doesn''t mean that it wasn''t far just that Ali was able to run at highway speeds without trouble. It wasn''t exactly a pleasant ride for me though Tama protected me from the wind but with no saddle for Ali I kept getting tossed around her back. After reaching the general location of the coordinates we waited for the re to be sent. *boom* A red light lit up the sky. Going toward the origin of the re wasn''t that hard with the intermittent res to lead us ¡­ The smell of blood could be sensed from our position, it wasn''t hard to infer that their sending of res had attracted the attention of hostile forces By the time we had got there it was a bloodbath. Just in a short count I could see over 100 bodies of worker Gauls and at the very least 4 queens. [Ranking] 1. Aoife (1200) 2. Darwin (300) 3. Mihr (20) 4. Anael (20) 5. N/A ... "They are here" A woman with long orange hair wearing what looks like a maid uniform crossed with military attire says in a deadpan to what seems like a blind girl. The supposedly blind girl was striking with murky purple eyes that seemed to focus on nothing and purplish pink hair falling down on the chair she sits on. She turned her head looking directly at me with a reverence I had never seen before. It was as if I was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Her eyes locked onto me with surprising rity, a smile lighting up her face. An involuntary whisper leaving her voice barely audible to me. "Beautiful¡­ so, so pretty, "she muttered. "Ahem" I cough into my fist to break her trance but all that achieves is a tilt of the head and a wider smile. Something that I found surprisingly cute. Without breaking eye contact she addressed me in a whisper still watching my figure "I am Aoif, it is a pleasure to meet you" "The pleasure is mine however I''m sure you already know but let me formally introduce myself, I am Darwin." A small giggle escapes Aoif''s lips. "Is there something funny¡­" I ask in confusion. "No nothing funny, it''s just your color, it did a small bow, it was delightfully pleasant" Aoif says with a small p of her hands. ¡­ Aoif led me to the inside of her house avoiding all the small obstacles even as she kept her eyes on me. Although weird at first, the constant feeling of Aoifs eyes on me started feeling pleasant. The thought of her always staring at me was a pleasant one. A bit embarrassing though. Another giggle left her mouth, like she could sense my embarrassment and was amused by it. After giggling to herself for a bit she finally sat us down at the dining table. "So you said something about you suborning yourself to me¡­ Why if I may ask?" I start. Chapter 14 A Discussion ?"So you said something about you suborning yourself to me¡­ Why, if I may ask?" I start. "It really is quite simple, I have no intention ofpeting in this sillypetition, to be blunt I would rather just stare at your potential but to do that I would need to be useful to you or strong enough to take you for myself." Aoif exins a hint of a blush appearing on her fair skin. "What about¡­" I begin to ask only to realize I do not know the name of Aoifs subordinate. As if sensing my thoughts Aoif introduces the orange haired woman to her right "This is Delta" Aoif introduces waving a hand towards her general direction. "Yes, Delta, my intuition is telling me that your Delta is quite dangerous maybe even more than my own Tama," "Tama?" "Ah, I forgot to introduce her," Gesturing for Tama to appear, I wait. Almost instantaneously understanding the signal Tama dispels her illusion startling Delta. Immediately a gun is pointed at Tama Delta''s finger squeezed tightly on the trigger ready to fire at any second. The tense atmosphere seems to go unnoticed as instead of clearing the tension Aoif instead nods like she had known Tama was there the whole time. "So that was what that dirty color obstructing my view was" Aoif says with visible disgust in her voice "Would you like me to kill her Aoif" Delta offers Aoif ? "No" Despite her clear distaste for Tama, Aoif instead orders Delta to back off. "I have no intention of killing my soon to be lords pet no matter how dirty she may be" Tama despite clearly taking offense to the backhandedment restrained herself, looking at me as if to ask whether she could act or not "Tama stand down, please leave too," "But¡­" Tama mutters before I interrupt her "Noints, Aoif I hope that you can have Delta leave too, so that we can have this conversation without interruptions." Nodding Aoif waves Delta to head outside to give us privately. ¡­ "My lord, how was the negotiations?" "They went well, Aoif and Delta will be joining us back to our territory however before we go we will exterminate the nearby Gaul encampments." "No scouting will be necessary it seems that the Gaul are extremely aggressive to the Crowns so if we broadcast that we are Crowns then they will naturallye running" "How, though?" "Aoif has agreed to lend us Delta, she will be sending out res constantly while you exterminate them so that we can gain the points." Appearing from the other side of the house Deltaes towards us before gesturing for us to follow. "My lord?" "Don''t worry Delta is extremely loyal to Aoif and she told her to help us so Delta will" I assure Tama "If you say so¡­" Tama mutters, still seeming slightly skeptical. ¡­ Delta takes us back to where we first found her, bodies still littered the ground "Would you like me to pick out the cores Darwin, Aoif didn''t care for them but you seem to be eying them" "Yes I would, Thank you Delta" Delta was correct, I was eying them all of those cores could be evolved and be used for so many different things, Things I don''t know yet but it couldn''t hurt to stockpile. "Wait here" Grabbing a chair Delta plops me down before going over to gather the aether cores of the deceased Gauls making sure to fire a re every once in a while. After a couple minutes of grabbing the cores she hands them to me to which I put them in the warehouse for now. Picking me up, Delta sits in the chair before putting me on herp. Delta pets my hair. "Comfortable" I mutter feeling slightly sleepy. ¡­ "They are here" Delta says, sinctly as always However I didn''t need the warning as I could sense him the moment he came here. A brilliant kaleidoscope of colors lit up the otherwise monotone world. It was an emerald me with white around the borders that the soul finally decided upon. An involuntary whisper left my mouth "Beautiful¡­ so, so pretty" "Ahem" Darwin coughs into his fist. I could see his color do a little twirl of embarrassment; it was too cute. Tilting my head to get a better look, a smile breaks onto my face at how cute the color is being at the moment. "I am Aoif, it is a pleasure to meet you" "The pleasure is mine however I''m sure you already know but let me formally introduce myself, I am Darwin." A small giggle escapes my lips. "Is there something funny¡­" Darwin asks in confusion. "No nothing funny, it''s just your color, it did a small bow, it was delightfully pleasant" I say in exnation giving a small p of my hands at the same time. ¡­ "Up¡­ w..k.. Up" "Darwin wake up," Tama says, shaking my shoulder slightly. That¡­ That was so weird, the dream I think, was so vivid at the moment I felt like I was Aoif. I knew her thoughts, I knew her motivations, I felt her act, I saw her world. It was just so vivid like I was Aoif up till the very moment I woke. As if answering my thoughts a system notification popped up [Congrattions for unlocking a skill, please check your status.] [Name: Darwin] [Territory tier/level: 9/9] [Skills: Dream*] [Dream: Allows the user to view the lives of his subordinates through dreams. Only subordinates with absolute loyalty can be viewed] [Talent: Evolution*] [Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simte evolution in a smaller time frame.] [Warehouse: ¡­] ¡­ "Aoif is here we are ready to leave at your will" Looking at the sky it was already dark. Countless bodies littered the nearbyndscape. After looking at the bodies I look towards Aoif, ''the skill said that only those of absolute loyalty can be viewed, does that mean that Aoif is absolutely loyal to me.'' Chapter 15 Changes ?"Eep!" A small exhale of surprise left Aoif as Ali started to pick up speed Almost reflexively I grab ahold of Aoifs waist to make sure that she doesn''t fall I go to let go but Aoif feeling this leans her body backwards going limp on me. "Hold me" She demands, giving me a pleading look all the while. Nodding I agree with the demand holding her closer to me. Slowly afortable silence falls on both of us. Ever since that new skill activated my guard had been let down around Aoif. It was as if just as she implicitly trusted me, so did I. There was this connection between us that was only noticeable now. Just holding her close like I am now, felt¡­ It felt right like this is what I would want to do for the rest of my life. Looking at Aoif I raise one of the hands holding her That gets her attention, an annoyed expression forming on her face before I slowly lower my hand to her hair petting it. "Nn" a sigh escaped her mouth before she snuggled up closer to me closing her eyes as she did so. ¡­ It wasn''t long before we arrived back at my territory. I almost didn''t recognize it. Everything was different, upon the thick trees that hid my territory there were houses. Like an elven forest all the houses blended in with the trees seeming as if they were a natural addition instead of man made structures. The only reason I knew they were man made was that I could see the men that the Ash trees produced working up there. I continued to move towards the center of my territory where my house is only to find aplete overhaul of the surroundings. Instead of the usual surroundings of grass and dirt, it was reced by several mature ash trees. Each ash tree was strategically ced to both give room for further evolutions of the house and conceal it from watchful eyes. It aplished this by making the groves of ash trees grow in the right spots to make it seem like they were just a natural extension of the forest surrounding us. While the ash trees did not look like the surrounding trees they made up for this by nting several of the same trees nearby. Those trees were several timesrger than the ash trees which helped to cover the sky in leaves. Once we had passed the grove I finally saw the house. To mild surprise the outside of the house looked the same. ''Most likely because I never gave them permission to mess with my house only to develop the surroundings'' I reason I hop off Ali making sure to keep the sleeping Aoif held firmly in my hands. "Oof" I grunt slightly at the impact of jumping off Ali. Nervously looking at Aoif, I sighed in relief when I saw that she was still sleeping. After the slight scare I head inside my house where I head straight for my bedroom. I tuck Aoif into my bed ready to go hop into bed myself when I realize that I had not summoned today at all. I hurriedly hopped back on Ali''s back then went straight to the summoning pool While riding there I checked on the rankings of the event since I had forgotten to do that being distracted by Aoif. ''Not that that was a bad thing¡­ it was so pleasant'' I think to myself absentmindedly opening the rankings. [Ranking] 1. Darwin (5100) 2. Aoife (1200) 3. Mihr (160) 4. Anael (100) 5. Antiya (80) ¡­ It seems having Tama kill the Gaul that entire time was terribly efficient. In just the short time I had been napping Tama was able to kill enough Gaul workers and Gaul queens to earn 4800 points, enough that even the top five all put together would not have enough points to outrank us. By the time I had finished reviewing the rankings Ali had made it to the summoning pool ¡­ [Summon] Just like how thest 2 summons had appeared this summoning was no different. 6 beings that I couldn''t identify yet appeared without any fanfare, just a quick sh of light. [Species: Ceryneian Hind] [Tier/Level: 6/1] [Skills: None] [The Ceryneian Hind are fast on their hooves being able to travel great distances in the span of minutes they can also snort fire.It is said that the goddess Artemis uses 4 legendary Ceryneian hinds to pull her chariot] The Ceryneian hinds wererger than a bull and had golden antlers other than that they looked like a regr doe. Striding towards the summons I reached out my hand to one of them. The Hind sniffed my hand before giving it a lick. "Can I ride you?" I ask The Ceryneian hind lowered itself to a height where I could mount its back. Taking this as confirmation I got on its back. I directed the hind to Melia, gesturing for Ali to also follow. ¡­ It didn''t take long to find Melia, the most time consuming part of the trip was actually waiting for Ali to catch up. "Melia, can you have some of the humans under you take Ali to find a mineral deposit" Thinking on it for a moment Melia answers, "Yes, however it might take a while for that to happen our ¡­ Ahem¡­ Subordinates need mining tools and carts to transport them" "Alright in the short term I want you to have some of your subordinates go with Ali tomorrow to find an Iron deposit and have Ali mine it so that we can use the Iron to make tools." After saying that I left Ali with Melia then headed straight home on the Hind. ¡­ I arrived home at a record pace. It did not even take 2 minutes to get back. As soon as I was back I headed straight back to the bed where I left Aoif. Aoif was still there but instead of the tidy bed with her whole body tucked in I see her arms outstretched to the right as if they were trying to grasp something she knew wasn''t there. Seeing this I snuggle right into her hands holding her close before I close my eyes ready to sleep. Chapter 16 The Cave ?Waking up was a pleasant experience for once. Usually when I wake up I would be all groggy, barely cognizant of the world. It was not pleasant always waking up feeling like a tired mess. Today was different. I still woke up groggy but next to me was a source of warmth. It wasforting, it made me want to go straight back to sleep in that warmth while cuddling it. However I had things I needed to do today so no matter howfortable it was I needed to get out of bed. Opening my eyes, they were met with cloudy purple eyes. It was only then that I remembered what I didst night. It was wildly out of character for me to let my guard down so much. My guard was down enough for this girl, Aoif to worm her way into my bed Not that anything untoward happened just that usually I would not let anyone near my bed new or not Looking back on the events of yesterday my trust greatly increased after the idental use of my new skill, dream. Finishing with my internal monologue I greeted Aoif. "Good morning, Tama should be preparing breakfast around now you can join me if you would like to" Yawning, Aoif sleepily replied, "yeah that would be nice but for now¡­" Finished saying her price she drags me into her arms hugging me tight. ¡­ "Good morning My lord, breakfast is ready" Tama greets me with Delta trailing behind her "There is enough for the both of you if you would like to eat breakfast with Aoif. Getting up and parting from Aoif I headed to the bathroom to do my daily routine. After getting done with that I went to the kitchen where I saw Delta and Tama both eating in silence. "Where is Aoif?" I ask Delta. "She left for the bathroom" Delta sinctly replies. "Tama that cave that frightened you before, do you still remember the location of it?" "Yes, may I ask why My Lord," "You may¡­" I respond before continuing, "With Delta''s considerable firepower I would like you to explore the cave but if you or Delta experience any considerable danger I want you toe back immediately and report your findings." After addressing Tama I turn to Delta. "Of course this all hinges on whether you, Delta, are fine with parting with Aoif for the day to do this." "If Aoif is fine then I am too" Delta replies in her blunt way. Aoif chooses this moment to enter the room "You will go with Tama to investigate, I too am quite curious what awaits you there, be sure to record your findings." "I will" With that Tama and Delta both leave to their mission both having finished eating. ¡­ "It''s here" Tama says I nod feeling the ominous auraing from the cave. It felt dangerous and that was saying something. I am a tier 3 bordering tier 2 existence. With support and preparation I could even kill or seriously injure a mid tier 2 creature. "Careful" I say to the kitsune beside me "I will" she replies Entering the cave was anticlimactic there was no attack, no traps, and no sign of anything appearing. Reaching the end of the cave was a short affair, nothing blocked us at all yet still the aura of danger never left. At the end of the cave lied a pir On the pir was an open book. The weird thing about the book was that it looked like it was bound for 100''s of pages but when I went closer to take a better look there was only one page actually bound in the book. The page depicted a scene of war. What looked like thousands of unidentifiable creaturesy strewn about in the background each of varying sizes; some might have been as big as a town while others were so small I had to squint to see them. All these creatures were dead while an unidentifiable male stood alive holding two objects. In one hand was some high tech cube while in the other was what looked like to be theplete book of what she was looking at. "Should we take this back, It is most likely boobytraped?" Tama asks Nodding to her question I step over to go grab it before Tama stops me. "I can use a solid illusion to grab it for us and to also check for traps, no need for either of us to be exposed to danger." I nodded again expressing consent to the n. Almost instantaneously a copy of the Kitsune is created, none of the normal signs of an illusion shows up on my sensors. It has a heat signature, the ground and air are both affected by it. Even if it fooled me it shouldn''t have been able to fool my sensors. For all intents and purposes the Illusion was real. While I was busy scanning the Illusion Tama piloted it to head up the altar. Weirdly enough nothing happened on the way there. It was only when the illusion had touched the book that it was dispelled. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it the Illusion had knocked the book over. The book seemed to be the power source of a seal the pir held. The pir was most likely enchanted to keep whatever was sealed there in and the only thing keeping outsiders out was the aura that was being exuded by the pir. Its intensity wasrge enough that it would have killed lesser beings. The downside to this discovery was that whatever was sealed there was being unsealed by the very second. Vicious booms could be heard from under where the pir had been. "Tama you pick up the book and see if you can analyze it for any clues on what was sealed." I ordered the kitsune while I took out my stock of explosives. Chapter 17 The Cave (2) ?Setting up the explosives was easy. What was difficult was putting them in a ce where whatever creature would burst out would be bombarded by explosives. There were no signs of the creature on my scanners so I had to rely on mybat algorithms to predict the most likely ces for an unknown creature would pop out. While I had tons of explosives most were not going to be used for this trap. The reason being that if I detonated them so close to us while we would survive there is a great chance we would be crippled with our limbs being blown off. ¡­ It took some time to ce the explosives in the optimal ce but I had enough time. The creature was taking its sweet time to break out. While at first it was nerve racking how there would be asional booms in the background it seems that whatever had sealed it in here did a good job. Not only was there a seal, the actual material holding it in was enough to hold it in for a considerable amount of time. *BOOOM* *BOOOM* The booms only got closer until a final one broke through the floor and we could finally see what it was. What left the fracture wasn''t a creature like Tama and I thought it was but several hundred thousands of spirits. Some were corporal enough that we might have been able to touch them but others werepletely incorporable. They were madly dashing towards the exit. Hundreds of them were able to leave before I could regain my wits and yell at Tama to run for it. We both dashed for the entrance of the cave. While we were running I was setting explosives around because it seemed like the spirits could not go through whatever material the cave was made out of. Once we got far enough out of the cave I detonated the explosives The sound was deafening¡­ for Tama at least I had activated my sound canceling earplugs before I had detonated the explosives. "Let''s head back," I told Tama. "Ok" Tama agreed. ¡­ Me and Aoif were both just making small chat waiting for the news from our subordinates when a huge explosion happened off in the distance. Followed by an announcement being shown to both our visions. [Pandora''s box has been unsealed, a gathering of spirits have congregated upon a certain sub realm all lords with a territory of tier 8 or higher will be given the blueprints to a teleportation device linked to the sub realm] "Do you think¡­ it couldn''t have been a coincidence right?" I asked Aoif with astonishment on my face. "Chances are it was not a coincidence," Aoif replies with a grimace appearing on her face. While both Aoif and I knew that they were strong and could make it back, we didn''t know if they had injuries or not. The explosion was big enough that if they were hit they would be injured but we couldn''t know for sure not having seen the full extent of theirbat abilities and defenses. Chances were that they were unscathed knowing their high tier but on the off chance they were injured we had no medical facilities to heal them. "Have you upgraded your territory to tier 8 yet?" Aoif asks, breaking our silence and trying to change the subject. "Not yet I haven''t actually gotten around to it yet, not with everything going on recently," "Do you have the materials, you should upgrade your territory to tier 8 now so that you can construct that teleportation device" "I will, now in fact" I respond before pulling up the house menu. Upgrading the house was simple. All I wascking was a bronze tier core which I had recently gathered in bulk so it was no detriment to my stock to upgrade my territory now. ¡­ [Crowns house] [Tier/Level: 8/1] Upgrading to tier 8 was a simple affair; there were no major changes to the inside or out; the only noticeable change was that the house was heated. The actual big change was in my status [Congrattions for unlocking a skill, please check your status.] [Name: Darwin] [Territory tier/level: 8/1] [Personal strength: Tier 9/1] [Skills: Dream*] [Dream: Allows the user to view the lives of his subordinates through dreams. Only subordinates with absolute loyalty can be viewed] [Talent: Evolution*] [Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simte evolution in a smaller time frame.] [Warehouse: ¡­] A personal strength tab was added to my status. "You feel it don''t you" Aoif inquired "Yes, I do" I respond What Aoif was referencing was the small trickle of Aether that had appeared in my core. Just with that I felt as if I could lift 50 more pounds than I previously could, it was an intoxicating growth of strength. "Does it grow with our territory?" I question Aoif. "Unfortunately not, I have upgraded my territory several more times after the upgrade to tier 8 but no growth, my strength sits stagnant at tier 9 level 9." "Have you tried asking Delta about this?" "Yes, however her answers were vague, practice is the only thing I got out of her." I pull out the blueprint to change the subject to something more productive than spection. I figure that we can question Tama and Delta further about their growth in strength and how we could replicate that. [One way teleportation gate] [green bronze or higher tier aether core, 10 units of raw iron, 10 units of raw copper] "This is difficult there is no way to build this at the moment" "Agreed" Aoif responds "We have none of the resources to build this except the green bronze tier core from the Gaul queens." "I can get us higher tiers of cores but the ores will have to wait. I have sent Ali, an alicanto, to find ore veins but even then it will take at least a couple of days to procure the resources assuming she even finds the right veins." Chapter 18 Just A Random Joe ?A fewrades and I were ordered by one of the dryads to go with the Alicanto and find ore to take back to our vige. It was a simple task to follow the Alicanto to a vein of ore then mine said ore. The past day and a half were just us building and building and building no break. That woman was a ve driver. The only time I have heard her not call us ves was when we were in the presence of the Lord. In fact she might just have split personality disorder or something. The change in mood is just so drastic. When around us she is a ve driver of the highest order but around the Lord she is the sweetest gal you''ll ever meet. Of course we weren''t ungrateful to our creators. They gave usnd to build, food to eat, and tasks to do what else could we want. Seriously we were programmed to like work so really even if Iined it was all half hearted because we loved our jobs. When we were first created we were tasked with making temporary amodation for ourselves and so we did it and we had a hell of a lot of fun doing that. Once we were done with our temporary houses we slept and the next day we were tasked with expanding the territory facilities. We were given blueprints for tree houses. Oh the irony dryads giving us blueprints for trees, even now I still snicker at it. ¡­ "Hey Joe what you snickering at we got to get working" a friend of mine yelled in my ear. "He, nothing just reminiscing," "Reminiscing! We haven''t even been alive for 3 days. What can you reminisce about" my friendughs. "HA! Yeah anyways where are we I kinda spaced out and just followed the group" "No worries bud, we''re about to set camp the Alicanto found a vein apparently, it''s actually why I had to break you from your thoughts" "Ah good, good am I doing the digging," "Yep saved the digging job for you may bud" "Hell yeah" "Heh, go dig your hole bud I''ll point you towards where we need to dig." ¡­ My bud directed me towards the dig site. It had been cordoned off so that we would know where to go. Iron can be mined in several ways, the one we chose to do was an open mine where we would just dig massive amounts of dirt where it would then be transported over to another group where the rocks in the dirt would be taken out. Those rocks would then be sent to the forge group where they would burn the rocks at the right temperature where the rocks would be melted but the iron within would not have reached its melting point. Unfortunately I was not able to dig the hole yet. We had no tools, just a bird and a dream but that wouldn''t be for long. Some of the others were setting up a forge using y that we had found on the bottom of the waterfall in the territory. Although it wouldn''t be the best it would still allow us to melt the rocks that we find. ¡­ And so the mining went. All I had to do all day was dig and dig and I was happy. By the second day we had excavated enough to supply the miners, ie: me and a few others with metal shovels and picks allowing our efficiency to soar. There is no greater joy for me than digging. Up and down. Up and down goes my pick. It had been hours since I had started but it was still as enjoyable as ever. Although this would be the only day we mined for now as we don''t have sufficient storage devices. ¡­ By the end of the day we had mined it all the ore that we could carryfortably. Hopefully the next time we go out the lord will have us make carts beforehand so that we may bring back more. But that would be another day today. Each of us 20 would head back with 15 pounds of processed iron ore on our backs and a further 5 pounds of unprocessed iron ore. That was all we couldfortably carry without hindering our movements too much. ¡­ We were halfway back when we were ambushed by a pack of wolves however there was no reason to worry. While the Alicanto species aren''t exactly known for theirbat power the Lords Alicanto has sufficientbat power to defeat this group of wolves. As soon as the wolves approached us the leader was already dead with a fatal case of w to head. The rest of the wolves were cowed with their leader dead. However one wolf was brave enough to charge at the Alicanto, baring its teeth to prepare to bite at the Alicanto''s neck. The other wolves, seeing the courage of theirrades, had finally made up their mind and¡­ ran "Huh" I said out loud the other wolves must be much smarter than we thought. The lone wolf that had dashed towards Alicanto was brutally killed. It was as if the Alicanto had seen the attacking in advance as it had shifted its position to angle its beak toward the eye of the wolf. The wolf was not able to change course in time and was pierced through the eye into the brain. ¡­ There were only a few more interruptions to our little exposition back home but they were all dealt with by the Alicanto. We had nothing to do, just lug and lug our way back home. When we got back the first thing we did was bring all the ore to the storage area set up by Lady Melia. ¡­ "Oh that''s convenient." "What''s convenient?" Aoif asks. "Seems my mining team is back, while we don''t have the copper that we need for the teleportation we do have the iron now." Chapter 19 Awakening ?It had been minutes since their escape from the cave and still there were more spiritsing out of the cave. Sure it had taken the spirits minutes to pierce the caves rocks but after that it was easy for the weaker ones to just follow the footsteps of the stronger ones and escape by their tunnel. The only good news was that they weren''t chasing us. "We should head back to report to our Lords" Iment to Delta beside me. "Yes" Delta replies ¡­ It was a short trip, even shorter if I would have been able to match Delta''s max speed but I wasn''t and so Delta had to slow down so we would not be separated. After we were back to the territory we headed straight to the Lord''s home. "I assume the explosion was your doing, Delta" Aoif uses the moment we arrive into the living room. "Yes" "borate" Aoif orders I take this chance to exin the circumstances of the explosion. "When we got to the cave or the sealed cave would be more urate," Cutting in Darwin interrupts "Sealed cave?" "Yes My Lord, sealed, the cave was sealing in hundreds of thousands of spirits. When we got there there were no traps, just an ominous aura." "No traps?" Aoif asks "why?" "It didn''t need any, the aura was enough to kill any lesser being that stumbled upon it." "After we had got to the end of the cave we found a book." Mentioning the book I pull it out from my pocket and hand it to My Lord. He inspects the book then gestures for me to continue. "Not long after we took the book the seal was broken and countless spirits were let loose. However they weren''t able to immediately escape and while they were breaking out we set down explosives then left and blew the cave up." ¡­ The report from Tama was helpful. It almost fully exins the system''s announcement. "While there is nothing we can do about the spirits right now the good thing is that the spirits have gone to a sub realm so there is no reason for us to seek them now." "On that note after upgrading the territory to tier 8 I have felt a tiny flow of power." "Power, that must be aether!" Tama exims. "Yes that''s what me and Aoif think too" "Delta is a technological tier 3 so we can''t learn much from her but you are a biological tier 4 so you must be able to teach us how to grow, how to train?" Aoif asks Tama in my stead. "I could teach you how to control your aether but any techniques would be beyond me, kitsune techniques are notpatible with other species" "Just that is enough, Thank you Tama" I respond "You learned a technique from me evolving you, yes" "Yes¡­" Tama scepticly asks before realizing "You are going to evolve yourself, you know just how I evolved! Are you absolutely sure!?" "Am I missing something here" Aoif asks "I can trust you, Aoif, right¡­?" "I hope so," Aoif smiles at me with a hopeful look on her face. "Give me more time¡­ no matter how much I know how loyal you are to me it''s just too soon" "That''s fine¡­ anyway Tama can you exin how we would train our Aether reserves?" "It''s pretty simple your aether at the moment is not flowing anywhere, and to get it to flow through your pathways you need someone experienced to find and send aether through them." Tama exins. ¡­ I sat down on the chair then Tama came over to me taking my hand. Closing my eyes I focused on feeling the pathways that Tama was sending her energy through. The aether she sent through first climbed my arm following along a straight line up to my shoulder then branched off into my head, under my eyes, and back. The energy that went to the head and under my eyes then went back down my head to my back and other arm. The energy on the back tapered off around the lower back. "That''s surprising," Tama whispers. "What''s surprising?" "The pathways in the arms and head are allpletely open with part of your back being open too." "Is that good, bad?" "It''s not just good, it''s great." Tama exins "most when awakening their pathways only have part of a limb unblocked but you have three and a half unlocked." "That''s good¡­" I trail off feeling sleepy "Sleep, My Lord, awakenings are always exhausting" "Mmkay" I yawn out ¡­ Now that the Lord is all tucked in I go over to Aoif "Would you like me to unlock your pathways too" "Yes, I would, thank you" Aoif replies. I go about unlocking Aoifs pathways. While she doesn''t have as many pathways as Darwin, the amount is still considerablyrge. With both her arms pathways being unlocked she still is more talented than me who only had one unlocked when I started. ''The amount of talent Darwin and Aoif have are both astonishing, they might even break the barrier'' I think to myself. ¡­ I woke up exhausted. Next to me was an equally exhausted Aoif. Remembering that my pathways were opened I mentally felt over my body and found that the upper back, head, and both arms had energy sitting soundly in it. "Good morning" Aoif says "It''s night, look outside" I say pointing to the dark sky in the window. "Really? It''s still night" Aoif questions "Yeah, turns out we were only knocked out for a little while, speaking of which check your pathways were they unlocked?" While checking her pathways Aoif absentmindedly mumbles "I wonder how those new summons of yours are doing though" "They are limating fine, there were already other Cernian hinds so they most likely just were sent to the pack." "Hmm" Aoif hums in response. "I have pathways in both my arms though the aether in there is just idling" "Mine too I was wondering if we should push it across the pathways now or if we should wait for advice from Tama" "Probably wait, we don''t know what blindly doing that would do, it could be harmless or it could cripple us" "Ok let''s try and sleep the rest of the night and ask in the morning then." Saying that I pull Aoif closer like a teddy bear then snuggle back into the bed closing my eyes to sleep Chapter 20 Awakened ?The sun rose and with it another day. I awoke as is usual for me now, with Aoif snuggling to me. Getting out of bed and doing my daily deeds took barely any time and by the time I was done Tama was in the dining room waiting with food ready for me and Aoif. Aoif barely took any time to do her daily routine either and by the time 10 minutes had passed she had joined us for breakfast. After we had eaten breakfast I go to ask Tama to teach us how to properly use our pathways but before I could do that I get a notification that our purified and raw iron reserves have increased. "Oh that''s convenient." "What''s convenient?" Aoif asks. "Seems my mining team is back, while we don''t have the copper that we need for the teleportation we do have the iron now." "On that note, My Lord, if you are going to do that¡­ a weapon would be of great use" "Can you inform Melia to have the workers make me a spear." "A spear, why not a sword if I may ask My Lord." "The spear is always something that has called to me. Nothing more to it the spear just has always felt natural" "Then I will inform Melia right away then." ¡­ It took Tama no more than 15 minutes to go and inform Melia of my request. "Now that you''re back, what would be the proper way to develop our pathways and reserves?" I ask Tama Sitting down in a nearby seat Tama starts to exin. "First things first, My Lord, both of you are able to feel your pathways, yes" "Yes" both me and Aoif "My Lord, I''ll start with you, give me your hand please." I reach out my hand to Tama and she starts sending her aether into my pathways. "Focus on how the anther flows through your pathways, replicate that on your other arm while I continue circting aether around your arm." Tama instructs me I focus and start to move the aether in my arms in the same pattern that Tama does. It sort of zigzags up the arm thenes back down the same channel. At some point the contact with Tama''s aether is lost but even so I continue to circte my aether on both my arms now. And so I continue to practice losing track of time ¡­ [Congrattions you have reached tier/level 9/5] I don''t know how long it was since I started but by the time I had stopped circting my aether there was an addition to the people in the room. Melia was looking at me with a bitter smile. I wonder why she was giving me that, then I look and see that Aoif and I were both snuggling together while practicing. It seemed that while we were practicing Aoif decided to use myp as a head pillow. I had just not noticed it until now. "I have brought your spear, Darwin" Melia interrupts my thoughts by presenting me with a spear. "Thank you Melia" I say with an awkward smile "Hope it wasn''t too much trouble on the workers to do this" "Oh it wasn''t, they actually enjoyed it, some were originally purposed for weapon making instead of construction before we corrected the mistake. Those ones made your spear it was a great joy for them" ¡­ *earlier* We had orders to make a spear for our Lord. The process is simple but we were weapon makers at heart, making weapons was second nature but we were getting ahead of ourselves before we could even start forging the spear we needed to find a suitably durable price of wood that would fit our Lord''s stature. Then the spearhead could be made. So we began looking for a suitable branch. It took a while but we were able to find it. After we found the stick we stored it then went to begin the process of forging the spearhead. The purified iron would be heated up courtesy of one of the kitsune around. Then we would shape it into a proper spearhead. After the spearhead was made it needed to be sharpened. To do that we first used a stone to align the edge so that it is straight. Then since we don''t have any quartz to make a whetstone with we had to improvise. We had the same kitsune that helped us heat the metal and use their w to scrape at the parts we needed scraped. The way it worked was that the kitsune would scrape at the edge of the spearhead until it was super thin then do the same to all the other edges of it. It took a while but the kitsune was able to give the spear a sharp edge. Although it wasn''t as sharp as it would have been if we had had proper sharpening materials it was still better than anything that we would have been able to make without the help of the Kitsune. After the spearhead was made and sharpened the wood that we picked out was split at the head then the spearhead was inserted with some natural glue that we had made. After that it was further bound with nt fiber that we had harvested from the surrounding nts. The spear was done and so we handed it off to Melia who then headed to the Lord''s house to personally present it. ¡­ I was going to go outside to familiarize myself with the spear but it was already dark out so instead I cleared the living room then swung the spear around, getting in and out of a basic stance. The stance I decided on was the spear pointing downwards with my left foot out tensed and ready to dash. After briefly familiarizing myself with the spear I go to start my self-evolution. [Name: Darwin(can be evolved)] [Territory tier/level: 8/1] [Personal strength: Tier 9/5] [Skills: Dream*] [Dream: Allows the user to view the lives of his subordinates through dreams. Only subordinates with absolute loyalty can be viewed] [Talent: Evolution*] [Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simte evolution in a smaller time frame.] [Warehouse: ¡­] Chapter 21 Self-Evolution(1) ?[Name: Darwin(can be evolved)] [Territory tier/level: 8/1] [Personal strength: Tier 9/5] [Skills: Dream*] [Dream: Allows the user to view the lives of his subordinates through dreams. Only subordinates with absolute loyalty can be viewed] [Talent: Evolution*] [Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simte evolution in a smaller time frame.] [Warehouse: ¡­] Selecting the evolution button doesn''t pull up an evolution window. [Confirm/Deny]] It just pulls the final screen up, honestly it unnerves me. In all my uses of evolution there has always been an option even if it is only one option. Either way I can''t back out now, this world is dangerous, even with the protection of Delta and Tama there are still things that can ovee them. Not even counting that they would have to protect Aoif and I. Strengthening my resolve I pressed the confirm option. ¡­ Darkness, all I could see for the first few seconds was darkness. It was as if all of my senses were turned off for a minute. [You have been sent to the first realm of evolution, progress to tier 8 and/or *#%* to leave/continue] The darkness surrounding my vision disappeared and the view left me stunned. Mountains so tall it seemed like they were taller than the world itself. The mountains were surrounding the biggest tree I had ever seen. Two roots twirling up into a canopy. It was the greenest green I had ever seen. And circling the tree were two dragons, their height indeterminable. All I could infer was that they wererger than the forest below them. Speaking of the forest, from where I was, on top of arge hill adjacent to the base of one of the mountains, the forest was like a whole world in of itself. Just from my position alone I could see hundreds of millions of trees off into the distance. ''It seems I was noticed'' bringing me out of my reverie of the surroundings was a small boar. I set my spear into a ready position. My eyes are firmly focused on the boar. Silently the boar stalks up to me, all the while keeping an eye on the tip of the spear and my tensed muscles. When the boar was in my range I dash as fast as I could simultaneously bringing the tip of the spear to pierce the neck of the boar *TING* Instead of what I was expecting the spear instead bounces off the board hide. It was as if the boar was made of metal. Even if the spear was crudely made it should still have been able to pierce a board hide. While I was shaking off my surprise the Boar advanced. Seeing this at thest moment I try to leap to the side but all I was able to do was stumble to the right narrowly avoiding a fatal hit and instead taking a hit to the left abdomen. "AHH" I cry out in pain. ''Think'' ''What can you do'' ''The spear can''t pierce the boar it isn''t sharp enough to do that'' ''What if I reinforce the spear with aether? That might work'' Not giving me any more time to think the boar advances once again. Clutching my spear in one hand and my wound in another I re at the boar. I start up my pathways directing the dormant aether from my pathways into the ones holding the spear then from those pathways I try and push out the aether onto the spear. Small cuts appear on my hand and what leaks from them Isn''t blood but a glowing green gas. This coalesces onto the spear tip encasing it with a green glow. The spear undergoes a transformation. The wood bes archaic in appearance. Instead of looking like preserved wood it looks like an ancient branch, one that has been fossilized from many centuries of time. The spear tip goes through an even greater transformation, in that it turns from a simple metal spearhead to what looks like some sort of green metal spearhead that ispletely fused into the spear handle. The spearhead was razor sharp from what I could see and swinging it cut the air. This time instead of letting the boare to me I instead charged at it. When I was close enough I did the same thing I did the first time and shed up. The difference this time was that the spear was actually able to cut through the thick hide of the boar. Blood started flowing from the wound. However it wasn''t dead. The cut wasn''t ced in the right ce. Instead of hitting the throat like I intended the spear had hit right under the throat. Although it was fatal given enough time I didn''t want to give it any time to attack so I sidestepped the desperate lunge at me, wincing as my wound acted up. Then I angled my spear down again and struck it right through the skull, skewering the brain. ¡­ [You have advanced to tier/level 9/4] "Hah" "Hah" Sitting down on the ground with my back to a nearby boulder I check my wounds. On my left abdomen is a stab woundpletely exposed where the boar had torn through. Ripping up my clothing I use a long strip of the ripped clothing to bind the wound. After I had done that I checked the notification that the system had sent. It seems like either throughbat or practice your level will go up. I don''t know if that will hold true to breaking through the next tier but for now as my aether had been mostly reset after leveling up I tried to direct it to my wound intending to heal it. I ce the hand that was still bleeding from the reinforcement of the spear onto my wound then use some of my aether to heal my wound, hopefully. ¡­ Green wisps of light escaped from the preexisting cuts and headed towards my wound. The wound gradually patched up but it wasn''t magical. Like one moment the wound was there and the next it wasn''t. It wasn''t like that but instead the wound looked like it had gone through 6 months of healing. *Grumble* My stomach grumbled and I realized how hungry I am not only from fighting but from healing too. "Odd" I say to no one. Chapter 22 Self-Evolution(2) ?Day had turned to night. Without Tamas help it was a difficult journey to get a fire set up. Especially trying to get a fire set up while dying of hunger. I had got it eventually but it was difficult. Even after setting up the fire I also had to cook the boar. ''Weird how reliant I became on Tama, she provided me food, shelter, and protection, only now can I really appreciate how much of a help Tama had been'' I think while I turn the meat I had on the fire over. It was the second time I had started grilling. At first I thought that I would only eat a whole leg but even after eating that my body still needed more energy so I put another boar leg onto the fire. Looking over I could see my spear but no longer was it in its transformed state. After the battle ended and I cut the aether flow, the spear gradually devolved back from its transformed state back into the spear that I had created for me. ¡­ It was after consuming the whole boar that I was finally satisfied and ready to go and explore. I decided that I would go towards the giant tree. Between the giant tree and me was a foreboding forest. Once I pass the treeline and go into the forest I won''t be able to see much. From up here on the hilltop I could see that the canopies of the forest were all touching. That wouldn''t be so bad as long as there were gaps for sunlight but the tree branches were full of leaves blocking all the natural sunlight that I could have gotten. Preparing myself I head into the forest. ¡­ There wasn''t much action in the immediate forest. There were the asional boar or 2 but after I had killed the first one it was exponentially easier to deal with others. Even then the only reason I even struggled to kill the boar in the first ce was that I couldn''t pierce its hide. After I had learned that I could reinforce my spear with aether the boars held no threat to me. But it was because they held not threat that I am still at 9/4. *Growl* x4 It happened as I was killing another boar for the fourth time since entering this forest. I heard 4 distinct growls. Coming from the right of me were two wolves and the front another 2. Circling around me the wolves got ready to pounce. I set myself into a ready stance then flickered my eyes over the two pairs waiting for them to pounce. ''There!'' The first pair pounced on me. I sidestepped to the left avoiding both attacks. As I did I swiped my already reinforced spear up, shing the neck of the first wolf. However the second pair were able to sneak up on me. "AH" The two wolves were both able to take a chunk out of my right leg. With my right leg disabled I wasn''t able to dodge the next attack. ws and teeth tore into my left leg. With both legs out ofmission I fell to the ground. I stared into the waiting eyes of the lead wolf as he stood above me, victory in his eyes. But I wouldn''t go that easily. I didn''t have enough room to use my spear so instead of trying to pick it up I dropped it to the ground freeing my hand. I grab his scruff all the while channeling my aether into my hands. All it did was sharpen my nails and harden my hand but that was enough. I grabbed the wolf that was on my chest about to take a bite out of my neck. Digging my fingers into his neck until I finally drew blood. The other 2 wolves came over to help but it was already toote. I had thrown the wolf I was holding off of me after I hadpletely pierced and crushed it''s windpipe, leaving it to drown in its own blood. The wolf that I had shed in the beginning was already dead having bled out over the wound I had inflicted. I pick back up my spear then try to stand up but my legs fail me. Instead of trying and failing to stand again I gradually scoot myself over to a nearby tree stabbing at the two wolves intermittently to have them back off. When I had my back to the tree the wolves started to get cautious with their attacks. They must have taken me for a wounded animal which are known to be especially aggressive when wounded. I stabbed with one hand and with the other I started the process of healing one of my legs. A green glow spread to my injured leg and in a matter of seconds the wound was healed and mobility restored to the leg. Seeing that I was starting to heal, the wolves were starting to get restless. They upped the frequency of their attacks, starting to get more aggressive instead of slowly trying to overwhelm me. I didn''t waste the time I had been given and started up the healing on my second leg all the while poking the wolves. They started to get more and more desperate but they couldn''t break through my defense without being seriously injured. ¡­ It seems like they knew when to cut their losses as after they saw they weren''t going to be able to kill me before I heal they went over to the corpses under my watchful eye and started dragging them back to somece. After they were gone I went to the boar corpse that I had previously killed before the wolves had arrived and started to skin it. Letting the boar''s blood out while I started on starting a fire. After I was done with the fire I put the boar on to cook and checked my system messages. [you have advanced to tier/level 9/3] Chapter 23 Self-Evolution(3) ?[you have advanced to tier/level 9/3] After I was finished eating I checked the system message. Although I had advanced to level 3 of tier 9 my reserves didn''t feel as if they had increased at all. The only thing that changed was that it was easier to circte my aether around my pathways. As I circted the leftover aether from the fight around my pathways I found it easier and easier to push it outwards towards my skin. Although every time I tried to push my aether out of my skin it would still make cuts, however they weren''t as big as the cuts that were made the first time I reinforced my weapon. Instead of blindly exploring the forest like I had. I instead found a concealed ce. After I was as concealed as I was going to get I started to practice more with my pathways. Starting by circting a strand of aether around all the currently avable pathways. After I had done that for a significant amount of time, I was able to decrease the time of cirction from 10 seconds around all the pathways to 5 seconds to circte it. After I had decreased it to 5 seconds it was getting harder and harder to decrease the time. At first getting it down to 9,8,and 7 seconds only took a couple of rotations each but after trying to get it down to 6 seconds it took up a whole 10 minutes of circtions to increase the speed then a further 30 minutes to get it down to 5 seconds to my current time. Unless I wanted to sink more and more time into this I would need to focus on something else. I have just the perfect thing to work on too. Instead of decreasing the time needed to circte my aether around my pathways, I want to focus on a less injuring way of reinforcing my spear. While I could always just heal the cuts thate from releasing my aether from my hands to the spear it would be much more efficient to instead work on not having to cut myself when reinforcing the spear. To start with I want to try using an even tinier amount so that it may pass through my skin instead of cutting through it. After nning what I wanted to achieve and how I would do it I started. Instead of jumping into the deep end and pushing the aether out I started by trying to control tinier and tinier slips of aether. I kept on practicing that until I was able to, onmand without dy, separate what had to be a strand of aether smaller than a cell. [you have advanced to tier/level 9/1] ''Huh, just controlling my aether to that extent brought me to borderline tier 8.'' I could feel that I was just one step away from advancing to tier 8. Still I didn''t stop practicing, now that I was able to pick out that tiny of a thread I tried to weave it between the cells of my skin, muscles, and bones all the way out to the spear I held in myp. Green wisps of aether appeared outside of my hand. Although there were still tiny cuts, the amount decreased from a staggering 15-20 cuts to only 2. The practice in control was a huge sess. But it could be better. Just this progress showed that there was a possibility to use reinforcement without injuring myself. ¡­ Coming out of my hiding hole after recovering the lost aether from the environment, I saw that the sun had not set. Although many hours had passed the sun was still up, sending down small wisps of light through the canopy of trees covering the forest. I had practiced enough back in my hiding hole but now it was time for exploration. While I would grow in power by hiding, that was only power and strength not in prowess. While some might think there is no difference but there is with strength and power you could kill something of the same level but with prowess someone like me could kill a tier 8. Just like how I could kill those wolves and boars although they had more strength and power than me. ¡­ This time I did not just blindly walk through the forest hoping for something. This time I looked for tracks. I looked for anything that would allow me to either find or hide from predators and prey. However at the moment I had no reference frame on what tracks and scenes were what. So I followed every single track and disturbance I could find. If it was a boar or wolf then I would engage inbat each time trying to minimize the movements I would need to kill them. Each time I would kill one I would get more intimate knowledge of their instincts, or their fighting style, of their power. However no matter how many I had tracked I had found nothing but board and wolves. Of course there were packs of them but that was all. ¡­ I had found something weird. It was after I had gone a great distance, at the very least 10 miles into the forest from my rough estimate, that I came upon a fog wall. I followed the fog wall but from what I could see it did not let up. It surrounded the further parts of the forest blocking me from further exploration. I even tried to attack it with my spear but no damage was done to it. I still followed the fog wall though. There had to be something on that would allow me to go further. ¡­ It was after, from my count, 2 hours of mindlessly following the curve of the fog wall that I came upon a ruin. It looked like an abandoned town,plete with houses, walls, and everything needed for civilization. There was even farnd around the abandoned vige. ''Civilization, what is this¡­'' I whisper to myself. Chapter 24 Lost Civilization ?Passing through the vast agriculture was hauntingly beautiful. The contrast between highly advanced farms and thend being overtaken by nature was both beautiful and haunting. To know that nature will eventually overtake everything is one thing but to see it with my own eyes, the death of what could have been a technologically advanced civilization being brought to its knees by nature, was stunning. As I grew closer to the edge of the city I saw no walls. I wondered how they had defended or if they did not survive precisely because of this. But once I had gotten even closer I sawrge indents of dull metal. I had a sneaking suspicion on what it was but I couldn''t say for sure until I checked. I went over to them to open them up. The hinges of the metal were all rusted but a good sh of my spear was enough to cut them. This allowed me to pry open the surprisingly light pieces of metal attached to the ground. What greeted me was a turret. It was overgrown with moss though so I doubted it would even work. Still being careful I stepped lightly around it hoping that it was out ofmision. ¡­ Exploring the city was an effort well spent. While there wasn''t much to grab there was much to learn. The greatest find in the city was a library. Most of the books had been damaged beyond repair but there were still some that were readable. Chief among them was a journal detailing the process on how their turrets were made. I spent a significant amount of time reading it. Although I could not understand it I could at least regurgitate it to delta if i''m unable to bring the book back. I exited the library carrying a backpack I found abandoned on one of the library seats, filled with books of all kinds. Towards the center of the vige lies a grand manor. It looked like it was used for administrative issues. When I entered there was a reception hall in the first room and further beyond was what seemed to me like conference rooms. Whiteboards with markers lined one side of the wall and chairs offortable make were seated between arge table. I found nothing of use except the whiteboards and markers but they were too big to take with me so I left them. While I could have taken the markers they would have been useless without the whiteboard or some paper which we don''t have. Further down the hallway was a stairway leading up and down. Deciding to go upstairs I found the personal quarters of what seemed to be the lords. The reason I thought it was the lord''s was because of how extravagant it was despite the obvious neglect it had been given. I was tempted to take everything for myself. The silk sheets, the nice tableware, the desk, the pen and paper, the bed. But the only thing I could take was the pen and paper. Searching through the drawers I found a key. I checked all the locks that I had found throughout the house but nothing fit the key. It wasn''t until I went downstairs that I found a corpse locked in what seemed like a jail cell. The corpse had its arms chained to the wall. On the chains and walls near the chains were inscriptions ¡­ I opened the cell to get a better look at the inscriptions on the chains. But as soon as the lock clicked open the corpse came to life. Fully facing me was the face of a monster. What I expected to be a human face turned out to be what seemed like a demon mask fused with a human face. The chains creaked and bones popped. Looking from his face to his arms I saw that slowly the inscriptions were turning red then disappearing. His arms twisted themselves with force I had only seen in the Gaul queens. ¡­ I stared stunned at the corpse¡­ no would it be zombie¡­ demon¡­ whatever it is it was more powerful than anything I had ever fought. Breaking out of my stunned state I throw the backpack to the other side of the room, then start to reinforce my spear. Once it was reinforced I ran towards the corpse aiming to take its heart. ¡­ The spear had pierced it but it had not hit the heart. At thest moment the corpse had finally unchained itself and dodged to the right. While I had hit a lung it was not a fatal hit. Whatever this is, it didn''t need to breath because even with a lung pierced I felt heard no breathing or hitched breath. Quickly pulling my spear back I retreat to the other side of the room. We both stared at each other, each staring at the other trying to evaluate each other''s prowess. He was first to dash, fingers stretched out grabbing at my neck. I dodged to the side while also swinging my spear up to hopefully cut his hand off The corpse reacted fast though changing his grip so that he could grab at the shaft. *SHINK* When I pulled the spear back I was able to cut his palm. Not even flinching at the wound he goes for another dash. This time he was too close for me to try and attack with the spear so I didn''t. I dropped the spear, to the corpses surprise, then I crouched down channeling aether into my hands. My nails grew sharper and my hands sturdier. Using my newly reinforced hands to grab at his neck I tore his jugr out. However, that didn''t immediately kill him. Grabbing on to my wrist he brings up his elbow and smashes it onto my arm breaking the bone. But he''s not done, with eyes knowing that he''s going to die he goes for onest jab efore the life leaves him. I could see the jab, it was going straight for the heart. My eyes widened and a sense of dread filled me. I knew I would not survive this hit. Chapter 25 Hope ?I had no choice. I decisively raised my other hand and chopped my arm off. With a pathetic squirt of blood my arm was severed from my torso. The surprise of chopping my own arm off gave pause to the corpse attacking me. Along with the mobility that I had regained, the act of chopping off my arm gave me a huge adrenaline boost which allowed me to fight through the pain. ? Dropping to the ground I dodged the jab. After I had dodged the jab I then pushed myself off the ground then closed the remaining distance between us and used my remaining hand to gauge his eyes out. However I did not stop there. I went further and got my hand around the rotting carcasses brain and squeezed. Atst the carcass had finally dropped dead. I dropped to the floor panting. That was the closest I had ever been to death. I''m that moment of absolute death, my emotions were muted, my fear, my hesitance, my anxiety. All were gone. I had no hate for the opponent at the time. I only had eyes for my survival and he was in the way so I had done whatever I could to gain an advantage. The act of chopping my arm off was something I never would have done had I not been in that state. ¡­ After mulling over the strange state that I had found myself in in the midst ofbat I went over and picked up my chopped off arm. The still bleeding stump was touched to the arm. Following that I channeled aether into the arm and stump hoping that it would reattach. ¡­ After a stressful few minutes of hoping the arm was finally reattached. It happened. The tendons and muscles of the arm grew and reached out to the stump of my arm. Connecting to the stump the arm firmly reattached, regrowing the skin all the while. It took longer than any other healing I had done with my aether. After I was no longer in pain I checked the system notification that had appeared after the defeat of the corpse. [you have advanced to Tier/Level 8/1] [Returning you to Low-Realm *****] ¡­ When I appeared back in the realm I was met with a wide stare of course it didn''t happen immediately but it felt like it. One moment I''m alone in the room having just appeared the next second Aoif had barged in. "So bright" "Aoif?" "Ah, you have brightened" Dreamily staring into my soul Aoif walks towards me. As she stares for longer a frown appears on her face. "You are injured" "Yes, however it has already healed," I responded. She walks closer to me then takes my hand and leads me towards Delta and Tama who had set up in the other room for the night. "You need food" "I do, how did you know?" She points to my stomach which as we entered the other room growled. The healing of my wound had taken up all of the previous nutrition that I had taken earlier¡­ or is it earlier, time had stopped at the time so would it be the same time. Putting aside the implications of my time shenanigans, I ask Tama to cook me some food. ¡­ While Tama went to prepare food I handed the book on turrets that I found and was apparently able to take from the evolutionary realm, to Delta. Delta takes the book and flips through it. "Are you able to make these?" "Yes" "I need materials we don''t have at the moment though" "If you take Ali, and some workers do you think you would be able to construct some of them in a reasonable time frame. "Some of these materials need to be processed properly with facilities we don''t have but other than that I should be able to construct them." I nod leaving Delta to herself before heading towards the kitchen where I found Tama cooking a veritable feast. I don''t know where she found all the spices as the food she was cooking would have been impossible to make without some spices. I could even smell soy sauce which I had no idea how she went about making. Sitting down at the table I left those thoughts and focused wholly on devouring the food before me. ¡­ "Aoif," I called after a minute of deliberation. "My talent is evolution" "Evolution?" She seemed surprised at the sudden revtion of not only my talent but that I trusted her enough to disclose it. "I can evolve anything, humans, resources, anything you can think of. I most likely can evolve." I borated. Aoif blinked, opening her mouth as if to say something then closing it before she said anything. Instead of just telling her I went a step further and grabbed an aether core from my warehouse. Once it was in my hand I focused on evolving it. Gradually many changes urred to the aether core. First it''s green shine transformed into an iron color then to silver, to gold, then finally after a moment it turned into a brilliant emerald color. Stunned at the evolution, Aoif couldn''t form a thought. When she could, only one thing was on her mind. Finally she brought to words the thoughts she had. With hope in her eyes Aoif asked "Can I evolve, can I see¡­ can I really see for real" "I¡­" "I don''t know, you might be able to but I can''t promise you anything." "Please try¡­" Aoif pleads in a whisper so quiet that the only reason I could hear her was because of how close her face was to me. "I will," I whisper back. Holding her close I hug andfort her. "Sorry" "It''s fine" "Hope isn''t something that happens that often, is it" "No, even when I first got my talent, I could only see monochrome colors and shapes. My vision was still not there despite that." Aoif takes a deep breath before continuing "You were the first color I saw. When your name came upon the announcements it was so brilliant in color. I knew I needed to see you in person." "Now you''ve given me hope, not only can I watch your color but I may even be able to see you." Chapter 26 Interlude: Middle Realm ?"Lord, new low realms have appeared" Sitting upon a golden throne, the Lord raised her head from thezy position it was held upon her hand. "New realms? Have the Gauls already invaded yet?" "Yes my lord, it won''t be long till they break a hole big enough through the veil that we will be able to recruit." "Good, send for the prophets" "Yes my Lord." Leaving the throne room the servant summons a teleportation token before crushing it. ¡­ "Prophet you and your ilk have been summoned to the throne." "You have 5 minutes to prepare yourself." Heading out of the window the servant looks out and sees the prosperous city. Ivory towers pierce the heavens, streets filled with well dressed citizens. The city was a ce of prosperity. But further down barely in the horizon you could see the smoke of an industrial district. Though that was only a smokescreen for the lower ss. They did not know, they couldn''t know. That was where the undesirables were sent. A useless citizen, a rival political figure, a revolutionary, all are sent to that district to work the rest of their days. Sighing, the servant walks back to the middle of the room bringing out another teleportation token, though this one looked more regal. ? The prophets had freshened up. They no longer looked like they had not shaved nor bathed in weeks but now looked like presentable elves of power. ¡­ Once the servant had teleported them to the door of the throne room he opened the door for them all the while announcing their presence. "Lord, I have brought the prophets" The servant kneeled down, head held low to show his subservience. With a wave of his hand, the Lord of Enelia, thergest kingdom of elves in the middle realm, brought the prophets in front of herself. Her golden eyes bore holes into the prophets. "Tell me¡­" she begins her re deepening "Is there any one of significant talent that we need to be wary of" Stuttering the prophets are unable to properly respond for a moment. "You know we cannot see much with the veil over the low realms, however from what we have seen there are no outliers this time" the prophets respectfully exin. "None¡­" "Then exin why the spies have gathered evidence of more than a dozen queen Gauls have been ughtered only a handful of hours after their initial arrival" The re of the Lord deepens. "You are lying there is something of significance in those low realms." "There is none!" The head prophet hurriedly exims trying to cover up for his lies. "Have him executed, I have given them a chance and they have chosen to forsake their lives." "Yes my Lord." ¡­ I brought the prophets to the execution chamber before leaving them with the royal executioner. After that I went back to the throne room where my Lord was waiting for me. "Walk with me" she orders "Do you think I was too harsh?" "Your decisions are final my Lord, if you thought it was right then it was right" "Stop with the pleasantries, I want to know not as a lord but as a sister, as a fellow high elf" "If you would allow me then I would say no you were not to harsh" "They were given their chance, to be allowed to live even after their own empire was put to ruin us the greatest mercy but to forsake that mercy is deserving of death" "Even if they would have been useful as tier 3 powers" "Yes even so, traitors should not be kept" Nodding as if she had gotten her answer she waves me off with onest instruction. "Send some tier 7 and 8 scouts into the low realms; we can not rely on the information of another race for long." ¡­ The Gaul race were like a beehive with only one exception; they had a king instead of a queen. They were a conqueror species meaning they had the tools to pierce the lower realms veil and invade. Although it took much resources for only being able to send up to tier 6 and at the moment tier 8''s into the lower realms. Even then that was usually enough in the early stages however¡­ "Your telling me that an encampment was not only destroyed but dozens of queens have been killed" the king of the Gaul''s roared in frustration. Swinging his arm the messenger''s head was cut off. Several servants descended upon the corpse cannibalizing the dead body. "What of the elves had our assault on their front been sessful." The Lordmanded, pointing at one of his advisors. "My lord, the fronts have been shattered, our troops are being overwhelmed." "Ipetent fool! We outnumbered them 30 to 1. How!!?" "It appears an ascended has appeared amongst them." Another advisor stated covering for the cowering advisor. "An ascended! The elves have another!" "Pull the troops back. I will personally deal with this." "Send more troops and queens to the low realm, you can even send the army we had withdrawn." The Gaul lordmanded. ¡­ We had been sent to survey the low realm that had killed countless Gaul. We arrived in a vast forest. Filled with vegetation it was a perfect environment for us elves. What we had seen so far was disappointing. The humans as they were called were ipetent inbat. They might be useful for technology seeing as some had guns. Although that wasn''t impressive, what was impressive was that they had developed those before being transported here. Most species that were transmigrated to the inter-realmpetition were species of strength or low technology. It wasn''t until they had developed their strength to a certain level that they had a need for advanced technology. The guns were not aether conductive so they would not be useful against anything over tier 8 but if they were properly taught to make aether conductive weapons they would be a massive boost to the lords kingdom. However they were not aether conductive. ¡­ When we had arrived back to the kingdom we were immediately ushered Into the lords study to report on our intelligence. ¡­ "I see, a perfect subordinate species then." The lord smiled after hearing of their technological prowess. "Send for the exploration team to set up an outpost we will be recruiting" "Yes my Lord" Chapter 27 A Step Forwards ?[Name: Aoif(can be evolved)] [Territory tier/level 8/9] [Personal strength: Tier 9/1] [Skills: None] [Talent: Sight*] [Sight: A tier 3 talent which allows the user to see the world in order of potential] [Evolve:Confirm/Deny] "Ready?" "Yes" "Remember, I can''t guarantee you your sight but from what I''ve found and somewhat experienced you can not die but mental injuries still remain¡­" "Please be safe¡­" "I will" A sly smile lit up Aoif''s face and before I could react Aoif pulled me in and gave me a chaste kiss. Ending the kiss Alif hugs me then whispers in my ear. "No matter what you''ll always be mine and I yours" Finishing with that possessivement she jerked my hand forcing me to press the evolve option. Disappearing in motes of purple light, I was still stunned by the bold actions. It wasn''t that I didn''t like it. It was just that our rtionship had evolved much faster than I could have ever imagined. Touching my lips I couldn''t help but feel that I wanted more. ¡­ Once Darwin had chosen to evolve me I was transported somewhere. Even with my talent of sight I still couldn''t see anything, not even the monochrome shapes of the world. It was all darkness just as it had always been. The darkness never receded. I tried and tried desperately to somehow see something. But nothing was working. It was like my talent of sight had beenpletely removed. I couldn''t feel anything either, when I reached out my hand to feel something, I couldn''t even feel the push of the wind. I could not see, I could not feel, I couldn''t even hear my own voice. It was like a sensory deprivation chamber. The only thing keeping me from panicking was that I could feel my aether and whatever the aether had touched. Calming down I decided to test if I could do anything about myck of touch. I quickly circted my aether to my fingertips being careful not to push it out of my skin. Finally regaining feeling in my fingertips I brush them around. I feel the cold walls of a rough surface. ¡­ I had been feeling for what felt like years that it became instinct. At any point I could use my aether to feel around everywhere and I took splice in that fact. Though the sensory deprivation was getting to me. No matter how much I felt I still couldn''t hear. So my next step would be to channel aether into my ears. I don''t have open pathways in my head so I need to figure out how to do that. ''That''s how'' I start to channel aether into my fingertips but this time instead of letting it circte around I push it out. I bring up my fingertips to my ear then push the aether into my ear canals. I could hear again. It was only out of one ear but after that sess I hurried to push aether through my other ear. As soon as I did that I heard a ding. [you have advanced to Tier/Level 8/1] ¡­ When I appeared back it was to the sight of a still stunned Darwin. Taking advantage of that I lunged at him. Tackling him and I to the ground. I finally had my sense of touch and hearing back. Just feeling my skin on his was so satisfying. I just started petting him. After a while of me taking advantage of Darwin he finally snapped out of his stunned state. ¡­ "Aoif¡­?" "What are you doing?" "Hugging you" she sinctly answered snuggling closer and petting my hair all the while. Whatever she had gone through in her evolution must have affected her greatly, so I do nothing, I just let her do whatever she wants. "My Lor¡­" Tama interrupts before seeing the situation I am in. A small reading smile appears on her face but she doesn''t say anything, just keeps that smile all the while exining. "The Gaul''s have started to get more aggressive." Instead of gesturing or asking for her to continue I just nod my head. "We have detected arge horde of them heading in our general direction, would you like me or Delta to intercept.?" "Yes, have Delta stay here though." "Yes, have Delta stay here, I wouldn''t want to overtake you in points." Aoif intejects, pulling her head away from the crook of my neck to speak. ¡­ Intercepting the Gaul''s was an easy affair. No matter where they go they leave destruction in their wake. They have no respect for nature, the fires they leave behind are not extinguished resulting in charred trees. The trees are cut down to serve as benches for their temporary camps and left to rot dead. It was easy to follow their obvious trails. It hadn''t even been an hour before I had caught up to them. They were just getting ready to leave. The queens were corralling the workers from their slumber. It was the perfect time to attack. Dropping down from the tree I was observing them from I cast an illusion making mepletely invisible to all their senses. If this was thest me it would have been a great strain to do this but now it barely took a trickle of aether to control their senses. I conjured a solid illusion in the shape of a sword. One by one the queens died to my de. At no point did any one of them even realize that they were being killed. Once the queens were killed it only left the mindless workers. Although it didn''t take much effort to kill the queens, that was because of the low number of them. There were only 30 queens but each of those weremanding a legion of 200. How they got those numbers in the short time we had left them to their devices, I don''t know but still that was over 6,000 worker Gauls, each having thebat power of a tier/level 9/5. Of course it wouldn''t be a problem to kill them all but for me to do that alone would take hours. Instead I went with something more efficient. I had never tried this before, but now was as good as ever to try. Instead of them not seeing anything I made an illusion of them killing themselves then imposed that reality on the realm. I''m just a moment all of my aether was gone. I fell to the floor gasping for breath. However I never looked away and what I saw gave me a smile. Every single worker Gaul in their vast army was stabbing themselves through the eye and into their brain killing themselves. ¡­ [The invasion of the Gaul species has ended. Their main force has been annihted. Congrattions on surviving your first invasion. The veil protecting this realm will disappear in a month''s time. Prepare and good luck] Chapter 28 Rewards ?[The invasion of the Gaul species has ended. Their main force has been annihted. Congrattions on surviving your first invasion. The veil protecting this realm will disappear in a month''s time. Prepare and good luck] [Rewards will be distributed ording to rank] [first ce will be given 5 rolls, fourth 4, And so on] 1. Darwin (61,800) 2. Aoif (2000) 3. Anael (1500) 4. Mihr (1200) 5. Michael (1000) ¡­ [Rolling¡­] [You have rolled a 7, 19, 4, 20, and 2] [You have received 3 Rot aways, a research building blueprint, and one talent upgrade] [Your rewards have been sent to your warehouse please confirm] Opening up my warehouse I check the item descriptions. [3x Rot Away] [Allows the user to preserve food without rot infecting it, can be ced in a warehouse to keep all rot away from stored food] [Research building blueprint] [Allows for the building of a research building where technology can be developed rapidly.(50 units of refined steel, 50 units of stone, 50 units of wood, 2 silver tier aether cores)] [Skill: Research of new blueprints boosted by 20% for each tier this building is] [Talent Upgrade Token] [Upgrades the user''s talent by one tier.] ¡­ "These are amazing" I whispered to Aoif. "Nn¡­ What''d you get?" Aoif sleepily said. Still muzzled in the crevice of my neck Aoif hadn''t even looked at the rewards she had gotten instead asking on mine. "I got 3 rot aways, which will allow us to preserve food for longer than was possible with the rot constantly rotting our food." "That''s good, not amazing though, what else did you get?" Aoif asked, giving me puppy dog eyes. "The subordinate contract?" "Unfortunately no, but I did get a research building blueprint and Talent Upgrade token" "That''s great but isn''t your talent already the highest tier possible" "Apparently not, it''s still possible to upgrade my talent further." "Really, how much more effective will it be!" Aoif looked really excited and I couldn''t me her. If my talent was upgraded further I might be able to grant her a better chance to actually see. "I don''t know yet" I responded, bringing out the token, "But we can find out now." "Not now, I want to find out what I got too, if the stuff you got was so good" ¡­ [Rolling¡­] [You have rolled a 17, 10, 17,and 11] [You have received 2 housing blueprints, 1 rot away, and 1 warehouse blueprint] [2x Housing blueprint] [Provides a blueprint for housing of all species.(20 units of Wood, 20 units of Stone, 10 units of raw iron)] [Skill: People who rest in these houses need 2 hours less of sleep to function] [Warehouse blueprint] [allows you to build a warehouse which can store arge amount of materials.(20 units of wood, 20 units of stone, 1 iron tier aether core)] [Skill: Allows the owner of the warehouse to automatically distribute resources to other projects independently] ¡­ "I got a Warehouse blueprint and two housing blueprints." Aoif reports to me giving me a little cheeky smile. "That''s great," I smile, "Do we have the materials to make it?" I turn my head, asking Tama, who had just walked back in from her ughter. "Also anything unusual happen out there" "Nothing too important now" Tama replies. ¡­ Earlier(POV Mole guy) [HOW THE FUCK!!] [I know right, Dude, how the hell did Darwin get that many points.] [If you guys had read the notifications you might have put two and two together and inferred that Darwin annihted the enemies main force.] [We know that dipshit, we were asking how he killed that many.] [I saw the main force] [What! Really?] [What happened?] [It was terrifying there were at least thousands of them. I even saw a dozen queens in the mix.] [Did you see how they died?] [Yeah, how did they die] [I''m not clear but it looked like some of the Queen''s throats were split. Then after that all the Worker Gauls just disappeared.] [Did you see anything else?] Just as I was typing how I saw the cutest kitsune gasp for air after killing all the Gaul workers, I was suddenly picked up the throat. "Finish typing that and you die." An icy re was directed toward me. My heart leapt into my throat. "Ye¡­ yes Ma''am" I stutter out at the threat. I was thrown at a tree. There wasn''t enough force to injure me but there was enough for me to feel the pain. "Good, now dispel their worries. Know that I know what you are typing." Going back to the chat log I see the constant messages asking for me to borate. Rather than typing what I was going to write, I instead, under threat of death, type what the scarydy wants me to. [I saw nothing else, sorry guys.] [Suspicious¡­ Suspicious.] [Seriously guys I saw nothing else.] [Didn''t sound like you didn''t see anything else.] I close the chat after looking at the next few messages and abating them a bit more. Looking back up at the woman that had threatened me I ask, "You are Darwin''s subordinate right?" Cursing myself, I couldn''t have just let thedy leave but had to interrupt her exit. "Hmm" she hummed, "What of it." "I.. I just wanted to know¡­" I stutter out. "Well now you know, say anything and you die, I have your face and scent you will not survive." With that final threat the Kitsune leaves. ¡­ Tama(POV) Throughout the whole interaction I was conflicted. On the one hand that human is part of my Lord''s species but on the other he was going to expose my abilities. How? I don''t know but he was typing something to someone. Walking through the door of the house I''m greeted by Darwin asking me something. "That''s great," Darwin smiled, "Do we have the materials to make it?" Darwin turned his head, asking me "Also, was there anything unusual that happened while you were out there?" He continued. "Nothing too important now" I reply. Chapter 29 Ascendent Tier ?"I apologize, My lord but currently we do not have the materials to make the blueprints you speak of right now, most of the humans we have have been focused on gathering food and using the materials that they do gather for construction work." I say, sighing a little at theck of raw materials her lord had stockpiled. "However with the surplus of humans the ash trees are producing we can spare a couple dozen to create a few resource gathering teams." "That''s good, what about food, do we have enough to feed all my subjects if we suddenly assign some for resource gathering." My Lord asks me. "That is not my area of governance, however I know that we have to devote arge amount of our forces to gather food. If you want to know more about the specifics you would have to go and ask Melia." ¡­ Once Tama had left the house Darwin took out the talent upgrade token. I stared at his color watching the hesitation flicker back and forth. "Do it¡­" I whisper to my beloved giving him a peck on the cheek. Understanding Darwin crushes the token. Immediately he is cloaked in an expansive green aura. My sight talent was so overwhelmed in that moment that I was physically pushed back from my spot atop Darwin''sp. The monochrome world I could see was gone. Instead filled with nothing but a cocoon of light surrounding the kaleidoscope of colors that was Darwin. What felt like hours passed as I was stunned silent just watching, staring at the cocoon as it made major and minute changes to Darwin''s color. A moment of reflection passed me as I realized the color of Darwin isn''t just a color but his soul. It was so obvious to me but I guess up until now I had just not thought of it. Another brilliant sh of light and the kaleidoscope that was Darwin''s soul had finished its metamorphosis. I walk up to him and pick up his slowly falling body. Darwin''s eyes were closed, a deep sleep obviously caused by the growth of his soul. Carrying him to the bedroom I only hit myself on a couple things. I was proud of that seeing as how my only means of vision was disabled by the evolution of Darwin''s soul ¡­ I woke to the sight of several system messages. [Congrattions your talent has been upgraded to the ascendent tier.] [Talent: Evolution*(Tier: Ascendent)] [System Evolution: Your talent of evolution now not only can evolve living and non-living beings but can also evolve system buildings.] [Dual Evolution: two beings of your choice now evolve together. Warning: Dual Evolution is inherently linked, any two beings evolved together will grow so close that it would be painful for them to separate.] "Aoif, wake up" I gently nudged Aoif as I tried to wake her up. "Nnn" she groaned, hugging closer to me trying to snuggle my arm so that it couldn''t nudge her anymore. Seeing that Aoif didn''t want to wake, a weird instinct arose inside me telling me to wake her with a different method. Instead of trying to nudge her awake I steal her lips. "Ahh" a small moan is muffled by my mouth as I deeply kiss her. As our lips part a pout appears on her face. "You decide to take the initiative now?" Flipping us over her on top of me she continues. "When I was asleep. You could have done it at any time and I would have reciprocated" An intense look appears on her face although she most likely did not realize it. "You weren''t waking up and my instinct told me to do this" "Mm¡­ instinct" Ignoring her little flush at my answer I continue. "I wanted to inform you of my upgraded talent" Taking a deep breath I read out the description and the added note on what had upgraded. "Wait, we can evolve together now!?" Aoif sounded so excited at that notion that she had forgone all notions of volume control and yelled in my ear. "Yes, we can, although before we do anything more I want to check if I can upgrade the house with my talent now." I respond. "Mkay" Aoif responded, getting up from her position on top of me. ¡­ [Crowns house] [Tier/Level: 8/1] [can be evolved up to the personal strength of the talent holder ignoring the material costs.] "Ah" I pouted. Although I could forgo the needed materials for the upgrading of my territory I could only evolve it up to my personal strength. Which right now is standing at the same 8/1 as my house. ¡­ I had gathered the necessary resources needed for the building of the warehouse. It hadn''t even taken the better part of thirty minutes to gather the wood and stone that was needed for the building of the warehouse. Although the most time consuming task was the gathering of an iron tier aether core. We couldn''t just take from our stockpile of aether cores, most of what we had been hunting for food had bronze tier cores and rarely would wee upon one that had a green bronze tier core. We had never truly hunted for the aether cores as it had not been necessary at the time. However it was needed this time. So I had ordered a group of my subordinates to go and hunt down one. Although kitsunes could inherently find prey in short amounts of time, it took over half a day to find a tier 7 existence that they could kill for the iron core. It was like this ce had been scrubbed of higher life forms. However, thinking about it now, it made sense. This ce was supposed to be thending point of a new species entering the Great Realm Competition, it wouldn''t do for them to be instantly killed by something that if given enough time they would be able to conquer on their own. Anyway I approached the Lord''s house intending to inform the lord of our sess in our objectives. Chapter 30 Further Effects Of Evolution ?"Here" pulling out the warehouse blueprint I hand it over to Darwin. "Thank you" A brightening of his soul shows me how grateful he is. Is it weird that I can tell emotions by the soul, I don''t know but what I do know is how grateful I am to be able to see the emotions of my beloved. ¡­ As I follow Darwin around holding his hand as he goes to find a good ce for the warehouse that I had given him, I reflect on the past few days of my life. The first sight of Darwin''s color, or what I can now identify as his soul, was the first sign of what was toe. The beauty of that soul was breathtaking and took all of my soul. I felt an unknown emotion bloom in my heart. For as long as I have been, there was nothing but ckness and an overwhelming feeling of loneliness. No matter how much love and kindness I was shown, I knew that it was all pity. Even my parents and my siblings with their ever epassing love were overshadowed by the pity I could feel flowing off of them. But when I saw that soul it blew me away. For the first time in my life there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I knew that if I wanted something, even if I wanted to just stare all day that that soul would be there. Darwin may not know it yet but his soul is deeply connected to me. At every moment I was near the soul was pulling him towards me. I knew at that very moment that he was mine and I his. ¡­ A stop in movement brought me from my mncholy. "Here''s a good ce" Using my new sensory abilities I could feel what Darwin felt. That was how I knew that he was pointing towards a plot ofnd. It was a testament to his trust in me that my aether was not rejected by his body at all. Earlier I would not have thought anything of it as it had felt natural but apparently anyone with pathways have a natural aether resistance that activates in response to a foreign flow of aether. ¡­ While we were waiting for the building to construct itself after Darwin had used the blueprint I checked on my status. What greeted me shocked me. [Name: Aoif] [Territory tier/level 8/9] [Personal strength: Tier8/1] [Skills: Aether Location] [Allows the user of this skill to use aether as a substitute for their sense of touch,*****,*******, *****, and *****] [Talent: Soul Sight*] [Soul Sight: An evolved version of the tier 3 talent sight which allows the user to see the world in order of potential along with the emotions and attachments of souls] "Something wrong, Aoif" "Later" I responded, there was no reason to disturb him while we were developing his territory. "Ok" there was a concerned look in his eyes but I was able to convey that it was not important at the moment. ¡­ "Delta" I call, "Yes, Aoif?" "Help melt down the extra iron ore into refined steel." Nodding her head Delta goes to follow her instructions. Turning my sight back onto Darwin, he understands my intentions. Darwin brings out 2 bronze aether cores from his stock of them. One at a time Darwin evolves the cores. Going through the evolution, the cores are quickly evolved from bronze tier into silver tier. ¡­ After Darwin had deposited the newly evolved aether cores into the newly built warehouse, he guided me over to the grove of ash trees where the nymph Melia lived. What greeted me was shocking. Instead of the monochrome gray that every living being has for a soul, the workers that were being birthed from the trees actually glowed a dull green bronze. Of course they were nothingpared to my beloved but it was still a shock to know that there were so many humans of potential under Darwin. Leading me to the residence of Melia, I was quickly overwhelmed by all the presences that were all trying to smother me with motherly affection. It seems that the nymph''s that Darwin had summoned were all stuck in a perpetually motherly mood. I hid even closer to Darwin. Instead of only standing next to him holding his hand, I instead pulled myself to his harm hiding myself in his embrace. Sensing my difort I could feel the re that he had weathered upon the Nymph''s that had caused me that difort. Soon enough, without the distraction of the nymph''s we had ended up in Melia''s house. ¡­ The discussions went over my head. It wasn''t that I could not understand what they were saying, it was just that Darwin was especially bold today. Instead of us sitting in separate seats like we normally would, he instead plopped me down in hisp. The whole meeting with Melia I was entirely focused on Darwin. The only annoying thing about it was that sometimes I could hear a faint "Ara" "Ara"ing from Melia despite how much I was trying to ignore her and snuggle close to Darwin. ¡­ By the time we were done with the meeting, Delta had found us. "Aoif, Darwin" She greeted us. "I have refined the steel that you needed" With the steel being produced there was nothing missing for the construction of the research building that Darwin wanted to have built. ? ¡­ Entering the research building was weird. All my sensors were giving me increased outputs. The usual data that I could sense was being refined further than what I could do on my own. I wanted to study this phenomenon further but orders were orders. Aoif had ordered me to research the turrets and other technological defenses that we could make with our current resources and so I would. However with the amount of resources we had even if I downgraded the blueprints I had to ount for the quality of materials we currently had, we would only be able to make a few. So instead of doing that I focused my processing power on making blueprints for efficient supply lines and automated refineries. The supply line technologies would increase our currently limited resources and the refineries would solve the low grade of resources we currently have. Finishing with the nning I got to work. Chapter 31 Birth Of A Dead Man ?We had been assigned to gather wood from the nearby logs. Our supervisor however had ordered us to not chop any trees in a 3 mile radius of our territory. So here we were with three hounds pulling some new carriages built by someone. We weren''t privy to that information, all we needed to know was where we were to gather resources and how much we needed to gather. The gathering part was easy just fill up the three carts to their limits. ording to the specifications of the carts it could hold up to 1000 pounds or 100 units of a resource. It was turning night when we had finally filled thest cart. It was with a gasp that one of my fellow workers was shot in the throat. A hopeless look appeared in his eyes¡­ The life bleeding out of him. There was nothing we could do to save him. No amount of rushing would get us back to the territory where there might be a chance to save him. It was with those thoughts that a fury grew in the stomachs of myrades. Quickly all those that had saw the death alerted the others but by that time with our guards down another 5 were killed. The only good thing toe from this was the location of our adversaries. There were some to the front of us and more at the back. More than half of the arrows hade from the front but they hade one at a time. That was a sign that there was only one or two people at the front. The back on the other hand saw to it that there were 5 or more arrows flying at the same time. While us workers personally couldn''t do anything since we were not equipped to handle unseen enemies, the ceryneian hounds could. I signal for the two beside me to go unhook the hounds from the ropes binding them to the carts. Holding up my hand I count down from three with my fingers. On one the one to my left dashes from where we were hiding, behind one of the carts, to the cart on my left and the person on my right to the right. I on the other hand dashed towards the ropes on the hound we were hiding behind. With deft fingers the rope was quickly released. However our efforts had not gone unnoticed as an arrow had pierced the torso of the one to my left. I could see him fighting through the pain to get to the other cart. I couldn''t help him though this was his mission and to put myself out there was to put another person at risk. It was my job to make sure that everyone made it back and I had already failed that. However I was not willing to sacrifice more lives for the small chance to save one. The hind that I had released was currently dashing towards the trees, sniffing out an unknown enemy. ¡­ POV Anael It had gone so smoothly. Kill a huge chunk of them in a surprise attack then injure or kill the rest depending on how they responded. Then those¡­ those¡­ They definitely looked like humans, but there was no way that any amount of people thatrge could have met yet. Anyway those people, humans, humans I''ll call them for now. Anyway they had unleashed something¡­ At first I thought they were just letting their pack animals to report back to their territory but no. As soon as they were unleashed everything went wrong. The majority of his summons were killed in an instant. The hounds that were unleashed looked like they had teleported. They were just that fast. Of course I, the great Anael, the warlord, had good instincts. So I ran at the first sight of their movement. ¡­ I ran and I ran, I could feel them on my back. I could reason as to why I was not killed but for now I needed to keep running. Back to base I may not be able to kill them myself but maybe the myriad of summons conquered from other crowns could be of some help. Surely it couldn''t ughter my army of 10 tier 8 summons. Smirking to myself I continued on my way back to the territory. As I got closer I activated my talent. [Fear] [Fear: a tier 9 talent that allows the user to rule through fear.] Although the skill didn''t sound too impressive it allowed me tomand my troops through fear. As long as they feared me they would obey. As I got closer and closer to my territory I saw not fear and trepidation in their eyes but a deep seated anger. "What are you waiting for, kill that hound!" I yelled at them but no one answered. It was like they no longer feared me. ''Why!'' ''WHY!!!'' I yelled and raged in my head. It was supposed to be mine. Everything this new world had to offer it was supposed to be mine. As if answering my question the system rang [Your talent Fear has failed in its activation] "Pft" "Hahahaha" Iughed and howled but the only thing that answered me back was the disdaining gazes of the summons I liberated from their former masters. Thest thing in my vision was the glint of a knife. "Tch, waste of space." ¡­ [Your talent fear has evolved] [Gained the tier 8 talent fear of death] [Fear of death: a tier 8 talent that allows you toe back from the dead as a skeleton if sufficient fear has been gathered] "Hahahahaah!!!" Damn those bastards. I looked at my hands and saw nothing but the bone white glow of a skeleton. ''No need for Allie''s, I''ll kill them all'' An unknown notification rang unknowingly to me. [You have forsaken your chance at being the ruling crown, crown system deactivating] [Adventure system activating] Chapter 32 Pandora’s Box (1) ?"Has the copper been gathered" "Yes, My Lord, it has been deposited in the warehouse." "That''s good" I reply absentmindedly, taking out an aether core. ''Evolve'' I evolved the core until it was the highest I could make it, white emerald. It was after I had finished evolving the core that I realized how powerful it was. Before when I hadst evolved a core to this level I had not had any personal power nor did I have my pathways open. Now that I did I could feel the overwhelming aether flowing out of the core. Taking a breath filled my lungs with aether which was quickly dissolved and circted into my pathways. [You have advanced to Tier/Level 8/3] Looking at the notification I couldn''t help but gasp. It had only taken a couple of seconds but just breathing the aether emitted from the core brought me up 2 levels. The core was snatched from my hand before I could even think of doing anything else. "Don''t my Lord you risk aether poisoning if you breathe in that amount of aether in such a short amount of time." With the aether core in her hand the ambient aether that I had been breathing in lessened. "Ok" taking a shaky breath I stepped out of the room to the forest outside to get fresh air. My mind was fuzzy, it was like I had inhaled toxic fumes. "I have ced the core in a secure location, My Lord" Tama came out of the house walking towards me. After she had gotten close enough she pulled me down to sit. "Sit, my Lord, this is your first time experiencing an overdose of aether" "Overdose?" I ask "Yes, your body is not yet used to aether in such high densities at such a close proximity." "Breath in and out" as Tama directed my breathing she handed me a stick. "Reinforce this or just coat it, it does not matter, my Lord, you just need to use the aether stuck in you. "Mmkay" I hum, already focusing on manipting the aether in my arms, head, and back to all flow towards my fingertips. A vast amount of aether, more than I had ever handled even when I was pushing myself to the limit in my evolutionary realm. The stick instead of evolving as I had been used to instead decayed. Instead of the vibrant green aether I was used to, a corrupted gray flew out. The stick reflecting this change in aether started to decay instead grow. Until eventually it turned to dust. Another stick was in my hand before I knew it. This time the aether I exerted was only partially gray. Again and again my aether grew ever closer to the green that I had known. ¡­ "Hah" Finally after an exhausting time my aether had finally turned back to green. I look up to find a chastising looking from Tama. "I know that you did not know better my Lord, what you did was incredibly dangerous." Her look softened and her voice fell, "Greater men have tried and greater men have died" "That method is not suitable for anyone, the act of absorbing an aether core is inherently dangerous even when it is only the same tier as you" "Same tier, what do you mean?" I ask, seeing her pause in her exnation. "As you know aether cores are categorized by their color but those colors can correspond to different tiers." "Nn ok" I groan out growing increasingly exhausted as the seconds wane by. ¡­ It was to the sound of construction that I woke up. Looking around I found that I was in my bed, however Aoif was not there. Heading outside I found where Aoif was. The backyard of the house had arge empty space that we currently had not used. But now there was a huge doorway. Engraved with ipressible markings the white emerald glow of the portal emanated outwards. [Pandora''s Portal] [Allows crown''a to traverse to the Pandora sub-realm] ¡­ "Only crown''s" "It seems so" Going back inside I grab my spear that was resting upon my desk. With Aoif following me I ready myself to enter. "Wait here I''ll be back" before I could lean down to give her a goodbye she pulls herself to my arm and with a determined look deres imperiously, "I''ming with" I go to respond, to point out the potential danger. But nothinges to my mind, for some reason every argument I have with myself leads back to one conclusion. I want Aoif by my side, I want to protect her. That means that I need to let her grow, toe with me and fight is better than leaving her with nobat abilities at all. After much deliberation I finally agree and with a nod of my head and a hand holding hers I step in. ¡­ [Wee to Pandora''s Realm] [Exorcize the spirits and get rewards] With the ck out of our visions I finally saw the new realm we were in along with an oddly peppy system. "Aoif" I ask looking around and seeing nothing "Yes" a distant voice echoes. Sighing in relief I see that Aoif had just been transported to a distant grove. Walking over to the voice of Aoif I find a strangely empty grove. Suspicion filled me, I knew that Aoif would not have left and if she had she would have been able to find me despite herck of vision. A glint of something metallic was the only warning given to me. Quickly swinging my spear up and by instinct reinforcing it I hit something. Immediately I jumped back before the projectiles following it could hit me. *THUNK* *THUNK* *THUNK* Looking towards where the objects hadnded I found a strangely w shaped dagger. Before I could examine it closer more objects were thrown at me. I knew I could not hit these out of the air like I had done the previous so instead of trying I instead ran straight towards them. *SHINK* *SHINK* *SHINK* The projectiles that I could not dodge were wedged into ces I deemed non fatal. By the time another volley of those w-like daggers had been sent I was close enough to see what I was facing. It was a silhouette of a woman, wrapped in cloth like armor and a veil covering her head. "*&^%**^ ^%$$&*" It spoke an unknownnguage. However that did not stop the creature, ghost, it didn''t matter from attacking me. I finally found out what those daggers were. Turns out they were actually ws. Whenever she would wave her hands, the ws attached to her hand would beunched in a volley. Of course at such a distance I was unable to dodge, so I did the next best thing I charged straight at her, spear at the ready. As soon as I got into striking range I shed upwards. The creature tried to dodge but she was too close. [You have killed a remnant of the veiled guard.] [You have gained¡­] Chapter 33 Pandora’s Box (2) ?Stepping through the portal I could feel the separation. No longer was I holding Darwin''s hand. No longer could I see his soul. It was disorienting but not unexpected. I insisted exactly for reasons such as this. When I am caught unaware, in an unfamiliar ce surrounded by what I perceived as enemies. So that I could defend myself. The countless dying souls could attest to this fact. Whenever one came past me I could see the resentment in the soul. It was at that moment that I felt regret, not that I came here, no, but that I didn''t prepare ordingly. I had no weapon with me. Mybat prowess was limited by not only theck of weapons but the fact that I don''t have any training. ''I need to find Darwin'' I thought to myself, that was the only logical solution. ''Darwin can protect me'' with that thought I started to look at the souls and their routes After watching for a bit I found that there were ces where those souls wouldn''t go. I don''t know why but that was my route. I couldn''t afford to engage with them so instead I would avoid them. ¡­ It was with a carefully nned route that I found myself wandering. With no way of knowing where Darwin is I had to just wander until I found the light of his soul. While I couldn''t avoid the natural obstacles of the realm I could n a route where wherever I go would not be inhabited by any malevolent souls. With wandering as my direction I wandered wherever I could. The only consideration I took was to stay out of the malevolent souls'' sight. While I was avoiding the souls I picked up a stick and tried to reinforce it like I saw Darwin do. It was a difficult process, every time that I tried I would have to open a cut on my hand letting my white colored aether flow out in gaseous form. Even once I had done that it did not get easier. To control the aether outside of my body took considerable effort. Once I had enough control over the aether I let out into the air I carefully directed it to the stick. *CRACK* The stick didn''t evenst a second, the moment my aether had touched it the stick died. It was weird for a second I could see a soul. But immediately after I saw the soul my aether touched it and it was gone. Trying again I pick up another stick but this time instead of trying to touch it with my aether I try to infuse it. Slowly through the same cut the gaseous white aether flowed out but this time I put it under the tightest control I could. This time I push the aether further into the stick I had picked up. I could see a soul forming in the stick I had infused and I aimed exactly at that. White edges appeared along the stick''s soul slowly overtaking the stick. By the time the white aether hadpletely taken over the stick, it had undergone aplete transformation. Instead of the brown branch that it was, it now looked like a dagger. The stick had shortened to about twice the length of my hand and the end of it was sharp. It fit in my hand perfectly. *WOOSH* *WOOSH* shing at the air to test the de I can hear the wind being shed. ¡­ So caught up in my reverie of the de I hold I fail to notice the soul sneaking up behind me. The only warning that I had gotten was the sh of light in the otherwise ck world that I saw. It was trying to sneak up upon me and had seeded in doing so. By the time I had noticed it it was within arms length of myself. The soul looked as if it was going to sh at my right so I preemptively dodged to the left. *SLASH* "AHH" I cried out. It seemed that I didn''t dodge correctly as I was still shed at the hip, a long gash appearing at my side. I turned toward my right swinging the dagger toward the soul. Adrenaline fueling my body I pushed the dagger with all my strength. *SLASH* The dagger cut through the soul like a hot knife through butter. Before I knew it the soul was cut in half. And in those half''s I could see a dot. In a desperation of adrenaline I didn''t let up in my attack and with both hands pushed my dagger with as much strength as I could towards the dot that was revealed. *UUAAHH* A shrieking cry was made the moment my dagger pierced the soul''s dot. And after a moment the soulpletely disappeared. ¡­ "Hah" "Hah" I panted my legs giving out on me dropping me to the ground. A deep tiredness appeared as the dregs of adrenaline left my body The shing wound that that soul had given me was still bleeding though so I could not sleep. Although I could not see the wound I could still feel it. Once I had a good grasp of where it is I tore a piece of my clothing off then wrapped it around the wound all the while giving pressure to the wound. Slowly I breathed in and out. I could not ck out here. The loss of blood was making me lightheaded and after I had bandaged the wound my body was starting to get more and more tired with no objective to fulfill. Slowly my eyelids started to fall. I held out as much as I could but I could not resist the pull of sleep. ¡­ *GROWL* I didn''t wake up normally, instead I woke up to the growl of my stomach. Groggily getting up I try to call for Tama but then remember where I was. Putting my hand back on my wound I apply more pressure hoping to kill the pain that was aching me. "Aoif?!" Turning my head I see Darwin approaching me. "Are you okay" fussing over me he checks my wound. *GROWL* another growl of my stomach interrupts him. I could sense a sly emotion from his soul. Bringing his hand to my wound I feel his aether enveloping my wound and soon enough the torn muscle and skin are patched up. Picking me up in a piggyback carry he whispers to me. "Come on let''s go find some food" Chapter 34 Reunited ?It had been a little over an hour after I had first killed one of the veiled guards. I had been actively hunting them. One after another the veiled guards died. However I hadn''t gone unscathed Unfortunately for me every 2 or 3 veiled guards were able to retain theirbat instincts. Currently I was fighting one of those. Countless cuts had been inflicted upon me, no matter how I tried to advance the veiled guard was able to predict and stop me from moving forwards. I was stuck in a never ending loop of either dodging and deflecting. I could feel the slowly developing wounds on me. No matter how I tried to dodge or how I tried to deflect of course there were some that I couldn''t either dodge or deflect its throwing knives. The wounds added up the more that I got the slower and more wounds I received. I knew that I couldn''t keep this up for long. A final gambit was what I needed to do. To give uppletely on defense and focuspletely on offense. I knew that afterwards I could heal any minor or major wound that I received but that still wasn''t an excuse to let myself get hit. Guided by my instincts I give uppletely on defense. I crouch down and push with all my strength. The distance between us was minimal but even that felt like a great divider. The 50 feet between us was hard for me to even advance upon. With all pretenses of defense gone I could focus on gaining ground. I ignored every non fatal hit, letting them strike me. My shoulders, my stomach, my knees, everywhere around me were struck with the veiled guards'' daggers. But even that did not stop me, guided by instinct I grew closer and closer. I could see The panic in the guards'' eyes, no matter what it did I just ignored it growing ever closer. My right arm was disabled, a desperate flurry of des flying into the muscles and hand. Even that I ignored it, as long as one arm was functional I could kill it. Eventually I had made it into striking range. Pivoting with my right foot I brought my body sideways to the guard then shed up. Cutting through the veiled guards'' knife the spear cleaved through his body ending the battle. "Curse you, damned brat¡­" a whisper was thest thing I heard of him before his body vanished into motes of gray light. ¡­ [You have killed a remnant of the veiled guard.] [You have gainedprehension and a fragment of the veil(10/1000)] Every veiled guard would reward me with a fragment of the veil andprehension. Comprehension let me understand the culture andnguage of the veiled guards'' species. I don''t know what the fragment of the veil does but just looking at the ridiculous condition to obtain it spoke of its value. I only ever got 1 fragment for every veiled guard that I killed. Finishing with those thoughts I brought my hand to the freshest wounds, channeling my aether into them to elerate their healing. ¡­ After I was done healing all the wounds that I could, I started to reflect on the battle. That was the first time that I had taken so many wounds despite clearly having the strength advantage. ''I had inferior skill.'' That was the only conclusion. Maybe if I was stronger skill would not have mattered but the fact is, I could not end the battle faster because I could not use the strength in my legs better, I could not skillfully wield my spear in a way that would have deflected all the projectiles thrown. I could not dexterously dodge the projectiles to get closer. I had to make a final gambit and gamble with my life just to defeat an enemy I knew for a fact was weaker than me. A fire lit in my heart. ''I need to be better'' ¡­ It was with that thought that I wandered more, even if I was just recovering from my previous injustices I kept wandering. Every time I encountered a veiled guard that kept its skills I would give it my all from the very beginning trying new tactics and techniques. For some I would immediately rush at them, uncaring of the minor injuries I received and only focusing on blocking the fatal attacks. For others I took a more cautionary approach. I would observe from a distance and when I thought that I could, I would try and ambush the veiled guards. Most of the time I was using the first method. It seemed to work best for me, the second method would without a doubt fail every time and I would be forced to use the first method. [You have killed a remnant of the veiled guard.] [You have gainedprehension and a fragment of the veil(25/1000)] It was getting dark and so I found a tall tree that I could scale and fell asleep. ¡­ When I awoke I continued my search. It must have been after hours of searching, killing, healing myself, then back to searching that I found Aoif. "Aoif?!" I call her head turning at my voice. "Are you okay" I ran over to her checking the wound on her abdomen. *GROWL* another growl of my stomach interrupts him. A sly smile forms in my face as I hear the growl of her stomach. cing my hand over her wound I channel my aether to heal her. I''m just a few seconds the wound is back to normal however I need to get her food to replenish the energy that my healing had taken. I pick Aoif up then ce her on my back hands supporting her legs. "Come on let''s go find some food" "Nn" with a grumble of agreement I set off, Aiof on my back. ¡­ By the time we had found anything edible my stomach was already protesting. Thend around us was lush but there were no animals to kill nor things to eat. This led to a desperate search as both of us were hungry from previous exertions. Eventually we did find a small orange like tree that we could pick from. I ced Aoif down next to a nearby tree and started to pick the orange like fruits. Once I had a decent amount I ced them next to Aoif and peeled them for her. Handing her the peeled oranges she munched on them like a chipmunk. Holding the orange like pieces with both hands and taking wide bites. She devoured them with gusto at one point she stuffed her mouth so much that she struggled to swallow. Of course I helped her but it was a cute sight to see Aoif''s cheeks full and her pouting because she could not munch on more. I had started eating them too once I had seen that Aoif had gotten her share. It was with a moment of silence both her head resting on my shoulder that she suggested that we evolve together. "Here, now" "Yes, I know I''m weak. I could barely kill that soul that attacked me but I want to be stronger." "I''ll always protect you though we don''t have to do this now we could do it when we get back." I tried to reason. "I know you can but I don''t want to be protected. I want to stand side by side with you" her face was filled with determination, her hands curled into fists. This was something Aoif wanted, no needed to do, I could see it in her bodynguage, I could see it in her eyes. "I¡­" I couldn''t respond, the raw emotion captivated me, so I just nodded numbly. Chapter 35 Dual Evolution(1) ?[Evolution targets, Darwin and Aoif] [Confirm/Deny] I confirmed the selection and it brought me down to a drop down menu. [Select an environment(note different environments facilitate different types of evolution.)] [ins] [Swamp] [Forest] [Coast] This was new, after I had upgraded my talent everything was the same except for the obvious changes that the system pointed out. Even when I was evolving that aether core to white emerald the options were the same. But now that I am trying to evolve myself and Aoif it introduced environments? I don''t know what each one will do. They might give me different resistances, have different enemies, it could be anything but for now I was just going to take the ins option. "Ready" I asked Aoif after deciding on the environment. "Yes" with that I confirmed my option. ¡­ With a green light we were transported to the ins. As far as the eye could see was green with grass, littered with small trees. Next to me Aoif was there still holding on to my hand though her grip had tightened. Her other was tightly gripping the knife that I had just now noticed she held. Aoif was tense though I didn''t know why. ¡­ When I appeared here with Darwin I had noticed hundreds of thousands of souls. Holding onto the knife and Darwin''s hand tightly I went to say something as it seems that Darwin hadn''t noticed the enemies judging by thex grip he had on his spear. I could tell that it wasx because as soon as I appeared here I used my aether to feel what Darwin was physically feeling. "There are lots of enemies¡­" I mumble. Still tense at the amount. Tensing up at my warning Darwin asks, "Where I can''t see them." I raise my hand to point at the closest soul to us. "They''re getting closer" I tell Darwin. "Ok, tell me when they get intobat range" I watch the souls and try to track where they are going. Some are heading straight towards us while others are just wandering around. I lead us to the nearest one and have Darwin pierce it. ¡­ Aoif had led me here and told me to stab this certain spot. *STAB* I had stapled at the spot and could feel some resistance which surprised me for multiple reasons. For one the reinforced spear I use has, to this point, never felt resistance when shing or stabbing something and two that I couldn''t sense nor see it at all. I never doubted Aoif but the fact that I couldn''t sense anything was weird. But then a flicker of something reached my eyes. While looking around I could see things, weird little lights that flickered this way and that. Looking down on Aoif I saw a brilliant violet color suffusing her. ¡­ It was after the first soul died that I started to see. Not the soul sight that I usually see but actual color and shapes. It was only for a second but that was enough. I could see what Darwin could see. I saw him holding my hand, and looking at me from his perspective. ¡­ I was brought out of my thoughts by the charging of hundreds of souls. "More are charging at us" I inform Darwin Brandishing my dagger I step in front of him. What I saw from his perspective showed me he could not perceive them at all, so I must attack in his stead. When the first approached me I dashed at it with one hand on my dagger. Once I had gotten close enough I brought the dagger up and shed at the soul. *CLANG* The sound of metal hitting metal was heard. *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* I tried again and again but no matter the approach or where I sh it would not cut through. With moreing from behind it I eventually retreated back to Darwin who was just standing there watching me. I could tell because I saw myself when I had charged at the soul. I saw from his eyes how I had ran over and continued to sh at nothing before eventually retreating. ¡­ "It seems that only I can kill the souls while only you can see them" I thought out loud to Aoif. "Seems so" Aoif answered. "Let me try something" I say before focusing. I focused on the feeling that I got when I saw through Aoif''s vision. ''There'' after a short while of focusing I was getting shes of Aoif''s vision. "Did it work?" Aoif questioned, "I tried to send you my vision" "It did," I reply smiling. The few shes I got were enough, every time I saw a sh I could see where they were, however I could only see from Aoif''s perspective so I had to keep in mind the depth and my respective position. *SLASH* Pushing my spear up to sh at the soul I cut it in half with only minimal resistance. I could see more advancing on me though. Instead of letting theme at me I charged at them. Stabbing and piercing this and that way I killed hundreds of them. It was weird that there was no resistance. However I wasn''t going to look a gift horse in the mouth so I kept going. ¡­ It had been hours since I had started battling the souls and finally they had retaliated. It had gotten a bit on my nerves, the way that they took all the punishment that I dealt to them without any response. It was when I was dashing to kill one that I saw from Aoif''s eyes the easing of a souls hand. It was behind my soul in her vision so I followed my instincts and rolled to the side. *BOOOM* A huge crater was the result of that attack, even just the wind from the attack blew me back to where Aoif was standing. ¡­ I crashed into Aoif who had already held her hands up bracing herself to catch me. *CRASH* We bothnded on the ground her under me and I on top of her. Quickly getting up I ready myself. Eyes closed so I could focus on the souls that were attacking through Aoif''s eyes. Chapter 36 Dual Evolution(2) ?The soul that had threw me onto Aoif started advancing. Slowly, gradually the soul approached, with heavy footfalls that even I could feel, the weight of his soul was overwhelming. Quickly getting up, I grabbed my dropped spear. The reinforcement on the spear had ended. I reinforced it again bringing my aether into the spear transforming it back into the majestic spear that it had been before. Looking back, Aoif had already gotten up too, with a determined nce at each other and a nod we understood what we had to do. ¡­ *CLANG* The sound of a dagger hitting metal was heard. Aoif''s attack was deflected, the attention of the soul being taken by her. I could see from Aoif''s point of view the great fist that was raised. Poised to kill Aoif, I could feel the trust in me she had. It wasforting but I could not revel in that feeling for I had a role to y. With the souls all focusing on Aoif I approached. With the greatest strength I could muster, tempered by the fear for Aoif I pushed. For a second everything stopped. The pounding of my heart, the fist raised above Aoif''s head, her impending doom, and the spear poised to cut that hand off. I could see it all. I could see lines of attack, I could see the exact angle needed to cut off the arm of the soul. Without another millisecond to think I just followed the line. *SLASH* The soul''s ethereal arm was cut, dissipating into the distance. I could feel the shock of the soul through Aoif''s eyes. The spear I was holding still high in the air, the image of my soul all shed before my eyes. All from Aoif''s perspective. However I could not dwell on that, I needed to finish off the soul before the other hulking souls finished crossing the distance. With my spear still almostpletely perpendicr to the ground, I twisted it so the sharp edge was facing the soul then with my other hand pulled the spear down along with my body and swept to the right cutting the still shocked soul in half. From Aoif''s perspective again I could see a dot in the middle of the cut soul. Bringing my spear back I pierced up right into the bottom of the dot killing the soul for good. ¡­ From Aoif''s perspective I could see that another 3 had crossed the distance and approached us. Looking to her I nodded, no more words were needed and we both charged her using my perspective to see and I hers to find the souls. *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* With three swift shes Aoif had drawn the attention of all three. As the first was going to attack I didn''t let it. *SLASH* Following the lines I cut off the head of the one closest to Aoif then with my offhand coated in aether formed into a fist I punched at the exposed dot of the soul dissipating it into nothing. *CLANG* *CLANG* Looking over to Aoif''s perspective I could see her struggling to parry the other two souls. For some reason their massive strength had not affected Aoif. Whenever she had parried one of them she would only be pushed back a foot or two. Quickly dashing over to her I found myself being parried then punched through the stomach. The one that hadn''t attacked Aoif yet in fear of hitting the other one had intercepted me. The fist of it was raised and when I had tried to kill the other one had surprised me by parrying my attack then while I was still disoriented from the force of the blow piercing my stomach. I was quickly thrown into the distance away from where Aoif would have been able to safely retreat toward me. I quickly analyzed this while holding a hand to my stomach a weak green light working hard to patch the wound. The pain was overwhelming but the concern and worry of Aoif overwhelmed me allowing me to focus on healing. Aoif who had saw this through my perspective tried to retreat back towards me taking hits here and there from the aftereffects of the souls attacks. She hadn''t been directly hit but the souls were smart enough to know that their direct attack''s impact would be nullified. The soul that had parried me was slowly approaching me. It was a relief to see that even inbat these were still this slow. ¡­ It was with heavy wounds that Aoif hade back to me, now defending me from two souls. As Aoif looked into the distance I could see from her perspective 10 or more enemies approaching. These ones were actually armed, with ethereal swords, spears, and bows. I tried to heal myself faster by infusing more aether into my wound. ¡­ A stronger green light appeared and healed my wounds in record time. In just a matter of seconds my wound had disappeared, however I also felt inexplicable strength in my core. I was back up on my feet and helping Aoif parry the attacks. ''There'' A line of attack had appeared. I followed it and cut one of the souls in half, then when the dot appeared I pivoted on my left foot and shed back up, splitting the dot in two and killing the soul. After I had killed that one the other was easy to kill with Aoif distracting it and I killing it. ¡­ Ethereal arrows that only Aoif could see started to rain down upon us as soon as I had killed thest of the three. "It seems that the next wave of enemies only appears after we have killed the previous ones." I tell Aoif, voicing my suspicions. "Seems so¡­" she mumbles, focusing on the arrows raining onto us. I stood to the side of Aoif leaving her room to see where the arrows arending and which ones I should parry and which I should dodge. The ones aimed at Aoif I parried and the ones aimed at me I dodged. ¡­ With her dagger in hand Aoif started to parry the stray ones that I couldn''t get. I was willing to put my body in the way, to protect her but she insisted. The only reason that this even happened was because as the other souls with melee weapons got closer the ones with the bows started to shoot more seeing as they would soon lose their opportunity of attack. *WOOSH* *WOOSH* *WOOOSH* A final volley was sent in to the air. Hundreds of arrows all converging into a cloud of death. ============ A/N: next chapter iing in about an hour and a half or so Also power stones if you would please :) Chapter 37 Dual Evolution (3) ?There was no way that I nor Aoif were going toe out of this unscathed so with quick thinking I tackled Aoif to the ground, my back to the air. *SWOOSH* Out of the hundreds of arrows that were fired in that volley there was only 10 or so that hit my back. I was thankful for that. "Nnn Aoif, if you would please." Nodding at me Aoif climbs out from under me and feeling up my back starts to remove the arrows from my back. With a grunt of pain all the arrows were taken out of my back. My back was bleeding and I could feel the worry that Aoif was projecting onto me. ¡­ The armored souls were upon us. Aoif went to draw their attention to her but something unexpected happened. Instead of the ng of metal bouncing off of metal their armor was cut. It wasn''t arge cut nor did it do much damage but it was damage. We both had seen it. The shock stopped us for a bit but the slicing motion of another soul''s ethereal sword chopping down on Aoif brought me out of my shock. I charged, one hand on my spear the other was on my leg. The one on my leg was channeling aether into the muscles. Slowly the imperfections in my legs were undone leaving them with the perfected muscles that only hundreds of generations of targeted evolution could seed in. The boost to my legs allowed me to cross the distance in an instant. It almost felt like I was teleporting. *CLANG* The sword falling upon Aoif was blocked by the shaft of my spear. It was at that moment that my vision expanded. No longer was I relying on the shared vision of Aoif and I to see the souls but I could see them with my own eyes. A burst of intense emotion was felt from the side. Instinctually I sentforting feelings through my soul. ¡­ ''I could see'' I could see, it was a bittersweet emotion that fell upon me. Even with the hope that Darwin had given me, I never thought that I would be able to see this soon A watery feeling flew down my face blurring my vision. It was then that I felt something. fort~ A sense offort was sent to me. It brought me back from my tears. I had something to do, I could cryter. It had happened in mere seconds but that little bit of vulnerability was what brought two devastating attacks upon me. *CLANG* *SLASH* One I could block with the dagger I held but the other was able to cut through my defense and sh at my arm. With my good arm I dashed towards the one that I had blocked. *SLASH* *SLASH* *PIERCE* With two quick shes to break the guard of the soul and one final pierce the soul that I had blocked fell back into nothingness. After I was done with that I fell back to Darwin who had with the assistance of my soul sight killed three more. Seeing my injury he retreated to a safe distance with me. A green glow upon my wound and the wound was healed. ¡­ We charged back in, no word needed to be said. I initially attacked drawing the attention of the soul onto me while also breaking its guard allowing Darwin to go in and with two shes the soul was dead. Continuing with this pattern, aside from the minor wounds I received when the soul wasn''t killed in time, the ughter was quickly done. Hundreds of souls dissipated into nothingness. ¡­ [Congrattions you have advance to tier/level: 7/1] It was after thetest ughter, our energy exhausted that we were finally teleported back to wherever in the pandora realm we were. With a final message congratting us for advancing to tier 7 we were back. Now that the evolution was done the revtions of what happened dawned upon us. Aoif was looking around reveling in all the sights she could now see. While she was looking around I sent her feelings offort while looking at my status. [Name: Darwin(can be evolved)] [Territory tier/level: 8/1] [Personal strength: Tier 7/1] [Skills: Dream*, Shared Senses*] [Dream: Allows the user to view the lives of his subordinates through dreams. Only subordinates with absolute loyalty can be viewed] [Shared Senses: Allows the user of this skill to connect to the other user''s senses and see as they see. Or the user can use the other''s sense of sight as their own. [Talent: Evolution*] ¡­ I was taking in the sights. I could see everything clearly no longer was I blind. For just a minute or two I took in the sights, the trees around me, the grass on the ground, the foliage, I was raking in everything. After a bit I took my sight of that and took my first look at Darwin''s actual appearance. Cloudy blue eyes, a round cute face, long brown, blonde hair going past his shoulders. He was so cute. It could be that he was the first human that I had actually seen or maybe it was the personal connection I had to Darwin but excluding that I knew that he was my ideal, he was my type. I wanted him. I want Darwin. ''He will be mine'' I think posesively. A smile forms on my face as an ideaes to mind. Darwin had never minded no matter how much physical contact I had initiated on him. I pounce on him. My lips puckered as I toppled him to the ground and stole his lips. There was no resistance to my kiss so I deepened it. "Mnnn" a small moan left my lips as I separated from him. "Ahh" I was rolled over. Darwin had taken the initiative and started to kiss me even harder. Though he didn''t do that at first He peckered kisses on my neck leading up to the side of my lips before he took them. I could feel my cheeks redden as the excitement overwhelmed me. "Hah" "Hah" We both panted. "I love you" ¡­ I don''t know if I had said it first or him but we both partied it to each other nonstop, all the while frantically kissing each other expressing our love in words and with physical actions. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- A/N: a bit of fluff and Darwin and Aoif finally confess to each other. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Now power stones please :) Chapter 38 Temptation(R18) ?A/N:This chapter is the reason I added the r18 tag *Wink* *Wink* If you want more you know what to do. Power stones if you would :) ¡ª¡ª¡ª It was with reluctance that we parted from each other. As much as we would want to continue the passionate kissing that we had been doing for the past hour we couldn''t. Not while we were still in Pandora''s realm. Now that I had ess to Aoif''s sight I was able to see the locations of the veiled guards. That meant that I could hunt them with better efficiency. However the temptation of what was under me was too overwhelming and with the temptation that I felting from her I looked down. What greeted me was the sight of a flushed Aoif that I was on top of. ''It wouldn''t hurt to stay here for a little while longer would it'' I was brought out of my thoughts by the small moan of Aoif "AHnnn" I had unconsciously been petting her giving her pleasure. I gave up on resisting the temptation and stole Aoif''s lips. ¡­ "Ahn" A lewd muffled moan left Aoif''s lips when I slipped my tongue into her mouth while also bringing my finger down onto her exposed breast. At some point during our frantic kissing session her clothes had been ruffled and her breast had been uncovered. "Ah" "ah" My constant teasing had primed her. With dexterous hands I slipped a finger onto Aoif''s panties moving them to the side. I slipped a finger into her and hooked it. It was easy to get my finger into her despite how tight she was. The constant forey that we had done had left her soaking. With the addition of my finger into her exposed pussy she leaked even more fluids. Feeling the finger prating her Aoif started to hump at it trying to get more and more pleasure from the act. The pleasure was immense for her, this being both mine and her first time doing anything like this we were both incredibly sensitive. I hooked a second finger into her and with a loud moan she climaxed spraying a waterfall of fluids onto my hand. ¡­ Looking at Aoif cloudy eyes and all she had the brightest smile I had ever seen on her. "Thank you" she muttered her eyes fluttering "Thank you for the greatest day I could ever have" with that she fell asleep, hands holding tight to my back, head on my shoulders. I could feel a wetness on my knee however I didn''t mind it just showed that I was did good. To be honest to myself I was nervous the whole time. I never intended for this to reach the level of intimacy that we had just done. All I wanted to do was kiss her andfort her but she kept pushing further and further, unconsciously projecting emotions of lust. My new soul sight had picked up on that and had stoked my own mes of lust which then transferred to her creating a loop that wasn''t broken until she fell asleep in my arms. ¡­ [Would you like to leave Pandora''s realm] [yes/no] Usually with an inferior gate to Pandora''s realm you would need to wait for a certain amount of time before you were forced to leave but for ours we were admitted an unlimited amount of time in Pandora''s realm and were allowed to leave whenever we wanted. I decided for the both of us that it would be better to leave. With what we had done and what we had aplished, it was more than we had ever intended in the first ce. So with a click of the button and a sh of light we were before the gate to Pandora''s realm that we had used to get in. In that time, about two days if my calctions were correct, my territory had undergone massive changes. The most obvious thing would be the massive turrets being constructed around the perimeter of my territory. Of course it want at the actual perimeter as my territory was spread throughout at least 10''s of kilometers Speaking of the territory I needed to evolve it now that I was tier 7. I approached the house, entering and carefully putting theatose Aoif into bed. [Crowns house] [Tier/Level: 8/1(can be evolved)] I clicked the option to evolve it and a massive change happened. Instead of a square house that we sat in, the house twisted and turned into a hollowed tree. I knew it was a hollowed tree because once I activated the evolution me and Aoif were kicked outside and were there to watch the whole thing. "Nnn" Aoif groaned "can we go back in and sleep" she continued with a sleepy yawn. "Yeah, let''s go back inside and check out the upgrades." I picked up Aoif as I said that. She was curled in the nket that I tucked her in with. Her purple hair was matted with sweat from our previous activities. Once we were back inside I looked around for a bit before I found the bedroom and dropped Aoif off on the bed. "I''ll be back" "You better I want to cuddle" Aoif said imperiously, giving me a yful re all the while. "Of course" I respond with an easy going smile on my face. ¡­ Going back outside I go and find Delta and Tama. It was only after wandering for a bit that I found them. "My, Lord, your ba¡­" Tama stopped mid sentence before sniffing the air. "Ahem" Tama cleared her throat, "you should take a bath my Lord" "Ahh" realizing what Tama meant I looked away in embarrassment. "Yeah maybe I should, we can talkter." ¡­ I sped walked back to the house, it was embarrassing that I had forgotten about the stench of our lovemaking. I should have taken a bath before but it had not crossed my mind. Once I was back in the house I walked around for a bit taking in the new house while looking for the bathroom. The new house had three stories. The first one was a massive kitchen, with a nice wooden table and chairs. The second floor was the living room, it had all you needed to rx. The couches were soft although they were made of wood. How that could have been I don''t know but I was so engrossed in finding the bathroom that I didn''t really think about it more. The third floor had my room where I had left Aoif. Next to the bedroom was the bathroom I was looking for. Quickly I started the bath. While I waited for the bath to fill I wondered where the water wasing from. I wondered even as I got into the bath. It was while I was thinking of tat that I saw the small symbols etched into the shower head and tub. They looked like chicken scratch but they were emanating a super tiny amount of aether. Studying them closer it looked like there were patterns of that chicken scratch. It was with studying those runes that I upied myself with while absentmindedly bathing using the magically appearing soap. By the time I was done with the bath I had understood nothing but that some runes generated water while others did things like heating. I could tell by the feeling of the ambient Aether the runes were giving off. Some felt hot while others had this flow to them, there were also some that I couldn''t decipher by their feel but for now I had to get back to Aoif, I had made a promise. Chapter 39 Interlude: Talentless ?I was born with no talent. I was an average guy, an average job, an average life. Though there was nothing toin about. It was still normal but normal was fine for me, I liked my job, I liked my life, there was no reason to want more. There were no aspirations I had in life except for a good retirement and maybe a couple of kids and even more grandkids to spoil. That was until life gave me the middle finger and dropped me into the realm war. At first I was confused but then I just startedughing. "Heh¡­ hahahahaha" ''how typical a mass isekai and still I was average, still I had no talent.'' I thought to myself. It was at that moment that a part of me something that I had always thought lost reignited, the spark of passion, the me of ambition lit my mind like a bomb going off. ¡­ With renewed ambition I started to think. If the system wants me to conquer the realms, then I''ll oblige. A manic grin appeared on my face, I''ll even do the system one further. ''I''ll do you one further system, I''ll conquer you, I''ll make you kneel!'' Opening up my warehouse I pull out the free summoning token given to all crowns. With a little sh of light a token appeared in my hand, the one given to us by the system. Crushing it filled the space in front of me with a steel gray light. ¡­ Arge gray mole. "Tch" I clicked my tongue. A mole, even thinking now it would not help me much. I could burrow in the ground but would that not hollow my ambitions. I am changed, I have opportunities. I checked my pockets. I had been summoned in the middle of mymute to work. Luckily I was born into the Land of the Free and with that came my gun. 50 bullets, a pistol. That was what I was left with, my only other weapon I''m on hand was a small pocket knife. It came with a small tinder starting thingy. I don''t know what it was called but I did know that it would allow me to kindle a fire. ¡­ I kept my pistol at the ready. Proper gun safety ingrained in my head had me in a proper stance. My dress shoes were muddy and that was a problem. Not an immediate one but if I didn''t want trench foot to infect me I needed to deal with that. Lurking through the swamp that I had found myself in my mole summon by my side I was trying to find a way out of where I was. If I was to go against the system then I would first have to y by its rules and the first thing to do would be to find a suitable ce to establish my territory. *ROOOOOAAAAAR* Arge roar interrupts my thoughts, the mole behind me cowering in fear. Bringing up my gun I aim it at where the sound came from. ¡­ It was a tense few seconds but after a while I could see something in the distance. I couldn''t tell what it was, it''s hide camouging itself in the swampy water of the swamp. Whatever it was, it was growing closer to me. I aimed my pistol at it but didn''t shoot. I have a limited amount of Ammon that I could use and I wasn''t going to waste it on a shot that I was unable to hit urately. ¡­ The creature that had previously roared at me grew close enough for me to identify it as a crocodile. However it wasn''t any crocodile that you would see on the discovery channel this one was at the very least a one and a half times as big and even emanated a ferocious aura. The mole that I had summoned could do nothing but cower me however I had a clear shot so I took it. *BOOM* The signature boom of a gun went off and the head of the crocodile was pierced by the bullet. However it wasn''t dead yet so I continued to pepper it with 3 more rounds each one taking a bit of time to check if it was dead or not. Even with the risk of injury I couldn''t waste the billets I had. That was why I didn''t just mag dump the crocodile. The mole behind me after seeing that the crocodile was dead looked at me with reverential eyes. ¡­ "Can you dig here?" I ask the mole, pointing at a patch of ground. I had decided I would not be the greatest above ground for now seeing as Darwin and Aoif were dominating the fame board, however I could use the mole to my advantage. The mole that I had was not normal like I had thought but he could dig through solid stone. The n was to create an underground kingdom. There was nothing more to it, I would dig and dig and stockpile resources trading with neighboring crowns while building up a military. ¡­ "Whew" I wiped the sweat from my brow, a decent living space had been made. It took me and the mole a couple of hours but we were able to make a tiny house though it waspletely covered in darkness, the entryway being sealed shut by the mole at mymand. Next to me was the corpse of the crocodile and some dry tinder to start a fire. While I was fiddling with the tinder starter from my knife I established the territory with the system. [Establish territory] The system asked and I confirmed. Immediately the living space transformed. Instead of the wet space we had it was now lit up with lights and had a wooden bed. A smile lit up my face, it was not pretty but it was a start. ¡ª¡ª Phew Chapter 2 for today is done Power stones now if you would :) Chapter 40 Cloaked In Shadows ?Instead of waking up to the sun, I woke up naturally. Usually I would have the blinds open so that the sun could wake me up with its rising. However, today was different. I had forgotten to open the blinds in my hurry to get back to Aoif in bed. Thinking of Aoif, I turn my head to see the still sleeping face of Aoif. I wanted to just go back to sleep with her but I couldn''t. Once I had woken up I was up, so instead of struggling futilely to go back to sleep I gave Aoif a couple pecks on the forehead to wake her. It didn''t take long for Aoif''s eyes to start to flicker, she was waking up. Nestled between my arms, the first thing Aoif did when she woke was to nuzzle her head into the crook of my neck then yfully nip at me. A sly smirk was on her as she projected feelings of joy towards me. I didn''t give into the temptation though and flipped her off me then got off the bed. "Come on, let''s go take a shower." A small pout was on her face as she realized that we couldn''t just stay in bed. After a moment of deliberation where I could feel her choose between the bed and the shower with me Aoif relented and got up. ¡­ Nothing untoward happened while we were taking a shower, except for a bit of light teasing. Nothing else happened. Once we were dressed again we went down to the kitchen where we found Tama waiting for us. Tama had already made a big breakfast for us,ying down 3 separate dishes. Of course they tasted nd but we had no seasonings to cook them with so there was nothing that we could do. It was after breakfast that I found myself and Aoif back at the summoning pool. "This will summon a random species?" Aoif asked "Yeah, it''s how I got Tama, the nymphs, and the hinds that you saw" I responded, gesturing to the summoning pool. "Lately it is just giving me more of the hinds, it seems that the summoning pool only summons a limited amount of things." With a mentalmand I start the summoning. ''Summon'' ¡­ What appeared before me was a surprise, I thought that the kitsunes and the Meliae were just strokes of luck. The previous few times that I had summoned I had just gotten more Ceryneian Hinds, however this time it was different. The six lights that I had expected to turn into more of hinds instead coalesced into smaller and smaller shapes until I was left with sixrge eagles. [Species: Aethon] [Name: N/A] [Tier/Level: 6/1] [Skills: Bloodletting] [Bloodletting: Allows the user of the skill to create wounds that cannot be closed by anything other than natural healing] The eagle looking animals screeched, then with a p of their powerful wingsnded in front of Aoif and I. Looking at them I gesture for them to follow, I couldn''t think of any use for them at the moment but I took them with me regardless. Theirbat power could be useful if nothing else. The fact that they were tier 6 was a testament to their strength even now while me and Aoif are at tier 7 we could break boulders with a punch unenhanced by aether. Not that I could reliably do that yet. The constant growth in power while fast didn''t allow us to develop anyplex techniques. The most I could do at the moment was a reinforcement on my weapon, healing, and a slight boost in strength of a specific limb. Thest one I hadn''t particrly mastered yet but given time I would be able to do it unconsciously. ¡­ "Melia¡­" I started to address her but was cut off by the res of two heavily armed individuals. In their offhand was Melia held by the throat. Seeing us they turned to me as if I was their original target. The one holding Melia by the throat threw her off, making sure to hit squeeze the air out of her throat while doing that. I could see the life flow out of Melia''s eyes when shended. I needed to be quick so that I could heal Melia. I couldn''t let my emotions reign over me, however much I wanted to rush over there to heal her I couldn''t. Rushing would do nothing to help so I started to analyze them. I couldn''t tell what they were, only that they were humanoid in build and armed to the teeth with at least three daggers, one I could see hanging from their lower back parallel to their body and two more in their hands. The two held in the individual''s hands couldn''t be called daggers really; they were about as long as my forearm or about 20 centimeters long. While that wasn''t too long what really tipped me off to them not being daggers was that there was no guard. Usually if someone was going to use a dagger for an offhand they would use it to hook the opponent''s weapon into the guard so that they could push it down however these daggers looked more like short swords on a second look. Done analyzing them I reach for my spear only to find it not there. Taking a quick nce at Aoif I could see that she did not have a weapon on her either. The unknown individuals took advantage of the fact that we didn''t have weapons and attacked immediately. Thinking quickly I flooded my arms and chest with aether, I would have done my legs too but the unlocked pathways I got from advancing to tier 7 only unlocked the pathways in my chest and back. Aoif seeing that I was getting ready forbat did the same copying my usage of aether. In just a moment I could feel the power in my limbs that came from reinforcing them. ______ A/N: I am going to start scheduling my chapters the first one will be at 5pm and the next at 6:30pm pacific Chapter 41 Defeat ?Whatever the assants were, they were skilled. The way they dashed I could sense no aethering off of them. Even with all the evolving I had done I still wasted some aether when I reinforced myself which I assumed they were doing. Otherwise the speed that they used would have to be pure physical force and though that could be the case I distinctly felt that before we had been there their threat was not as high as it was now. The only other person I knew that could do that was Tama and she was a tier 4 existence Whenever she fought the danger I felt from her would increase exponentially but in normal life I couldn''t feel anything. *BOOM* The sound of them running broke the sound barrier and it was within the very second that one of their fists was in front of my face. It was only with great luck that I was able to react to the punch beforehand and get my arms raised to defend. Even after I had blocked the attack I could still feel the bones that had broken. I knew that there was no way to defeat them, the only thing I could do was dy. I whistled hoping that the new summons would know what to do. *Caw* *Caw* They crowed, beforeing upon them like an angry god. For a second I saw actual hope, before I had forgotten about the new summons in the heat of the moment but now that I remembered about them and had them fight for me we might actually be able to kill them. Even more the sound of battle would attract Tama and Delta. While the assants might know about Tama and Delta it was likely that they didn''t. Otherwise they wouldn''t have been that loud in their attacks. But right now I have to focus on surviving. My arms were dead though I could use them again if I was given time to heal them. And time was what those crows gave me three of them fell upon the one that was attacking me distracting them but before I could start to heal my arms I heard Aoif cry out behind me. "GAAAH" I looked back and saw how Aoif''s legs were out ofmission, it seemed that they weren''t going for the kill on us, only trying to disable. That brief moment of distraction cost me however, the assants were able to escape the Aethon while I was checking on Aoif. Though littered with unheble cuts the assant was still able to escape despite the blood pouring out of their wounds. I could feel the air rupture as the assants'' form flickered from where I had identified them to my side then to my back. I couldn''t do anything, I wouldn''t be able to react in time. A swift hit to the back crippled my spine. I lost all feeling on my lower body. ¡­ Seeing Darwin fall to the ground, his spine broken horrified me. I could feel and see his soul dim as the feeling left his body. For the first time in my life rage filled my being. My vision turned red and though my legs were crippled I still tried to stand up and walk. The creature saw this and put a stop to that, it was with my teeth grit and rage in my heart that I was knocked unconscious. ¡­ *BOOM* The sounds of battle could be heard from Melia''s side of the territory. I was just cleaning up the table when I heard the booming sound of battle and the banging of the door being opened. One of Melia''s ves¡­ Ahem workers appeared a haggard appearance most likely from running. "The Lord has been attacked and crippled!" The haggard man yelled panic clear in his eyes "What!?!!?" I yelled how could I have not felt it, even though I heard the sounds of battle, I assumed with the level of power that Darwin and Aoif had gained that they were able to ovee any attacker but to cripple them both they had to be at least tier 5. I rushed out immediately, reinforcing my limbs and transforming into my fox form to go even faster. ¡­ I was right in time to see the sight of Aoif being knocked out. Immediately I weaved an illusion of them being knocked out then projected that onto the world. However they were able to resist a bit but only for a couple seconds before they were knocked out. Immediately I go to my lord and see if there was anything I could do to help him recover. I could already see a green light trying to heal his spine. "Take care of Aoif. I''m able to heal myself.." My lord orders me. "Yes, my Lord" I answered before going over to Aoif. The only injuries she had were the broken legs and a head wound that took precedence. Immediately I transform back into my human form before taking her in my tail carefully supporting her head so as to not further injure her head. My other tails were dragging the enemies by the cors of their armor. In my hands was Darwin, while he could heal himself I was not willing to let him do that in the open. "Wait!" Darwin yells and I stop startled by the suddenlymanding tone. This was the first time that my Lord had ever used such a harsh tone against any of us. "Melia, check on her please," My Lord''s voice cracked at that moment. I hadn''t even noticed that Melia was there, so focused on Darwin and Aoif that I hadn''t noticed that Melia was dying in the corner. "Don''t worry my lord nymphs can''t die unless their trees are destroyed, her physical avatar will be restored in a matter of hours at her level." Done with cating Darwin I continue back to the house where I could give Darwin a proper ce to heal. Chapter 42 Recuperating ?While Tama was carrying me back to the house where I could rest and recuperate in a morefortable environment, I was desperately trying to heal my spine. The Lucky thing was that I had pathways in my back otherwise I wouldn''t have been able to heal without my hands touching my back. ¡­ After a bit of time being carried by Tama I was unceremoniously plopped on my bed. By that point I had started to regain some feeling in my body, however I wasn''t able to move anything yet, still paralyzed. Tama had already left me to myself, taking Aoif with her. There was no doubt that Aoif was angered over what had happened to me, I could practically feel the rage oozing off of her. Whatever she did to the prisoners I didn''t care, as long as she could blow off some steam then that would make me happy. ¡­ I woke up expecting to be captured but instead saw the face of Tama staring down in concern. "Where is Darwin?" I ground out. "My Lord is safe, he is currently healing upstairs." Tama answers and before I could storm upstairs to check on him and stay by his side, I see the assants that had attacked us, more specifically the one that had crippled Darwin and red filled my vision. Tama who saw the rage in my eyes let down the one that I was hatefully ring at. "We only need one to interrogate, do what you want with that one" A disinterested snarl appeared on her face. Nodding at that I drag the one that crippled Darwin out of the house all the while finding my dagger and taking it with me. "Oh and don''t worry about restraining them I''ve already taken care of that" a cruel smile appeared on her face showing Tama''s fangs, "have fun" ¡­ Once we were in a suitable corner of the territory where the screams wouldn''t be heard too much I unmasked the assant. What I found was a pretty face, short green hair in a bob cut and long ears. Her eyes were closed and it was a her no guy could have that big of a bust and that pretty of a face. *BANG* With a mighty p I woke her up. "Uhhh" a groan came out of her mouth as she woke from her sleep. A grunt of exertion was heard as she tried to slip free of some invisible chains. I take the knife to her skin and with the sharp end start dragging it down her arm. The sight of another''s blood made me slightly squeamish but the rage of almost losing Darwin overpowered that. I couldn''t think of any worse death other than death by thousand cuts. So I kept cutting, little by little small wounds were drawn onto her once wless skin. ¡­ There was no part of her skin that I hadn''t yet cut but her natural healing ability kept her alive. So it was a blood soaked me that Darwin walked in on. Apparently I had been so engrossed in the melodious screams of our little prisoner that I hadn''t noticed that Darwin had fully healed himself. I turn to him with a wide grin on my face. "The blood isn''t mine by the way" I could feel his relief. Hearing that it wasn''t mine must have relieved his worry. As I could feel the rapidly growing panic dissipate. Only for it to grow again when I started to limp over to him, my legs not having healed from the previous battle. Immediately Darwin rushed to me holding me still on the ground then with a flourish of his aether my legs werepletely healed. Wiggling them around a bit I feel no pain. I give Darwin a blood soaked smile. *Grateful* *Happy* I sent those emotions through my soul hoping that our shared vision will help him pick up my soul''s emotions. *Happy* ''It worked'' I knew it was possible, if Darwin was able to see souls like I could then he should be able to see the emotions of souls too. "Tama got some information from the elf that we captured" "Elf?" I question, "Those are real?" Nodding his head Darwin starts to exin, "Yeah Tama was able to extract some information from the captured elf, turns out that they were sent here from one of the middle realms to scout and recruit." "If they were here to scout and recruit, why did they attack us?" "It seems that they deemed us a threat seeing how much we had built so they struck to capture and kill if anything went wrong, luckily they didn''t ount for thebat power of Tama." ¡­ It was a good 3 or 4 hours of healing where my spine was being gradually healed. While my pathways did go across my back they barely touched the spine so I had to circte my aether to that spot, use it then circte it again. That was why it took so long for me to heal my spine. If I had been able to directly heal it, it would have only taken a couple of minutes at most but because of that it took hours. However once I regained feeling in my spine everything started to speed up. Gradually the nerve endings were fixed. This was the first time I was fixing nerve endings and it was excruciatingly painful. Each ending needed to be reconnected back in the proper ce and the blow to my spine had done more than just destroy it. It hadpletely twisted the nerve ending so once I had feeling again I could feel every single one reconnecting into their right ces. Thatst 2 or 3 hours was hell. But finally after getting through that painful experience I could walk again. ¡­ Once I had enough power to get up I headed downstairs to find the sight of what looked like a drunk elf crying out her grievances to an awkward looking Tama. Chapter 43 Weird People ?There was a crying drunk elf just sitting in our living room. I don''t know what to do. Everyone that I had interacted with up to this point was not prone to crying. "They¡­ they wanted me toe down here and spy, bu- hup- but they don''t care that I just settled down" "It''ll be alright" Tama awkwardly patted the elf on the back. "No! It won''t" the elf just continued to sob, "I wanna go back home -hup- I had afy house ya know," Cutting her off I asked who they were. "The queen of Enelia, even though she had tons of information, nooo she needs us to go and scout even more for the encampment party." "I wanna be home not in this backwater realm." With that she passed out. ¡­ "What did you do Tama?" I question after the elf had passed out. That had been unusual. We didn''t even have any drinks to get drunk iff of but here that elf was ck out drunk. "It was simply easier to force her to get drunk then to immediately tear the information out, my Lord" "What do you mean?" "Her mental defenses were down after I got her drunk allowing me to force the truth out of her with the veil of her being drunk" "Where did you get the alcohol though?" I asked very much confused over that. "I didn''t get any I just forced reality to ept that she was drunk" "If you could do that why not just have her spill everything" "Because, my Lord, they have an innate resistance to mind control which what you were describing was however I just controlled her bodily function which is much easier than messing with a fully conscious person." Nodding my head at the exnation, I go outside. I had been ignoring the blood curdling screams happening in the background but now that I had some more information I could work with it was time to actually see what was going on. ¡­ Concern filled me as I walked onto the sight of a blood soaked Aoif. Aoif gave me a blood soaked smile then said, "The blood isn''t mine by the way" Relief flooded me when I realized that the blood wasn''t hers, I couldn''t see any wounds in her except the slightly bent legs that looked broken if not at the very least fractured. I saw her limping towards me and more concern filled me. Quickly I rushed over and propped her in myp then started to heal her legs. Soon enough her legs were fully healed but I was almost out of aether. Between healing such a major injury for myself along with also healing Aoif''s legs I was out of gas. My vision started to fade and I couldn''t hear anything. However I was woken up again when I felt the emotions her soul was sending me. *grateful* *happy* Quickly I sent back happy emotions through my soul. Though I wasn''t going to stay conscious any longer I didn''t want Aoif to see me copse so with a quick excuse I left to go back inside and head to bed. ¡­ It was morning and I found myself waking up to not only Aoif by my side but a transformed Tama snuggling at our feet. She was super cute in her fox form. *GRUMBLE* My stomach roared, startling the sleeping fox. "Ah, my Lord, I''m sorry I''ll have breakfast ready immediately." With one final yawn Tama transformed back into her human form and headed off into the kitchen. Soon enough the scent of cooked food filled the house. I woke Aoif up and then headed downstairs too hungry to do anything else. ¡­ After Aoif and I had eaten breakfast I went outside to test something. So far I had only evolved creatures, humans, and aether cores. I wanted to do something different, to test the limits of my talent. Walking up to a nearby tree, I ce my hand on it and activate my talent. ''Evolve'' [Tree(can be evolved] [Sturdy: the tree is exposed to heavy storms. Evolved its roots to be more sturdy. Lush: the tree is sent to a realm with herbivores. Evolved to hold more vegetation to attract herbivores to protect the tree] Out of both options the one that looked the most appealing was the lush option. Seeing as this was just an experiment I click on the lush option. Immediately the tree is cloaked in a bright green light. In the corner of my eyes I can see the tree that I had evolve growing its leaves then having them eaten then growing again. It looked like many centuries had passed before it suddenly appeared again but with much more leaves. The leaves were so much in volume that it blocked all of the sunlight that could have gotten through before. A sweet scent also wafted into my nose. I noticed that the leaves were the cause of the scent. Picking one of the leaves I put it into my mouth testing its vor. Immediately I am reminded of mint however it wasn''t the mint I remember. This one was much better. I could just chew on this forever. ¡­ After I had eaten my fill of leaves I headed over to where Melia was. Reformed from her tree she stood there with a worried look. "Are you okay!" She yelled, "I heard from Tama that you healed yourself but let me kiss it better" Taking advantage of my injury she tried to get closer to me and kiss at my body. It was annoying the only one I wanted to do that to me was Aoif but here she was trying anyway. It was almost annoying enough to allow me to forget that she had been almost killed. Putting aside my annoyance for now i ask her how she was feeling. "Ohh" she cooed "were you worried for me, that warms my heart" I give her a re not appreciating her yful remarks at all. "Ok, ok, I''ll stop but yeah I am ok as long as they don''t damage my tree I can''t die." Chapter 44 An Evolution, A Horde ?[Name: Melia(can be evolved)] [Species: Meliae] [Tier/Level: 4/2] ? ''Evolve'' I mentallymanded, bringing up the evolution options. Melia was doing her usual antics of treating me like some precious kid but I ignored that and instead focused on the option presented to me. [Roots: Melia is ced in hibernation for centuries allowing her to grow her roots. Evolved to take control of thend she has been on Fruit: Melia evolved to create greater humans.] I interrupted the doting Melia had been attempting to tell her of her options. "The roots one looks more appealing." "Ok" I didn''t question her decision, it was her evolution. I could evolve her the way I wanted to but that would break the trust she had ced in me. Selecting the roots option Melia disappears in a brilliant sh of green. Immediately, in my peripheral vision, I see a screen appear. The four seasons pass by as the falling of leaves turn to lush greenery. In and out the cycle repeats, a constant struggle for the tree to survive. Weathered by immeasurable time the tree grows older, the tree grows more mature. Starting from the 15 feet tall tree it quickly grows to 30 then 40 ultimately stopping at an impressive 80 feet tall. The rise and fall of seasons stop as another brilliant green light appears bringing Melia back from her hibernation. [Name: Melia] [Species: Great Meliae] [Tier/Level: 3/5] ¡­ From the great tree that appears from nothinges a beautiful woman. With the greenest hair cut in a short bob style. Brilliant emerald eyes sparkling with power. "Off" Imanded. It was like she teleported. One moment Melia was staring at me, her face impassive, then the next I was getting smothered on the ground. "Hehehe" Melia giggled rubbing herself on me, ignoring my order. Wiggling my arm out of her grasp I reinforce it with aether then flick her. Arge goose bump appears on her head as she runs it allowing me to wiggle the rest of my body out of her grasp. ¡­ "Ara" a smile smile yed out on her face "you aren''t supposed to be here" Looking off into the distance Melia mumbled to herself. *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* Several continuous bangs echoed out in the distance. I reinforced my legs to give me enough strength, then quickly leaped up into a nearby tree to get a view of the explosion. Once I was high enough to see what had happened, I saw smoke wafting into the air along with the corpses of at least 20 other elves. Returning back into the ground were the cannons that Delta had installed. I had gotten a good look at everything I needed so I climbed down the tree back to where I left Melia. "Was that you" Melia answers with a small nod and smile. "Yeah I can control everything in your territory that is natural. I just connected the right prices of electricity in the turrets and stopped some resistors and bam they were dead." She raised her head as if asking for a pat on the head for her good job. Sighing I reach out and pat her on the head "Nnn" a small groan of contentment leaked out of her voice. ¡­ After a minute or so of me patting her head she suddenly opened her eyes ring off into the distance. "Tch, damn beasts" "Hmm" I hum asking for an exnation. Picking up on my question Melia borates. "There is a horde of at least 2000 beasts heading our way." "Can you kill them with the turrets?" I ask, wondering if the turrets had enough range. "No, the forest cloaks them too much, and we only have a limited amount of ammo." I sat in silence for a moment contemting. I had asked for further information on the beast''sbat power and tier and it seemed like they were only tier 8 at the lost though there was one at tier 6. This could be a good chance to expand my power. Thest time I had a desperate battle like this one would be I advanced into tier 8. ¡­ "I''ve decided" I dere to Melia who was still sitting next to me, "I''m going to fight them on my own" "Huh!?" She seemed surprised and rightfully so. Unless mybat power was considerably greater or I had a suitable area of effect skill then I wouldn''t be able tobat this hoard. However I wanted to do this, it was an opportunity for me to improve. Seeing my resolve Melia didn''t fight my decision anymore than to send for Tama to back me up. ¡­ After Tama had arrived we got the directions from Melia and headed off to intercept the beasts. It took a while the beasts being so far out but eventually after about half an hour of walking we made it to where the beasts were. *BANG* *BANG* The stomps of their hooves were deafening. "Be careful, if I see that you aren''t able to handle this I''ll pull you out immediately, my Lord." With a nod I acknowledged Tama''s warning. Brandishing my spear I reinforced it then jumped into the horde following the lines to cut at the first beasts neck. Instantly blood spurted out and the beast was dead. For a second I took the time to examine the corpse. It had a body of a bird with no wings, with a head and tail of a lion with the proportions to go with it. Its ws looked like those of an eagle. After I was done checking out her corpse I took in the rest of the beasts. There were hundreds in my vicinity with at the very least a thousand more scattered here and there. *ROOOAR* *ROOOAR* *ROOOAR* Immediately after I had killed the beast the others roared and charged at me. Though they were a bit slow as they werepeting to who could get to me first as if victory was guaranteed for them. I was ready for them though, with the time given to me I started up my pathways. With a green glow I reinforced the areas that were directly intersected by my pathways. I also reached down a hand to reinforce both my legs. Though that cost me a few seconds and allowed the first few beasts to get closer to me, it was still worth it. With a sh upwards I cut the head of the one closest to me in half and generated a fist of wind. The beasts, seeing how easily theirrade had been ughtered, backed off for a bit, stopping theirpetition to actually coborate Chapter 45 Leader Of The Beasts ?sh to the right, pierce exactly a second after. Another two dead. It had been over an hour since I had initially started to ughter these beasts and through that I have gained a deep understanding of their patterns. The life and death battles had tempered my uracy. Every move I made had purpose, that was not to say that they had no wasted lives but I was growing ever closer to that perfection. Another dead this time to an aether enhanced kick that gave me enough momentum to push myself towards another beast. *SLASH* Though I had killed the best I aimed for, another had quickly taken its ce using the time when I was reorienting myself to take a bite at me. A small bite mark appeared on my arm though because I had reinforced it the damage was minimized. While it was biting me I took the chance to bring my spear up, piercing it through the chest. My aim was off though, allowing the beast to live for a second more before I tore my spear out of its side leaving it to bleed out and die. ¡­ "Hah" "hah" I was panting almost exhausted of all my energy though I had taken out most of my enemies. All around me were the corpses of at least 500 beasts. Wounds littered my body and blood dripped down both my legs and torso. It was surprising that my legs had taken damage seeing as their average size was up to my chin. But apparently they had coordinated well enough to have one go for my legs while the other goes for the throat. I had fallen for that once and almost died. My leg had been locked so I could not dodge while the one running for my throat closed the distance. The only reason I had gotten out of that situation was because of Tama''s interference. Right when I was about to die the one going for my throat and leg were dusted out of existence leaving nothing behind. ¡­ Done with my reminiscing I look toward thergest beast. He was at least twice as tall as the others, maybe even thrice as tall. But all this time he had not attacked even as I ughtered all his subordinates. All he had done was watch but now that I had killed almost a third of his horde he had finally gotten up. Lumbering over to me I could feel the weight of his power. While he was making his way over to me I took a shaky breath, hardening my resolve I looked back towards the leader of the pack. In just a second I was already at the beast''s throat shing at it. ¡­ Instead of the stter of blood I expected the beast opened his mouth and roared *ROAR* I was pushed back, the force of his roar forcing me onto the ground. Taking this chance I saw the beast''s w curling up to stomp down onto me. Quickly reorienting myself on the ground I push back, getting myself out of the beast''s range. Taking the chance, while I was retreating I quickly shed at the w of the beast cutting it off. *ROAR* The beast roared in pain and red filled its eyes and soul. It was at that moment that I remembered my shared vision with Aoif. I could see the beast''s soul. I could see where to cut topletely destroy it. Taking another nce at the beast I quickly pinpoint the dot of his soul. Right on his forehead between the eyebrows of the beast was the point I needed to pierce. The only problem was getting there in the beginning. Thest time I had tried to sh at its throat to quickly end the battle had not ended well. I doubt that it would end well now that it was pissed at me for taking a w off of it. *BANG* *BANG* I dodged more of his attacks while I looked for the right opening. It was then that I saw my chance, the beast had overextended leaving one of its paws stuck in between a couple of trees. Quickly taking the chance I use all of my power to dash up. My leap allowed me to reach the head of the beast and with one final pierce the battle ended. The soul of the beast had been pierced. The body quickly crumbles without the support of the soul. ¡­ [Congrattions, you have leveled up to 7/5] [Congrattions on defeating one of the realm protectors] [You have gained 1/5 ownership of this realm.] [System Announcement: the veil will disappear in 15 days] ''Ownership'' I think to myself while healing the various wounds I had received while fighting. Looking around the rest of the beasts had retreated instead of staying to fight so I went back to thinking of what that notification meant. The fact that the beast was titled a realm protector was telling from that I could tell that they protected the realm and with the one I killed whatever was keeping the veil up was gone, giving us less days to prepare before the veil is pierced. Other than that the ownership of the realm was shared by five protectors, well now four and me. "My, Lord" Tama calls out after appearing next to me. Before she could say anything else I exined the situation to her. "What should we do?" I ask ¡­ After a moment of silence Tama finally replies to me. "We should hunt down the rest, my Lord" Tama finally answers, "We already have enoughbat power to dominate this realm but with full ownership we could do lots more" "Ownership, do you know what that means, Tama?" "Yes, my Lord, ownership of a realm makes the whole realm act as if it was your territory. All other territories must be sanctioned by you and pre-established ones must register with you or be kicked to another realm." "I would have the power to do that?" I ask "Yes, my Lord" Chapter 46 Scouting The Realm ?It took no longer than 10 minutes to get back to the territory this time. Though that was because Tama had insisted on carrying me back. Tama saw how tired I was and just took me in her tail then sprinted the whole way back making incredible time. The only reason it even took 10 minutes though was because Tama deliberately slowed down to give me a morefortable ride. And it wasfortable, Tama''s fox tail was incredibly fluffy so the whole time that I was being carried I was also being smothered in fluff which was nice while Itsted. Once we were back I immediately went over to find my new summons. Their ability to fly would allow me to find the other realm protectors with rtive ease. ¡­ I went to Melia, who I had left the Aethons with and took them back ignoring all the cooing that she was trying to smother me with. Once I had them I ordered them to go and find the other realm protectors. There were only four realm protectors left so I only sent four to scout. The other two I left with Melia to do with them what she wanted. ¡­ *Caw* *Caw* With that reply I headed to the south heading over to the distant dessert. There were other flying animals other than me but with some pecks they were off running not to bother me anymore. Guess non stop bleeding scared them too much. *Caw* *Caw* Iughed at the weak birds all around me. Once I got a sufficient distance from that group though other birds of different species were all trying to kill me though they never did that again after one of their ilk bled to death after one peck of mine. After that they were all giving me distance. They must have reported back to something because I wasn''t bothered after that and even the other birds were giving me distance when they saw me. Though that got boring after a while, seeing them all just cower before me was super boring. To alleviate the boredom of my journey to the desert I started just attacking any birds that didn''t look at me. When they got the message to look at me and they all had their eyes on me I pecked out the eyes of the one closest to me that was looking at me. After they learned to not look at me again I attacked the ones that weren''t looking at me. It was good entertainment for me. But all good things must end at some point. As I grew closer to the desert the amount of birds in the sky lessened and the only ones left were vultures who I couldn''t just mess with. They had power equivalent to tier 8 which wouldn''t be a problem but they were in huge packs of 10-20. While I could kill them all I would have to exert effort which wouldn''t have been fun. Finally after flying for so long I spotted a beast horde. This horde was made up of vultures with one that was about twice the size of the others. Marking down the ce in my memory, I head back to boss''s territory. ¡­ On the way back I met up with the other Aethons assigned to find out what they had found. Turns out it was pretty simr to what I found. A huge horde of beasts governed by one that was at the very least twice the size of the others. The only difference being where they lived, there was one in the swamp, desert, sea, and mountains. ¡­ It was after a good 3 or 4 hours that the Aethons finally got back from scouting. Since the Aethons could not talk English I had them instead paint a map of what they saw and where. In the middle was the forest that we were in to the south was a desert with the north most part of it covered with beasts, to the east was the swamp, the realm protectors in the swamp was in the west most part of it. To the north was the mountains, with the realm defender being in the middle of three mountains. Lastly to the west was the ocean, though for now there was no realm protector found there. That left me with some options. I wasn''t going to go to the mountain. It was too long of a trip and the ocean protector hadn''t been found yet so that only left the desert and the swamp. Of the two the desert was closer but had flying vultures that I would have to take care of. Or I could go to the swamp where the realm protector was a hippo. Of the two I think that the desert would be a better option. Not only because of how close it is but because the flying vultures would allow me to train tobat flying enemies. After I had decided I found Tama again and informed her of my decision. "Today, my Lord, you need to recover, you just got back from fighting the other realm protector" Tama exined, concern filling her face. "Not today of course, I''m almost out of aether right now, no we will go tomorrow." "That''s good, my Lord" ¡­ After I had finished informing Tama about tomorrow''s n I headed back to the house, ready to head to bed. Though before I could go to bed I needed to eat dinner to recover my energy from the earlier battle. After I had eaten dinner I found Aoif waiting in bed for me. It was already dark because by the time I had gotten back home and eaten dinner 2 hours had passed. The only reason it took that long was because Tama insisted on us having a nice dinner every night, prepared by her. I joined Aoif in bed hugging her tight to me and closed my eyes ready to sleep. Chapter 47 A Meeting ?After breakfast I headed out of the territory this time with both Aoif and Tama by my side. Delta and Melia were responsible for taking care of the territory while we were away. Though just one of them would be enough to defend against anything that came by I didn''t want to take chances with the elves setting up their territory near here. If they could afford to send such skilled assassins against me then there were definitely more skilled enemies within their ranks. ¡­ We left the territory going south towards the desert, the Aethon that had found the realm protector hovering above us guiding us towards our destination. Though it had only taken the Aethon a bit over two hours to make it there, that was not true for us as we could not fly nor could we trek as fast as him. Even if we could, it would still take us longer as we would have to weave between the various trees and other foliage to avoid injury while running towards our destination. So instead of wasting energy on a fruitless endeavor we instead took a nice jogging pace. With both Aoif and I being at tier 7 our pace wasn''t too bad at about 35-40 miles per hour but that was nothingpared to what Tama could do. It was with that pace that we continued on until we came across something. It was the trail of human feet. Not just one or two people but at the very least 10. "Should we check the trails out, Darwin?" Aoif asked. "Yeah, we can take a little detour," I responded. Once I had replied I took off following the trail. After some time of following, we started to see signs of civilization. It wasn''t advanced but I could definitely see a trail and following that trail led to arge wooden wall. The wall was at least 8 or 9 feet tall, not that it would have stopped me regardless of its height but it was impressive that others could do this in such a short time. ¡­ Instead of knocking like a normal person I instead snuck up the wall to take a look at their territory. There was no reason for me to interact with them even with their progress they most likely had nothing that I would want, however that might not be true in the future so I wanted to secure a good rtionship with them seeing as they were able to make this much progress in the short time that we had been teleported to this realm. After I was done checking out their territory I went back out to the front and knocked on their gate. *BANG* ''I might have put too much power in that'' I thought to myself. The little knock that I had intended instead turned into a deafening bang. Immediately I could hear the scrambling of panicked feet on the ground. Then after a moment there was a ding of a bell and the sounds stopped. ¡­ Jumping down from the wall was a person dressed in what looked like leather armor, most likely made by skinning and tanning some of the beasts around here. In his hand was a crudely forged sword that paled inparison to the spear that was fully reinforced in my hand. Thoughpared to the rags of clothes that I was wearing he struck a rather heroic image. ¡­ Compared to the heroic image he disyed in jumping from the wall his voice sounded utterly pathetic. It squeaked like a mouse and snake all mixed together. "Who are you?" Though I think he was trying toe off as neither hostile nor weing he instead came off as some sort of child with the voice that he had. It was hard to take him seriously with that kind of voice but I did try not to disrespect what I saw as the leader in my brief look over their territory. "Darwin, I saw numerous tracks made by humans and came to investigate" there was no reason for me not to answer truthfully. In all honesty they could not do anything to me. Even if they could, there was no chance that they had anything powerful enough tobat Tama. "Darwin¡­" he whispered to himself, his eyes widening as he took me in. I was not attempting to hold back my power as I did when I was trying to infiltrate them to spy on their territory so he could feel the full weight of my power. "Yes" I answered the unintended question. "I wee you to our territory then, though we have nothing to offer we can at least give you a ce ti rest, us humans need to stick together, yes?" Although he smiled while giving the invitation I could see the dishonesty in his eyes and soul. It was not a harmful dishonesty, more like he had a problem he wanted to push onto me. "I''ll have to decline the offer, though I''m thankful for it all the same" I politely rejected the offer, I had no interest in whatever he was plotting but I also had no intention to break any possible ties that we could make in the future. "If I may ask why?" The curious feeling his soul gave off told me there was no Ill will behind the question so I had no problem answering. "I am hunting a beast right now then I need to get back to my own territory." ¡­ After leaving the vicinity of their territory we headed back off to the desert. This time there were no sudden interruptions. So it was after another hour or two of jogging that we made it into the desert. It was weird though how the e forest just suddenly cut off. The once greennd suddenly being reced with yellow sand. The once nonexistent sun being reced with the zing heat of the desert sun. After much trekking through the zing sun and sand we finally made it to where the Aethon had found the realm protector. Chapter 48 Vultures ?After much trekking through the zing sun and sand we finally made it to where the Aethon had found the realm protector. Though the vultures were not there anymore I could still see some stragglers that had not moved yet. It seemed as though they were resting, at least the ones I had observed. Their eyes were closed, wings tucked in and beak nestled in their body. If I was going to fight them I wasn''t going to fight them asleep, I wouldn''t gain anything from that. It would just be a meaningless ughter. "Tama, wake them please" Nodding at my order Tama, with a wave of her hand, wakes the vultures up. Suddenly a low keening sound vibrates in my ear, it was ufortable but not unbearable. Though that didn''t apply to the vultures as they were violently waking up letting out pained chirps. Tama made both herself and Alif invisible allowing for me to take the vultures on alone so the only thing the vultures could associate with the violent sound was me. They were pissed. I could see it in both their eyes and soul. Though that anger soon calmed as they sensed my presence. Even though I have been trying to suppress my presence like Tama seems to do unconsciously I couldn''tpletely replicate it so instead of appearing as having no power I instead appeared as a low tier 7. Previously when I was tier 7/1 I could suppress my presence to 8/4 but now that I was 7/5 I could only suppress it to the beginning of tier 7. The vultures warily looked at me as if deciding whether they wanted to attack me or not. However I gave them no chance to contemte as I dashed at them the moment I saw thest one wake up. Reinforced spear in hand I dashed at the one closest to me. In response the vulture pped its wings taking off into the sky. It wasn''t fast enough though because by the time it was in the air I was already below it and with a leap I was at its feet. shing to the right I cut off one of its legs though I didn''t have anything to leap off again to go for the kill. I braced myself fornding and with a small bang I was back on the ground. Though with my reinforced legs I didn''t feel the impact there were no doubt small fractures along the bones. Seeing as the vulture was only staring warily at me I took the time to heal my legs back up to perfect health. While I was doing that I was also trying to formte a n on how to kill that vulture. My first thought was to just throw my spear at it but that would be useless. Not only would I miss seeing as I had never done that before, I would have just thrown my only weapon. It was then that I remembered the cracks of air that appeared when I put all my strength into my shes. If I could weaponize that I could use it as a ranged attack. There was no better time than now to test that out, so with that thought in mind I reinforced my arms and torso to maximize my strength then shed with all my strength, making sure the vulture would be in the path of the sh if it was sessful. *CRACK* The air cracked with a deafening sound and I could definitely see the air being disced but nothing else happened. Frowning, I tried again. *CRACK* Another failure. *CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK* Failure, failure, failure. No matter how hard I tried I could not get it to work. Sometimes there would be a small sh but it would only travel a couple feet then fizzle out. It didn''t even go the direction I wanted it to. Seeing as this was a fruitless endeavor for now I tried to just jump again. The vultures who were carefully watching me try and figure out the sh were unprepared for my leap. The times I had failed had led them to believe I was going to try again but instead I leaped surprising them. *SLASH* Blood spurted out of the vulture nearest to me. It had thought that it was high enough in the air but it had not, leading to its death. I used the dead body to leap again this time at the one that I had previously injured. This time I did not sh but instead pierced the skull of the vulture, killing it, then again I leaped off of the body intending to kill the next one. Though by the time I had killed the second one they had been given enough time to get over the shock of their deadpanion and flew even higher into the sky. I could not reach them even with the help of the corpses in the sky to give me tforms to jump off of. Again I was falling back down to the desert. This time I wanted to try something. Using the pressure that falling gave me I tried to maneuver my aether into a solid tform that I could use to break my fall. ¡­ ''It worked!'' I thought, the glowing green tform below me was the result of my idea. Though my legs were still fractured. I first needed to fix that so I brought my hands to my legs and healed them with my aether. After I had finished healing my legs another system message appeared. [Congrattions, you have advanced to tier/level 7/6] After I had fully read the message I again focused on the vultures. With the tform that I could now make it would be childs y to kill them. I leapt off the tform straight into the sky. When I was no longer gaining height I focused and created a tform below me. Though what was unexpected was that over an eight of my reserves were taken by just creating that one tform. For context reinforcing my body and spear only ever took up fractions of my reserves, so for this action to take up that much was shocking. Chapter 49 Found ?With another leap I was at a sufficient height to start attacking the vultures. *BANG* *SLASH* With another tform I was able to leap off onto the first vulture. However I could only create 5 more of those tforms at the most so I saved them by using its body as a tform to leap off of. The one I leapt towards was different though, it was brave. Instead of attempting to dodge like itspanions, it instead aimed its ws where I would leap hoping to injure me. *CLANG* My spear bounced off of its w. I however was not discouraged by that and used the force of the blow to turn my body and sh at its throat. *SLASH* With that the vulture was dead however due to the angle at which I killed it I could not use its body as a tform. Luckily there were only 2 or 3 left in the pack so I should have enough aether to kill them. Once I was falling I created a tform below me angled so that I could jump off of it towards my next target. ¡­ With a grunt of effort I was back down on the ground though I was almost out of aether. My head was dizzy and I felt like I was going to faint but I held on. These were all just signs of aether exhaustion. It would alleviate after I regained my lost reserves. Luckily I had time to recover. Before I had initially started the battle I had ordered the Aethon to scout further ahead and find the exact location of this desert''s realm protector. So far the Aethon was not back yet so I had time to rest. Knowing this I closed my eyes ready to take a nap. ¡­ I woke up to the smiling face of Aoif. She was holding me in herp, my head against her chest and my body leaning against hers. "How long was I asleep?" I groggily asked, wiping the sand out of my eyes. "Not long, only half an hour or so" Aoif answered. "Hmm" I hummed in thought. Although it was only a half an hour more than half of my reserves were back. That would allow me to create 4 or 5 tforms depending on how much I reinforced myself and for how long. That would not be enough for me tobat the realm protector vulture. I did notice that I was getting more efficient at the use of my tforms after I had used them for a bit though so maybe If I just practiced I could lower the cost then go andbat the realm protector. ¡­ Still seated on Aoif I started to create a tform only this time I didn''t make it too solid. I want it to be solid enough to allow me tond on it and push off but not too solid that it could endure more than that. The reason being that it cost more aether to make one that couldst against my strength. However, that wasn''t an easy feat. To make a tform I first need to father enough aether from my reserves, push it out then spread it till it bes tangible. Just bing tangible takes a lot of aether but it bes much easier when there is more aether. So the first step to minimizing the amount of aether used would be to find the amount needed to make my aether tangible. ¡­ I tried and tried for a few hours taking several attempts then passing out again in Aoif''sp again and again. It wasn''t a fruitless endeavor like my first idea was though. With every try I could feel the amount of aether needed decreasing. Now after the several hours of attempts that I had made, it took the cost down to 1/16 of my reserves. Although it wasn''t the great progress I wanted, it was progress. Though by the time I could do that it was already dark out. Tama had set up a basic camp for us while I was practicing so we didn''t need to worry about food nor shelter for the night. Deciding that now was the time to go and rest at the camp Tama made I get up with Alif and head to the camp. Once we were there Aoif and I ate the meal Tama had prepared them headed to bed. ¡­ I woke up to the scent of food wafting into my nose. Aoif hadn''t woken up yet so I untangled myself from her and went to go get breakfast. The previous day''s healing and aether use had left my body craving nutrients and I wasn''t going to starve it. Tama approached me after I had finished eating to inform me of something. "My Lord, the Aethon arrived backtest night with the whereabouts of the realm protector." "That''s good, how far away are we from them?" I asked. "About 3 miles off north then another mile or so west." I nodded at that, now that I had better control over my tforms I would be able tobat the vultures much more efficiently. Finishing that thought I replied to Tama, "let''s head over there then after Aoif has had her breakfast." ¡­ After Aoif had eaten we headed off to the ce where the Aethon had said the realm protector was resting. The trip was uneventful, with Tama and Aoif taking care of anything hostile to us allowing me to save my energy for the fight against the realm protector. And after an hour or two of walking we had made it to arge canyon. Inside the canyon were hundreds of nests, each holding dozens of vultures. The only good side to the canyon however was that I could use it to leap off saving me the effort of creating a tform. Of course I would eventually have to use some but the amount of aether I would save just by using the terrain was great. Looking deeper inside I saw the realm protector. Just as with the one that I had killed earlier it looked like a beefed up version of the regr vultures. With twice the proportions and a presence to it that could kill lesser creatures. Chapter 50 Hollowed Hope ?I dove feet first into the canyon, aiming for one of the higher nests. The wind from free falling that far was buffeting my eyes. Though that didn''t impair the soul vision I shared with Aoif. I was able to urately locate the vultures and drop into their nest. The vultures, not expecting anything to attack them at this point, we''re caught unaware. With three quick shes the vultures nesting were killed. Though their death throes alerted the other vultures. *CAAAW* *CAAAW* *CAAAW* *CAAAW* The caws of anger were deafening. A multitude of vultures were already in the air poised to attack. In just a moment''s time they were upon me, the first one right in front of me ws out coated in some green liquid and weirdly enough the liquid was not falling off of the vulture. The liquid not falling off could be exined by the vultures having some adhesive on their ws but that detail made me wary, to specifically be able to keep a liquid on your w was something throat doesn''t just happen. There must have been a reason for them to evolve towards that specific trait. It could be poison or it could just be nothing but I didn''t want to take chances so I dodged the attack instead of facing it head on to create an opening. After dodging I leaped above the vulture and decapitated it. The others were all at my sides by that point and took advantage of the fact that I was in the air to attack at my sides. I couldn''t dodge this without moving up or somehow propelling myself back towards the nest. *BANG* Kicking the tform it exploded into tiny particles of aether. The kick allowed me to propel myself up, dodging the attacks of the vultures. A couple of them had even crashed into each other. The effects of whatever was on their ws showed, I was right that it was poison. Whatever liquid that was on the vulture''s ws paralyzed the ones that they had crashed into. Taking advantage of the confusion I let gravity take me and shed down taking out two vultures in one sh. The rest of the vultures had already crossed half the distance to get to me and it wouldn''t take them long to get here. Only another minute or two seeing as they wereing from deep in the canyon to protect their territory. ¡­ The realm protector opened his eyes, gazing upon the creature brave enough to cross into its territory. It knew that sooner orter it would die, the ones from the middle realm overwhelming in power for him to defeat but not now it still needed to protect its territory, protect the kid he had, and most importantly kill the intruder. He could sense the fragment of ownership the intruder had with him. If he could kill the intruder then he would grow in power, having control over 2/5 of the realm allowing him to potentially break through the barrier that was holding him at tier 6. And then he might even have a chance to protect the realm from those from the middle realms. This needed his utmost attention and effort. Waiting, the realm protector observed. He mentally ordered the vultures under his control to act more aggressively to bait out more of the intruders'' cards. ¡­ The realm protector observed. He saw how every time the intruder had killed one of his subordinates he would leap off their dead body propelling himself onto the next. He saw the caution the intruder ced upon the poison that all his vultures ced on their talons. With that information he waited, he stalked, prepared, waiting for the intruder to tire himself out. While doing so he coated his whole body in poison in the nearby pond of poisonying on his nest. While other vultures would have been catatonic at the contact to all of that poison, he as the leader of them had a better innate resistance to the poison that was mostmonly used by his species. ¡­ Prepared he stalked forwards, still hidden under the cover of darkness. Until the right moment he waited. ''Now'' was the thought that ran through his head as he saw the intruder take a hit from one of his subordinates. ¡­ *SLASH* A wound on my side, not fatal but enough to make me hesitate a bit. The ce that I was hit felt numb. My body was slowing down, however I could still see something in the corner of my eye approaching. It was the realm protector, he had closed in on me while I was still assaulting his subordinates. Waited until I was already wounded. However I could not do anything except raise my spear to try and block some damage. I could feel the poison of the vultures already affecting my body. Not only was my reaction time dulled but I felt slower. *BANG* The impact of the realm protector tackling me with his body was severe. I could feel the bones in my arm freak with exertion and my back was shot. Not from the impact of the protector but from the wall that he had tackled me into. I tried to move, to get back up and fight again but my body was slowing down. The corner of my eyes were going ck and I couldn''t muster the strength to move my fingers. Luckily I could still feel my aether which I immediately moved through my pathways, fighting off the effects of the poison and allowing me to regain the vision that I was losing. That didn''t stop the umting wounds that the protector was giving me however. While I was trying to fight off the poison the protector was not idle. With raised talons itnded on me. *PIERCE* *PIERCE* Two ws had pierced my stomach sending greater amounts of poison straight into my bloodstream. *ROAR* A roar of triumph emanated from the vultures mouth however that victory was yet toe as I had one final gambit that I could take. Chapter 51 A New Morning(R18) ?The vulture had me pinned against the wall, two talons holding me down. I had my hand on my spear but could barely move it with the paralysis poison disabling all my movement. It looked like the vulture was going to take its time killing me for some reason so I took advantage of that. I hastily applied my aether into the arm holding the spear and the spear itself. My arm was able to move itself again but I still pretended like it couldn''t move. The spear on the other hand went through another transformation. Where before it looked like a natural spear carved from a tree now it looked as if Mother Nature had personally made it herself. Two strands of wood were cooled together to hold what looked like a tinum spear tip that was fused again with the twain that held it together in its actual form. The vulture noticed the change in the spear and grew wary. Raising its other paw it tried to smack the spear out of my hand or take the hand off altogether. However I wasn''t going to let that happen, with speed shocking to even myself I cut off the leg. Yellow blood squirted like a fountain onto myself and I could visibly feel the function returning to my body. It was like the protector''s very blood was the antidote to the poison it itself uses. For now though I wasn''t going to question anything. Using the time given to me by the protectors stunned by the shock of having its leg cut off I struck again. *SLASH* With one sh to the head the vulture was unable to protect itself against my new speed and fell dead bleeding more yellow blood from its jugr. ¡­ [Congrattions, you have leveled up to 7/9] [Congrattions on defeating one of the realm protectors] [You have gained 1/5 ownership of this realm.] [You currently own 2/5 ownership of this realm [System Announcement: the veil will disappear in 10 days] I could feel the strength of my pathways, they were overflowing with aether ready to tear at the partially opened pathway in my legs. However it was only partially open so I cut the glow of aether from going towards my legs. If I hadn''t the pathways could have been ruined. The only reason I wasn''t allowing the aether to slowly trickle in was because I had an abundance right now. If there was little aether left in my body I could afford to let some trickle into my legs which would help grow the pathways used to aether but with the amount in my body right now it would just cripple them from the sheer amount of aether I had going all to my legs. My vision right now was getting blurry, I could see dark spots at the corner of my vision threatening to overtake all of my vision and leave me unconscious. I fought it as best as I could but eventually sleep overtook me. ¡­ I woke up again in Aoif''sp. This time I wasn''t leaning against her but my head was in herp. Her stroking my long hair lovingly. "Good morning" the words left her lips so naturally. It was just too much for me and after that battle I was craving attention for some reason. Deciding to let my desires take over me for a bit I flipped us around. My lips were upon hers in a second, there was noint in Aoif''s eyes. All I could see was excitement and lust. Those emotions egged me on even further and with a flick of my arm her lower garments were torn off. Her pretty pink hole was exposed and I started to lick it. "AHH" "ahhh" "ah" The moans leaving her mouth were almost as delicious as the honey that I was hungrily licking up. My stomach was hungry, the previous battles healing taking much out of me. That would exin why I was eating her out like a man possessed. Her moans were reaching a crescendo so I sped up my ministrations, this time adding a finger to the mix rubbing and squeezing the little bib that had popped out of its hood under my starved licking. "AAAAH" That scream echoed her climax which squirt a fountain of juices that I hungrily licked up. "Hah" "hah" Aoif panted breathily. "Let me return the favor" After Aoif had recovered she demanded that I let her return the favor. Opening my pants she reached into my underwear and pulled out my tool. Gently stroking it she licked her hands making sure that I saw her. Her purple hair was matted with sweat and her eyes were cloudy with desire. Her pretty pink tongue was busy licking her hand, wetting it in perpetration of what was toe. I was in a trance, at that moment there was nothing in my mind but watching Aoif, I''d don''t even blink. Finished lubricating her hands she broke me out of my reverie and descended her hands to my tool. With gentle strokes she made it reach full mast. "so big¡­" Aoif muttered. Although she was trying her best, Aoif''s dainty fingers gently caressing my tool she was failing to get me off and she could see that too. With a face filled with determination she lowered her head and licked at the tip. Then licked again, and again and before long she was sucking on it like a lollipop. Once she ran out of air she came back up with a little pop. I could hear her mumble something. Though I couldn''t hear her because of how close I was. I needed her mouth back on my tool so I took control. Gently grabbing Aoif''s head I lead her to my tool pushing her even further than she went on her own. Within seconds of doing this I could feel myself getting closer and closer and with a final thrust into Aoif''s mouth I let loose. Giant spurts of cum were swallowed by Aoif and I could see her eyes widen before she went at it with a hungry look swallowing everything she could. When I pulled out I could hear her mumble "delicious" Chapter 52 Raid? ?The sun was already up in the middle of the sky signaling to us that it was mid day. The tent that Tama had erected for us the stunk with the smell of our various fluids. Aoif was still sleeping right next to me. Our sweaty bodies clinging together despite the warmth of the desert. Although we had not gone all the way earlier, our enhanced bodies allowed us to go for several more rounds. By the end I and Aoif must have climaxed at least a dozen times each with Aoif devouring at least a gallon of my own. I didn''t even know that it was possible to release that much but apparently evolving myself had allowed for that. "Aoif" I whispered, "wake up" "Nnn" she groaned, raising her head to my level, "don''t wanna" she sleepily said then went back to nuzzling her head into the crook of my shoulders. Seeing as she didn''t want to wake up normally I squeezed her breast, not hard enough to hurt but just enough to give her a jolt of pleasure and pain. Waking her up. "Ahn" Her moan was delicious and although I would have loved to continue from where we left offst night we needed to get back to my territory. I unstuck my body from hers, her already lidded eyes opening in full as she felt the disappearance of my warmth andfort. "Let''s get going" seeing that she was fully conscious I got up and left the tent. ¡­ Soon after I left the tent Aoif followed. I was waiting by the fire where Tama had cooked up one of the vultures that I had previously killed. It tasted like chicken, I didn''t know what vulture meat usually tasted like so I really couldn''t tell if that was weird or not but either way it was good. I handed a piece to Aoif but she just shook her head and with a slight smile said, "I''ve already had my fill" Saying that her smile turned slightly lewd and her eyes looked like they were propositioning more. Ignoring that I finished eating then had Tama carry us home, there was no need to walk the entire way back like we did on the way here. ¡­ All the while that we were being carried back to the territory Aoif was giving me a slight pout, obviously disappointed that I didn''t take up her offer. It only took us about an hour to get back home with Tama''s speed, but it was ufortable. It was not ufortable because of Tama but because of the pout Aoif was giving me. I wanted so badly to just wrap my arms around her and kiss that pout away but I couldn''t because we were traveling home. It was in that mood that we got home. Tama had left us at the house to rest more and I agreed with that. So as we were plopped on the bed I immediately hugged Aoif, the perpetual pout on her lips being reced with a smile. ¡­ POV Melia It was after I was left to defend the territory that some naughty intruders came upon us. They must havee to investigate their lost spies. A cruel smile yed upon my lips as I thought of all the things I could do to them. But right now I didn''t do anything just letting them advance upon the territory. It was better to let them stew in their confidence. The various traps that had beenid down by my ves being dismantled with trivial ease. Though that was all part of the n. The traps that they thought they had dismantled easily all were tripped before they could even sense them but I held them back. It wouldn''t do would it, to let them die so easily. Not after what they had done to Darwin. They could not die that easily, their deaths woulde from theircency but for now I would let them advance. Of course none of my ves were harmed at all, it wouldn''t do for such an effective working force to be culled for my own desires no matter how receable they were, Darwin wouldn''t want me to just let them die. "Another trap" One of the elves sighs. "Yes, it is weird how those two were felled by people only capable of this" Furrowing his brows the leader looking one mumbled out to his subordinates. There were 20 of them, each at the beginning of tier 6 with the leader being at theter stages. None of them were threats, which is why I let them advance into the territory. I was subtly leading them over to where I was. The vegetation itself twisting and moving to amodate them into myir. "I feel something," The leader said. ''Of course he would, I set something there for them'' I thought to myself, a small giggle leaping out of my mouth while I was thinking of the fate held for them. A hand up in a closed fist stopped the elves from moving further. The leader signaled them to wait there while he checked on the little gift I left for them. Though right as he stepped forward vegetation rapidly grew obstructing the vision of the others. With the leader, two vines slithered up his legs cutting them off, however that was not enough to make him scream like I wanted. He only let out a small grunt of pain and before I knew it the natural healing of the elves we had observed kicked in. In just a moment the stubs were covered in scabs that peeled off on their own leaving fresh skin. Though without his legs he couldn''t run anywhere. So with a sadistic smile I grew another vine, however this one was different, instead of the sharp edge to cut off his legs, I made it so that the vine had hundreds of small protrusions that would cause the most pain. The vine slithered up the pants leg off the leader. I could see the tears starting to form in his eyes as he realized what was happening but that only grew my smile. At this point my smile was deranged. I saw the deranged smile I was wearing and with a little oops out of my mouth closed it returning to the prim and proper appearance worthy of a greater dryad. *PIERCE* The vine had suddenly rammed up the leader and out his mouth, of course I didn''t let him die but I did let the ear piercing shriek travel to his subordinates. "AHHHHHHHHH" Instantly they were on guard, weapons drawn. Some had daggers, some had swords, some even had crossbows, but that would not help them against mother nature itself. Maybe if they had brought fire they would havested a bit better but unfortunately they thought they were going up against something you could just stab. *PIERCE* *PIERCE* *PIERCE* *PIERCE* Four vines were grown and instantly pierced the necks of eight of the subordinates creating panic in their ranks. With the leader captured and held in mind numbing pain I had all I needed for information. The others were disposable. Though I wasn''t going to just stop tormenting them, no, that was just too fun. Chapter 53 A Relaxing Night ?"Oops" I whisper as I see that the vocal cords of the leader I was going to interrogate werepletely destroyed. "Let''s fix that" I say to him, "You can fill me in on all the juicy details after I''m done with this little surgery" I smile at this part, "don''t worry this won''t hurt a bit" With no anesthetic in hand I open his mouth and imitate his vocal chords with some vines that I created. I made sure to sprinkle some natural healing powder that naturally grew in this realm onto his chords so as to not let him die. Tears were flowing out of his mouth at this point but I made a mistake. The chords could only be controlled by me. I informed him of this and told him how I would have to do this again but this time connect them to his muscles so as to let him use them. ¡­ "Aaand all done" I happily cheered, the blood on my face giving me a terrifying visage, I made sure of it. He was on the ground sobbing asking me to stop. Seemed like whoever trained him didn''t train him for surgeries. How negligent. "Ah ah ah" I started, "no crying for you, you can''t do that until you tell me all about this little kingdom of yours" Desperate toply he starts babbling about this and that. ¡­ By the time that he was done, I knew of his entire life story. It went something like I was born, I went to school, I was trained, then I was sent here. There was more but it was so boring I had zoned out and gotten nothing. So went to one of the lesser dryads and had him wrung of any useful information. "Report" I say to the dryad next to me. "Yes, Melia" she responds, "he didn''t know to much but we were able to get that the ¡­ It was at the setting of the sun that I woke up with a start. I had forgotten to summon for the day, I only had one chance every day to summon and I had almost forgotten today. Aoif had woken up at my startled movements and wiping her groggy eyes asked me what I was doing. "I''m just summoning" I quickly exined before putting on my clothes and rushing downstairs. The timer for the summoning reset every midnight so I still had time judging by the fact that the sun had just set. I didn''t need to rush seeing as there was probably still an hour or so before the summoning reset but I didn''t want to risk it. Every summon, even the repeats are valuable resources that I could not afford to waste. Especially this early into the realmpetition, seeing as we were most likely going to be invaded the second that the veil protecting this realm was broken. I didn''t run but I did rush, and soon I was before the summoning pool. I did run into Melia who was strangely carrying a bloody sack however I could question her after I had summoned for today and tomorrow seeing that I was already out. Standing before the summoning pool I mentallymand it to summon. ''Summon'' Before me six green lights appeared before coalescing into smaller figures until they were the size of a medium sized dog. The lights vanished and what was left were six dog sized ants. ¡­ [Species: Gold Digging Ant] [Tier/Level:8/1] [Skills:None] [These ants when creating their mounds are said to choose ces rich in gold. Once upon a time a Great Emperor had unearthed a mound of Gold Digging Ants and found a horde of gold dust bringing great prosperity to his Empire.] Looking at the ants there was nothing that I really could do with them. From their description it seems like they are good at finding gold which right now isn''t very useful since we don''t operate off of a mary system at the moment and there is no one to trade the gold to for resources or items. I guess for now I would just have them nest and passively gain me gold which could be useful in the future. ¡­ [00:03][00:02][00:01] With that final countdown the summoning pool reset allowing me to summon once again. Commanding the pool to summon another 6 lights sh and then grow into more hinds. [Species: Ceryneian Hind] [Tier/Level: 6/1] [Skills: None] [The Ceryneian Hind are fast on their hooves being able to travel great distances in the span of minutes they can also snort fire.It is said that the goddess Artemis uses 4 legendary Ceryneian hinds to pull her chariot] They weren''t the greatest but we could always use them for the transportation of resources and protection of the territory. Before I could head back Imanded the hinds to head over to the rest of their pack where the leader of them could settle them in. With thatstmand I was done for the night and I could finally go back to bed. ¡­ Returning to the house and entering the bedroom again I could see that Aoif was still wide awake. Her head propped up on the headboard, a smile blooming on her face as she saw me walk back in. Her hands grew outstretched as if to ask me to just fall in them. Unconsciously a smile grew on my face as I absentmindedly discarded my clothes and got into my pajamas. After that was done I took her up on that offer and fell into her bosom, her arms pulling my back into her. Closing my eyes I fell into blissful sleep. ¡­ Before I knew it it was day again and I had to wake up. Aoif by my side like usual was not awake either so I woke her up. We took a shower together where some light petting happened but nothing other than that. Once we were out of the shower we ate breakfast prepared for us by Tama. "I''m going to hunt down the swamps realm protector today, have the Aethon scout it''s location" I say to Tama who herself was eating at the counter. Chapter 54 Preparations ?"I''m going to hunt down the swamps'' realm protector today, have the Aethon scout its location" I say to Tama who herself was eating at the counter. Turning to look at me she swallows her current mouthful, Tama then sighs before nodding her head. Looking at her soul I could see the resignation in her emotions. "What''s wrong?" I ask Tama, wanting to know why she had such resignation in her soul "My Lord, you are pushing yourself too far but it is not my duty to tell you to rx, it is my duty to follow you, to protect you." Tama replies, a resigned look in her eyes. It seems like she was taking it as Aoif''s duty to tell me to rx and her own to just protect me. "If that is what is worrying you then after I kill the swamps'' realm protector then I will take time to rx." I dere, I was already nning to recuperate and train my skills to a higher level after I had killed the swamps'' realm protector but confirming that n of action to Tama seemed to relieve her. A smile yed on my lips seeing that the resigned eyes of Tama were shining. Instead of the resigned look she was giving me, like she was preparing to protect me from anything despite my foolishness, she had this bright look which I could only guess was because I said that I would train before going out and doing anything else. ¡­ It was after breakfast that I found myself in the backyard. The Aethon had not yet returned from its scouting mission so we had time to get a little training in before we left again. Tama had both Aoif and I sitting down, in the positions which were mostfortable to us. Of course those positions would be Aoif in myp, her head resting on my shoulders. My back resting against a tree to support both of us. After we had gottenfortable Tama instructed us to start circting our aether around our pathways. She had both Aoif and my hands in hers. Tama was at periods sending in her own aether which would disrupt our flow of aether. Every time our own flow was disrupted she would tell us to start circting our aether again but this time starting from another ce. Usually when I went to gather my aether it would go from my right arm either flowing to my left or to my hand depending on the situation but that was all I could do, I couldn''t start flowing aether from anywhere else but this exercise forced me to try. Of course I failed, and failed some more, but I could feel progress. When I was flowing aether from my original spot I could feel the ease in which it ebbed and flowed. The periodical disruptions were getting more and more as I grew morefortable inbating them. Eventually they couldn''t stop my flow of aether if it came from my usual spot. However if I was trying to flow aether from my left hand or any other part of my body I was still disrupted before I could even get anything done. It was not hopeless though every time I was disrupted at a different spot I could feel the progress in flowing aether from different parts of my body, where before I couldn''t do it, now I could actually circte aether around and back as long as Tama didn''t disrupt the cirction of aether with a pulse of her own. ¡­ *CAW* The cawing of the Aethon''s woke me from my trance. On my shoulder was Aoif still focusing, her brows furrowed in concentration. Looking at Tama I ask if I should wake her or if I should let her train for longer. "Let her be for another minute, my Lord," Tama said, gesturing with the hand I let go of to Aoif. After another minute, in which I could see the frantic concentration that Aoif was exerting, Tama let go. A burst of energy sprang out of Aoif. Her very being consumed by purple aether. Being in such close proximity I could feel the cold touch of death, the aether that consumed her exerted to the world. Though nothing happened to me, it was like the aether took a look at me and ignored me instead heading to the grass, tree, and all the foliage within a foot''s distance away from us. The purple aether consumed, I could see the once vibrant soul of the vegetation being sucked away towards Aoif. Then suddenly within the moment that I was looking at the souls of the vegetation I wasn''t holding Aoif anymore, instead a purple silk like cocoon was what I was holding. The only reason I wasn''t worrying was that I could still see Aoif''s soul in there. ¡­ Soon the cocoon began to unfurl, the threads making it up utching themselves from one another, and what was left was Aoif, though she looked older. Her figure was more developed, and she towered above me by a good foot. Though the most important change was in her soul. It looked like it had several branches each reaching out to where her pathways in her body were. Aoif''s eyes sprung open and with a sudden aggressive move I was sat in herp. Her nowrger breasts smothering my head. After Aoif was done smothering me she took my head and stole my lips. It was then that I informed her that the Aethon was back and that we could hunt the realm protector. Pouting she let go of me then got up. "Let us go then" Aoif said. Nodding, I look at the Aethon and silently gesture at it to lead the way. ¡­ Before we left the territory I led us to Delta who was in the research building. When we found her she was in the middle of studying the gun she held. All the parts of her gun were spread out. There were a great many materials that covered her form and every so often she would pull a part out and with a flick of her wrist would form them into some shape resembling the parts of the gun that she had. Though it seemed like she was just replicating the parts to create more, I could see that with every attempt the parts that she made were getting more and more refined before they looked exactly the same as the parts of her gun. When that happened she ced the parts aside and went and grabbed another part going to study it. This all happened within a minute of us entering, it seemed like her part machine nature let her study all the better. It was then that she turned to us, her eyes staying on Aoif for longer than the others. "Do you need something" her blunt talking style was still there. It was a huge contrastpared to the respectful tone that Tama always addressed me with, not that I hated that, just that even to Aoif, Delta was still that blunt. Chapter 55 Cooperation ?"I just wanted to check up on your progress, have you made any blueprints that would benefit the territory." I ask Delta in response to her question. Instead of saying anything Delta just hands me a blueprint. [Basic 9mm] [Allows a dedicated gunsmith to learn how to produce a basic 9mm and the ammo needed to fire it] I hand the blueprint back to delta as we don''t have anyone that could make these at the moment. "Can you train one of the humans in gunsmithing?" I ask Delta. "If they can keep up with me" Delta replies before quickly heading back to her work. "I''ll have Melia send over the most intelligent among them then." Delta just nods in confirmation, never taking her eyes off of her work. ¡­ It seemed as if Delta was just humoring my request so instead of directly heading to Melia to have her send over her best subordinate to learn under Delta I instead was going to wait until after I had killed my 3rd realm protector. The Aethon was still on my shoulder, I raised my arm and gestured for him to get off and lead us toward the swamps realm protector. Instantly he spread his wings and flew off. I dashed forth matching the Aethons speed in the air, Tama and Aoif both following my lead. Of course the Aethon wasn''t going full speed else we might not have been able to catch up and would be lost. However we still made good time. By the time we made it to the boundary of the forest that led into the swamp. It was here that I decided that we would rest for a bit while the Aethon would go and scout the exact location of the realm protector. ¡­ After about a half hour of waiting the Aethon was back, he perched on my shoulder as if to justze around. However he wasn''tpletely useless there, with his wing he pointed out which direction I should be going to get to the realm protector the fastest. When we got there I again saw the sight of thousands of beasts, however the difference here was that they were all in the open just like the ones in the forest were. These beasts looked like crocodiles. The only thing different about them was that they had long legs like those of a horse. I could see them running around at speeds that looked like it was at least 25 or 30 miles per hour. They seemed yful though as about ten of them in the middle were hunting down another that was taunting them. "Let me fight with you" Aoif took the moment that I was observing them to demand that she fight with me and who was I to deny her. I nod in confirmation and she immediately dashes out. ¡­ *PIERCE* By the time that I had caught up to her she had already taken her long dagger out and pierced the snout of one of the crocodiles, turning it to dust as she killed the soul of it. The other crocodiles had seen Aoif''s approach but had thought that the one that she had killed would have been able to at least defend. Seeing the death of theirrade they were enraged though they didn''t howl, nor did they roar, they charged at Aoif with speedparable to a car. In an instant I was already beside Aoif and ready to defend her. I quickly reinforced my spear, though I noticed that with the aether flowing much easier it would allow me to not only reinforce my spear but in the time that it took the crocodiles to dash to us, I would be able to reinforce my arms and body allowing me to deal more damage. By the time that the first few had appeared I had already reinforced myself to the fullest and with a flick of my wrist the crocodile in front of me had its head split in half. Though because I had split the crocodile''s head in half my spear tip was high in the air. To fix that I pivot my foot, then rotate the spear ever so slightly so it is angled to cut the crocodile to the left of me. With the dropping of my body to a crouch my spear hurls downwards with my momentum to decapitate the other crocodile. Quickly ncing to my right where the other crocodiles had approached from I see Aofi weaving between the attacks with the grace of some warrior goddess. Each time she passed one they would disintegrate into dust, her dagger having pierced their snout and killing their souls. It was a stunning disy however I couldn''t just stand there and ogle her beautiful ughter. After I had killed the crocodiles near me I dashed towards Aoif intent on backing her up. The realm protector had not shown its face yet, just like the other ones the realm protector was probably watching, waiting for the right time to strike at us. When I got near Aoif I couldn''t help but be swept up in her rhythm. When Aoif attacked I was right beside her to cripple the beast so that she could easily kill it. Every time that one grew close either I or Aoif would cripple it and the other would finish it off. There was an implicit trust between us that allowed us to fight like one. No matter the situation, no matter the number that attacked us we would always be able to watch the others back, the crocodiles were unable to ever get even one hit off on one of us. ¡­ By the time the realm protector had shown itself we were already sitting upon a massive pile of corpses. Of course the ones that Aoif had killed left no body and that spoke to the amount of crocodiles that we had killed before the realm protector had shown. Looking up from where we were sitting, I looked the realm protector down in the eye. He was massive, perhaps the biggest of the three I had seen so far, looking like a cross between a velociraptor and a crocodile he stood towering above us, a snarl upon his face. By the time that I had analyzed him, he was already upon us. Chapter 56 Privileged ?My spear was already ready. Poised to block at the very moment that the protector had decided to attack. *CLANG* The w that had been raised, aiming to take Aoif''s head had been blocked by myself. The force of the block had knocked the protector back a couple feet. I didn''t let up though, immediately dashing forwards to counterattack while he was still regaining himself. *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* I had attacked from three angles and still the scales upon his back resisted. I retreated back to Aoif, hoping to gain some time to analyze a way of attack. The protector was covered in scales, each of them being able to resist the sharpness of my spear, however there were slight gaps that I could take advantage of and cut through those, though that would take precise precision that I could not muster right now. Aoif beside me was analyzing him too, most likely trying to find the origin of his soul. While I could try and find the origin too, I would not be able to do that as efficiently as Aoif could. The protector was not idle while we did this, he hade back at us dashing with speed that I was now used to. *CLANG* I again tried to sh at the protector but I could not pierce him at all. Aoif, while I was defending, circled around and tried to pierce at the back of the protector however it seemed as though it was not effective as the protector was still alive. While I was distracted defending it seemed like the protector had called for help as not long after the initial bout more crocodiles appeared. *SLASH* *SLASH* *SLASH* WIth three quick shes the backup that the protector had called for was felled. However while I was distracted with that Aoif was being harassed by the protector. He couldn''t prate Aoif''s defense but the protector was steadily leading Aoif somewhere. Since I couldn''t pierce him with the spear I had right now, I reinforced it again, this time spending more than half of my reserves to reinforce it. Immediately a brilliant light engulfed the spear, the already ancient looking spear going through a drastic transformation. *WOOSH* With no effort I shed at the air and a whoosh of the air being cut was heard. My spear reinforced again, I once more joined the battle. Aoif was still holding on but the protector was gradually chipping at her defense. The countless ashes of dead crocodiles were a testament to my point, the protector had called its subordinates back to distract Aoif while attacking her himself. I guess I slipped his mind while he was attacking Aoif because when I rejoined I was able to get off an attack undefended. *SLASH* *AOOO* A howl of pain was heard from the protector. Using this opportunity of distraction I activate my skill. From the point of view of Aoif I could see the origin of the protector''s soul. Once I had identified where it was I dashed toward it my spear poised to pierce the origin. ¡­ With the death of the protector a veritable flood of notifications burst into my vision however I had to ignore them for now because When I had pierced the origin of the protector his body had turned to dust. The rest of the crocodiles entered a rage seeing the death of their protector. After an exhausting hour ofbat where Aoif and I had killed over a thousand crocodiles I found myself sitting upon a pile of corpses. Only now was I able to check the notifications that had burst into my vision earlier. [Congrattions, you have leveled up to 6/1] [Congrattions on defeating one of the realm protectors] [You have gained 1/5 ownership of this realm.] [You currently own 3/5 ownership of this realm [System Announcement: the veil will disappear in 5 days] [With 3/5 ownership you may leave this realm for the middle realm with onepanion] My eyes widened at thatst notification, I had expected to have to develop and wait before I could go to try the middle realm but with this I could go earlier and take apanion with me. My first instinct was to take Tama with me but then I thought of Aoif, I didn''t want to part with her. I needed another opinion on this. Thinking that I walked over to where Aoif and Tama currently were. "I need your opinion on something" saying that I exin the situation and my dilemma. "I think you should take Aoif, my Lord" Tama expresses her opinion "Why" I ask, I would have assumed that Tama would have wanted me to take her for protection. "I could tell that it pains you to even ask if I shoulde or not," Tama further exins. I hadn''t thought about that, but now that I was thinking of that I could feel the pain in my heart at the thought of parting with Aoif. "If you think you can not defend yourself, my Lord, then may I suggest evolving again," I looked to Aoif and I could see the agreement in her eyes. "We should evolve again" Aoif said with a smile on her face at the thought of spending even more time with me. Though with her new mature looks instead of it looking cute to me it now looked sultry. "We will do that, however first let''s rest at the territory first," I dere before looking back at Tama, "I promised didn''t I" A smile appeared on Tama''s face, it looked like she thought that I had forgotten about my promise in the heat of the moment. With that n of action in mind we start heading back to the territory, Aoif and I steering the pace while Tama follows. ¡­ It was not long before we arrived back at the territory. Once we got back I left Aoif at the house and left to find Melia. With a sedated pace I wandered around the trees where Melia could generally be found and before long I found herzing around in a field of flowers. Seeing me a smile blossomed on her face, power flowing through her limbs as she prepared to lunge at me. However I wasn''t going to just let her do that so I dodged and with the shaft of my spear bonked her on the head. "Owowow" Melia eximed tears in her eyes, "that was mean" Chapter 57 Relaxing? ?"Owowow" Melia eximed tears in her eyes, "that was mean" "I need you to find your most intelligent and send them to Delta" I said ignoring her antics. "Ok, ok" Melia said waving her hand, "I''ll find them" "Good, thank you, Melia" with that I try to leave with a rxed gait but before I could leave though Melia stopped me. "What does Delta need them for?" Melia asks "I asked Delta to train them as her apprentices, though if they will be sessful, that''s for time to tell" ¡­ Once I got back to the house I went upstairs and started to just rx, the past few days from my summoning to now have been a frantic process of securing my territory and gaining power but now I had nothing to do right now. I had promised that I would sit and rx today but I don''t know what to do. Thinking back I try to think of the things that I had done in the past to upy my time but couldn''te up with anything that I could do. Reading? No, we didn''t have any books to read. That''s all I could remember doing, I didn''t have any specific physical activity that I liked and even then it would be a moot point without the equipment to y. ''What could I do to rx'' the thought just kept reverberating in my head, no answering to mind. "Darwin" Aoif called. I just nodded to her, my eyes vacantly staring at her as I tried to alleviate my boredom with something that isn''t work. I watch as Aoif climbs over to me and grabs my head. She ces my head on herp and starts to slowly stroke my hair. After a while of that my thoughts fade into the background as my eyes slowly close in rxation. "I never told you about myself, have I?" Aoif suddenly says, cutting through thefortable silence that had upied the room. My eyes still closed, I hum and nod my head in acknowledgement. "I was born blind, not just the everything is blurry blind but the kind of blind where your eyes can not take in any light at all" Pausing for a minute Aoif let me take that in, there was no rush, neither of us had anything we needed to do for the day. After a moment offortable silence, Aoif continued with her story. "Imagine how you are right now, no sight, just an endless ck void of nothing" Aoif lets me take a minute to do as she said. I take a moment to feel what I was doing, the closed eyelids lead to no sight. I could hear Aoif''s breathing, I could hear everything but the ckness of not seeing anything was oppressive. Even now my eyelids were trying to open no matter the effort I took to keep them closed. Seeing as I was done thinking Aoif continued on. "Then imagine how you would feel if that was all you could see, that no matter what you heard, no matter what you felt you knew you were never going to be able to see anything." A pause, Aoif took a shaky breath. "Of course if you never saw anything then that would hardly matter, you can''t mourn the loss of something that was never there, but every so often or more aptly every year or so, I would get a little glimpse of light." An even more shaky breath was taken and I could feel little droplets of water fall down and drop on my skin. "The doctors said that I might have hope, that my eyes may actually see. I was studied, there were many research papers on my condition. No one had ever seen a blindness like mine" I heard nothing for the next half a minute, it seemed like Aoif wasposing herself but I was not going to point that out. "I was treated as a research subject, they did this and that, things I still don''t understand the purpose of, even my parents wanted me to continue doing this, I could hear them talking when they thought I wasn''t listening but it was all money this money that," ¡­ fort~ I sent feelings offort through my soul to show Aoif that I was there, I could have said that, I could have even just taken Aoif into my arms but I felt this was the most appropriate way. To others it might seem trivial but this was Aoif''s trauma no matter what anyone else says this trauma was hers and it was real to Aoif. I push myself up from Aoif''sp and take her in my arms. I theny Aoif''s head on my chest, gently stroking Aoif''s soft purple hair as small bouts of tears run down my chest. Slowly I fell into a rhythm, my eyes slowly dripping until I could not hold them open anymore. ¡­ "thank you" A soft whisper sounded in my ear waking me up. I open my eyes to see Aoif leaving my embrace to go somewhere. I rub my eyes intent on breaking the spell the early morning had on me before Aoif could leave. "Oh, your up,e join me once your ready" It seemed like Aoif had noticed that I had woken up, proposing that we take a shower together. Once I had finally woken up enough to get out of bed I went to the shower where I found a naked Aoif washing herself. Her perfect figure was what I saw first, her naked breasts with water running down, the toned stomach, her long legs leading to Aoif''s hidden cave, to the wet hair that ran straight down her back. No matter how many times I saw her perfect figure, it never diminished the beauty. "Are youing?" Aoif said with a puzzled look on her face, her head tilted, it was so cute, so beautiful. "Yeah I am" I replied undressing before stepping forwards to join Aoif. Chapter 58 Desire And Familiar Lands(R18) ?When Aoif saw me get in her focus was diverted from her shower to my figure. A lewd smile was on her lips. Her tongue was unconsciously licking her lips and a small pool of drool was dripping down her chin. A hand reached down and gently grabbed onto my tool, with slow strokes it grew harder and harder. However before I could release, Aoif kneeled down and inhaled my tool right to the base. My hand reached down to her hair and curled it into a ball, gripping tight on that and my other hand on her head I took control. Up and down I kept that rhythm as I pumped Aoif''s mouth up and down my tool. Her eyes were clouded with desire and I could feel the uninhibited lust rolling off of her soul ~lust~ ~desire~ After an indeterminable time I let loose making sure to pull Aoif to the base, pumping massive amounts of semen down her gullet. *gulp* *gulp* *gulp* With each gulp more semen was sent down her throat and by the expression Aoif was making it was delicious. When Aoif had finally sucked out thest drop, she looked up at me with the lewdest expression I had ever seen on her face, her tongue extended showing me that she had swallowed everyst drop. A hand reached down from her hair and groped at her breast, pulling her up from her knees and back on her feet with my other hand. When she was back on her feet my hand on her breast snaked down reaching her honeypot which I started to rub. ~Ahnn A sweet moan echoed out as I rubbed her to climax. It was at that moment that, both of us flushed with desire that we realized that the shower was in vain. Our bodies were sweaty the only thing keeping us clean was the constant flow of water pouring down on both of us. Picking up the soap Ithered Aoif''s body then started to clean her, when I was done she did the same. ¡­ Nothing else happened after that, despite the temptation in the air I wanted to evolve once more before Aoif and I headed to the middle realm to scout it. Tama was waiting for us in the living room, a te of food in her hand. Tama ced the te she was holding on the table next to another three dishes each of a different animal. I sat down with Aoif taking the seat beside me and started to eat, taking a piece or two of everything that Tama had prepared. Beside me Aoif had done the same but had eaten it with less hunger than what was to be expected of us. I could attribute that to the fact that we had done nothing the previous night. No wounds that needed healing, no major expenditure of energy. After breakfast I found myself and Aoif outside. In Aoif''s hand was her dagger, and in mine was my spear. We were ready to evolve again. With a look at Aoif I got all the confirmation I needed, we were ready. [Evolution targets, Darwin and Aoif] [Confirm/Deny] Without hesitation I immediately pressed the confirm button bringing the environmental options to head. [Select an environment(note different environments facilitate different types of evolution.)] [ins] [Swamp] [Forest] [Coast] "There are four options to pick from, the one we evolved in thest was ins but there is also the swamp, forest, and coast to pick from" I inform Aoif. "I trust you," Aoif says, "Pick whichever you think best" Nodding I look at the options again, weighing the possible benefits of each. The ins from what I had seen in our previous evolution was just endless enemies, the others I could not guess at without more information though. The only thing I could guess was that it would prepare Aoif and I for different environments. After a bit of debating I finally settled on Forest. It would be the most familiar terrain for both Aoif and I seeing as the majority of ourbat experience had happened there. There is also the fact that most of my abilities were nature rted and the Forest option gave me the feeling of nature. Done with my selection I inform Aoif before pressing the forest option. ¡­ My vision goes dark for a second before it is filled with light. I look around and see a familiar forest, the clearing, the ruins, it was alling back to me. Though it was not that long ago that I was here for my first evolution it felt like it had been years. It was right in that temple that I had almost been killed by whatever was held prisoner in the vige. Aoif behind me was looking around in wonder, however it wasn''t long before she saw the nostalgic look on my face. "Have you¡­" Aoif begins but before she can finish I just nod confirming her suspicions. "I see," ¡­ The fog wall that once blocked my path forward was nowhere to be seen. We had already passed where I remembered being blocked. Though the beasts that had once almost killed me were easily felled by thebined might of Aoif and I. Deeper and deeper into the forest we went and with that exploration came the sensation of something watching us. At first we reacted instantly only to find some wild packs of wolves which we dispatched easily but the presence had never left. It was after we had been walking for an hour and had killed at least 10 packs of wolves that I saw it. No more like I felt it, the bone chilling feeling of power. Next to me Aoif had taken hold of my arm, her trembling stopping as soon as she took hold of my hand. Slowly frost flew out of the forest, anything in contact with it being turned solid. It was circling us and I could feel the deep chill deep into my bones just from being a couple dozen feet away from it. I could only think of one way to resist this mist of death. That was to reinforce myself and Aoif with aether and hope that our reinforced bodies may be able to take on the frost without falling. Picking up a stick from the ground o test my theory by first flowing a bit of aether into the stick reinforcing it to a degree that I would usually reserve for my weapon then throwing it into the fog. ¡­ The fog pounced upon the stick like an animal possessed. It didn''t have the sedated pace that I had seen from it earlier but now was forcing its way upon the stick as if that was all it knew. The stick held up valiantly, for a whole 10 minutes. We stared at the stick as it resisted the frost but at the 5 minute mark something cracked in it and frost started creeping upon the grain of the stick. A further minute or so and the whole stick was engulfed in frost but I could still see life in the stick. But at the 10 minute mark the stick gave up, its souls light dimming before it waspletely devoured. Chapter 59 Receding Mystery? ?Seeing that the fog was quickly closing in, I reinforce my body to the fullest, spreading my aether to every ce that my current pathways would allow, Aoif beside me was doing the same except her body was engulfed in a purple cloud of aether instead of the bright green that was mine. A shiver then another, my body was shivering at the very touch of the deste fog. The very moment my body had touched the fog, my muscles locked into ce, frozen. I could still feel them, move them but it was almost futile with how much effort was needed to even begin to move. Looking down I could see the frost climbing up my limbs. With a great struggle I reached my fingers out, caressing my legs with aether. The frost that had once locked them no more, mobility restored. Once I had recovered my bodily functions by flooding aether into them I looked over to Aoif. I expected to see frost climbing up her body too but instead I saw the fog just flow off of her. The fog looked upon Aoif in reverence, like a subject to their queen. It seemed like Aoif had picked up on that fact and with a wave of her hand the fog sharply turned this and that way before settling in a nearby tree that was instantly engulfed in ice. It was like the fog wanted to obey Aoif but had trouble interpreting hermands. Each wave of her hand though, brought the fog more in sync. Aoif looked over at me with a sheepish expression then with a wave of her hand the frost that once attacked me receded. I released the extended reinforcement that I had done out of necessity, seeing that it was no longer needed. It was as if the very universe was taunting me as the very moment that I had released my reinforcement Aoif''s eyes went wide. The once calm fog became agitated. Immediately I reinforced my body in the same way as I had done before ready to resist. ¡­ The fog had receded, swirling around and around, before the force of the fog was overwhelming. It was spinning with such force that wind had blown up from it. The dead grass and trees around us, covered in frost, were shattered. The shards being flung around. Countless shards had already pierced my skin resulting in many little cuts. Aoif fared no better, her untouched skin now marred with cuts all over. Eventually it stopped spinning and stabilized into something that looked like a portal. A heavy atmosphere filled the air and a hand reached out. The traction of my feet was broken and I was sent flying. *BANG* *BANG* Instead of just the one bang that I knew was caused by time I heard another. Looking over I saw Aoif, she was sweating, the presence weighing heavy on her. Though after when I looked over that struggling expression was instantly gone though I was able to get a brief glimpse of it before Aoif had killed it. Another hand reached out and the pressure doubled. Holding the portal were two hands pushing something that looked like a crown out of the portal. However before whatever the being wanted to aplish could be done the hands were chained. Golden chains appear out of nowhere to force the being back into the portal. However before the presence left it sent something that slipped between the chains'' attention. "Hah" "Hah" Both Aoif and I visibly panted when the presence had finally disappeared, our mouths finally able to take air into them. Before we could take more relief in the presence''s disappearance a growl interrupted us. Standing before us was what I imagined a Minotaur would look like. With skin as red as blood and yellow eyes glowing with hatred the Minotaur advanced, a sword in hand. My spear was in my in an instant, the moment that I had noticed the Minotaur was the moment I jumped into abat stance. With my spear ready I started to reinforce it, then reinforced it again. No doubt would the Minotaur have skin that would not be cut by a once reinforced spear. Though that cost me time. With surprising agility for something so big it dashed at us. The sword swinging downwards, intent on cleaving me in half. Immediately the spear in my hand was held by both and raised so that the shaft would intercept the downwards sh. *CLANG* The sound of metal raking metal was heard as the sword was stopped m, though the Minotaur had no intention of letting up. Just as quickly as he had attacked the minotaur had raised up its sword again but this time instead of hacking at me it threw the sword with all its strength towards the still recovering Aoif. I tried to intercept it but the Minotaur tackled me and it took all I could to just resist the strength of the Minotaur. ¡­ The sword was flying at me, it was at such a speed that I could barely even react but barely still means that I could react. The fog in the area was still here and I could feel it responding to my desires. Without conscious thought it coalesced in front of me however it wasn''t enough to stop the sword. However it did give me enough time to react, immediately I swung my dagger out in front of myself. *CLANG* The force of the sword blew me away but I was alive and that was what mattered. Looking back over I see Darwin''s spear on the ground and Darwin himself being manhandled by the Minotaur. There was no time to think, I could see the light leaving Darwin''s eyes as he started falling unconscious. Dagger in hand I dash, unnoticed by me though was that the fog had gathered around my legs forming tes of armor that gave me a boost to my leg strength. In just a moment I was above the Minotaur. My eyes had already seen its death, my dagger tip was poised to pierce the origin of its soul. Chapter 60 Exploration ?"Are you ok?!?" Aoif said hurriedly all the while rushing to me after she had dealt the killing blow to the Minotaur. I wasn''t able to see it all but I was able to get a general sense of what happened. While the Minotaur was distracted by trying to kill me, it didn''t pay attention to Aoif, who it had thought it had killed. Using that Aoif was able to close the distance quietly and stab the Minotaur in the origin of his soul dealing the killing blow. When Aoif reached me all I could do was groan, when the Minotaur was trying to kill me I had resisted with all my strength resulting in my current pathetic image. My whole body was on fire, I couldn''t move a muscle, every single one of them had locked up, the nutrients taken from them to fuel my healing. That left my muscles weak and damaged so much so that every time I tried to even move them they would just spasm locking up even further. Aoif saw this and immediately picked me up, carefully maneuvering my body so that my head was on her shoulder and my body in a princess carry. After she had gotten me in this grip she went to the nearest living tree and ced me in herp all the whileying her back on the tree so as to support both of our weight. Feeling something hard press against my legs I looked down and saw armor on Aoifs legs. They looked like sculpted ice in the form of metal leg guards, with inscriptions made in somenguage that my mind couldn''tprehend. The very act of looking at them gave me a headache. "Wha- what is that?" I struggled to say my voice stuttering before going back to normal. The leg guards were something new, beforeing in here neither I nor Aoif had armor but now after our fight against the Minotaur Aoif suddenly developed this ice sculpture like armor. It reached all the way up to her knees, with inscriptions that hurt my head to try and read. "Hm" Aoif hummed before looking down, her eyes widening in surprise as she took in the unknown armor. "I- I don''t know" Aoif says. "I never even felt them nor did I feel their weight," she continued after a moment of thought. As my thoughts drifted from the armor I started to circte my aether. The first ce that I wanted to heal was my arms, the reason being that if my arms were healed I could reach some muscle groups that weren''t covered in my cirction of aether. Slowly my healing started to work, first my arms were recovered which allowed me to then more efficiently recover the rest of my muscles. Once that was done the once all epassing aches finally disappeared. With that all my muscles were healed, I could move again. However I didn''t want to move at the moment. The only thing I did was flip our positions around. With a cute "eep" Aoif was now sitting in myp, her long hair spread over my chest and her head resting on my shoulder. Aoif raised her head and when she did that I stole her lips, at first giving her a chaste kiss then gradually I introduced my tongue. Licking all around the inside of Aoif''s mouth while her tongue submissively licked at mine. Eventually though I did need to pull out of her mouth to take a breath but by then we were both flushed with desire, the after effects of our battle of tongues and the adrenaline from our fightbined into a dangerous concoction which just further stroked our lusts. *AOOOO* Unfortunately though we were interrupted before we could do anything more by the howls of a pack of wolves entering the clearing. Getting up I pull Aoif with me while also picking up my fallen spear. By this point the reinforcement that I had previously put on it had been dispelled by time so I reinforced it again in preparation for battle. However that was unneeded as with unexpected speed Aoif soared towards the pack of wolves. With several swift attacks the origins of the wolves'' souls were pierced, killing both the soul and the body it inhabited. Looking back at me, Aoif gestures for us to get going. With a nod of my head we were off exploring the surrounding forest. ¡­ The armor on my legs did more than just protect them. With each passing battle that we fought I could feel myself grow faster and faster, it was like they were absorbing something with the death of every creature that we killed. *AOOO* The death throes of another bear echoed in my ears and I could feel the armor absorbing something. Deciding to test my theory, I start to look at the bear''s soul tracking the ebb and flow of the soul as it dies. Once the bear had died I could see the energy that constantly emanated off of souls start to flow towards my armor. Once the energy reached the armor it was absorbed by the ce with the most inscriptions. It seemed like the armor was feeding off of the energy that the souls left after dying ¡­ "Should we go deeper or should we stay around these parts?" Darwin broke me out of my thoughts, the attention that I was focusing on the boots being brought back to our situation. Looking at Darwin I respond. "We should head further in" After I had agreed with Darwin''s decision I started to exin the findings that I had observed. Darwin nodded at my exnation, there was nothing we could really do to elerate the rate of growth or even know what it did. "Are you able to retract the armor?" "I don''t know?" I responded, "I haven''t tried" Now that the idea was in my head, I closed my eyes then tried to mentally retract them. After a moment of focusing I looked down and saw that the armor was gone. I then focus on bringing it back, and with just a thought I could see them being attached again. ¡­ After I had figured out how to retract and put back on the armor we moved closer to the fog wall that separated the second part of the forest from the third. As we advanced more and more beasts of varied species attacked us. Just like with the wolf pack their struggles were futile as our strength had long passed their own. We were getting closer and closer to the second fog wall and as we approached we could see the fog go from the heavens down to somewhere we could see the top of. Slowly the imprable wall was falling, however by the time that we had reached the border of the fog wall it was only halfway down. ¡­ While we were waiting we had set up a campfire roasting some wild bear that we had killed while getting here. It was hard to skin it and get the meat but we managed, though the meat that we did get was all messy. We had no spices or anything to cook properly with so the bear meat turned out chewy, so much that it was hard to swallow down but the energy consumed duringbat and afterwards healing made it so that I had to eat even if the food wasn''t any good. After swallowing thistest bite I was full, looking at the fog wall it looked like it was finally down and we could continue Chapter 61 Encampment ?The fog wall had fallen, one of the final bastions, protecting Yggdrasil against the many beasts craving for the blood and foundation of our holy tree. The fog walls that had held for millenia fell one by one, peering into the future I could see neither great disaster nor bountiful rewards. The future was turbulent like a great flood of destiny had been thrown into the great pond of fate. No longer could us seers predict the future. Though I could at least track ones so close to my domain. That however did not mean that I could interfere, no. I could not interfere with his growth, the fog walls actively struggling against me. ME! Their creator, they weremanded by a being greater than I. Sighing the energy leaves me, the only thing I could do was send the lowliest of foot soldiers their way, hoping against the system that they had not grown strong enough to kill it. For even if it was the lowliest of soldiers I had it was still strong, a tier 7 being that had been trained in one on onebat. "SHIT!!" Just as I was retracting my sight from them, the outer fog wall had decided to act. Golden chains shattered the eye that I had hidden deep above my domain. No more could I see them, my sight sealed from ever looking into the fog again. Whatever was doing this was powerful. The fog wall that I had created had specific countermeasures for infiltrators like this, that tried to take control of it. Even if they did, I had programmed measures that would prevent me from being harmed by it. At least those seemed to work as I had only been sealed not killed, if whoever had controlled the fog wall wanted to they could have killed me in an instant. The fog wall was my greatest creation, something of such a magnitude that even those bastards of the high realm were scared of me because of it but now it had been hijacked. ¡­ "Weird" "Yes it is" Looking around I see nothing, everywhere I look, I find no sign of any beasts, that was weird. Before crossing over we could not go any distance without being attacked by any manner of beasts. However now there was nothing, the forest unusually quiet. It had both Aoif and I tense. At least with the other enemies we knew they woulde and what they were but now there was no sign of what was here. No footprints littered the ground, no birds singing in the background, only the trees lie in the distance. Only the quiet echoes of our foot falls on the ground were heard. As we went deeper and deeper into the forest the feeling of unease grew within us both. By the time that we were halfway to the next fog wall Aoif was tightly holding on to her dagger with one hand and with the other was tightly holding my hand. I on the other hand could only feel at peace for some reason. I felt no tension in my muscles, my very being felt as if it belonged here. "ON THE GROUND MAGGOTS" A deafening yell was suddenly heard, both I and Aoif stopping in our tracks as the unknownnguage was yelled into the air. Though thenguage was unknown I could understand it for some reason. "Can you understand him too?" I quietly ask Aoif. Instead of answering verbally Aoif responds with a nod of her head. Though when I looked to her I could see sweat running down her brows, a look, a mixture of fear and resolve etched on her face. ~calm~ fort~ I projected my current feelings and a feeling offort over my soul making sure that Aoif saw it. I knew it worked when her grip on my hand rxed a tad and the fear on her face dissipated into a look of only resolve. "Ready?" I whisper. "Yeah" Aoif whispers uncharacteristically timid. No more words were said between us, the quiet of the forest returned to us. ¡­ Every so often I heard more shouting, from what I could gather it was some sort of military camp. Though, whether they were friendly or not was still up in the air, both of us were treating the situation as if they were enemies. We both measured our steps carefully. That meant that all conversation was done with emotions that we projected through our souls. Even then we did not converse too much to begin with so the silence was not ufortable. Closer and closer we grew until we found whoever was shouting. In a clearing rmingly close to the fog wall was what looked like a military camp. The camp was decorated with the bare essentials, amunal living space could be seen in the center, what I could only assume was a dining area given the ashes of fire that seemed to be used up. Then there was the training area where the sounds that we had heard wereing from. Dozens of Minotaurs were stationed there, each of them were in a nk position, sweat dripping down their faces as they struggled to stay up. A menacing lookingmander was watching them with cold eyes, uncaring for the suffering he had inflicted upon his subordinates. To the side I could see dozens of swords of the same make as the one that the Minotaur that had attacked us had used. "ENOUGH" Themanding minotaur yelled at his subordinates. With a sigh of relief they copsed onto the ground only for themander to yell at them again. "On your feet maggots. We have been given a mission" Smiles filled with bloodlust donned the Minotaurs as themanding Minotaur discussed their mission. "We have some targets, two to be precise. One male, short with whitish gray hair that uses a spear, expect him to have strengthparable to yourself, the other, female, tallpared to the other with purple hair and wielding a dagger, expect swift movement from her." *GAOOO* A rallying war cry echoed out as the Minotaurs got into what I could only assume to be a resting position. Chapter 62 In Wait ?As the orders were given the Minotaurs scattered about, some going to the dining hall where fires were lit and some unidentifiable food was cooked. Others opted to skip out on food and went to the resting area where they slept the day away. There was a method to their organization, the ones that felt stronger were the ones that slept the whole day, there were some among them that even had some other Minotaurs bring them food. Themanding officer all the while went to some sort of private tent, separated from the rest. From the outside it looked luxuriouspared to all the other sleeping situations. The outside looked like a stone cabin, with some sort of chimney to funnel the smoke outwards. I could even feel the jealousy hidden in the other minotaurs'' emotions directed toward theirmanding officer. All the while we were observing them, hidden from sight. There was no way for us to raid the encampment, just the Minotaur that had almost killed us was too much even just as a one on one so there was no way that we could take on a whole encampment of them. Not to mention that themanding officer felt as powerful as the one that we had just barely killed, while the other minotaurs were not far behind in strength. While we couldn''t take on a whole encampment''s worth of Minotaurs we could take on a few at once. The only strategy that Aoif and I coulde up with was to hide and observe, categorizing the movements that they make, their daily habits, everything that we could get we would record. Soon enough the issue of food cropped up and we were forced to retreat from observing the encampment to go back to the second section of the forest and hunt down something to eat. ¡­ Every day we woulde back to the encampment and every day we would observe, while it was boring we had each other and just the presence of Aoif wasforting enough for me to forget the passage of time. It was after a couple days of this routine had gone by that one of the Minotaurs had finally wandered off, seemingly frustrated with how long they had to wait to begin their search. Themanding officer had forbidden them to search on their own, instead opting to wait, sending out only a select few every day to scout different parts of the forest. This minotaur in particr was known for going long periods of time absent from the camp, getting punished every time he returned but that had not deterred him. This was what made him such a great target, someone whose absence would not be questioned for a long while allowing us to subtly pick off more and more before being caught. We followed, the Minotaur none the wiser that we were hiding in wait, following. It took a while but eventually he had made it all the way to the second part of the forest and began his search. All the while we followed making sure to stay a sufficient distance away so as not to get caught. ¡­ With my spear reinforced twice I leaped out of my hiding spot, startling the Minotaur. However he wasn''t startled for too long as after a moment he was already in abat position, ready to kill me with his sword. The tip of the sword was pointed at my throat poised to take my head off. ? Instead of pushing forward I dropped my knees down, crouching out of the way of the blow. The Minotaur was overextended, his sword arm outstretched. Taking advantage of this I slice upwards. *SLASH* A River of blood flows out of the shoulder I had cut off, covering me in metallic blood. I didn''t let this paralyze me, I pushed my advantage. My spear was still high in the air perpendicr to the ground. I twisted my grip angling it so that the edge was aimed at the Minotaurs throat. *SLASH* With a mighty heave I pushed the spear through his neck decapitating him. Aoif, who was already in position to attack from the blind spot of the Minotaur, came out of her hiding ce, approaching me. "Weird" Aoif says as she walks over. "Yeah, it was," No more words were needed between us, an unspoken conversation happening between us. Ever since we had entered the ins it was as if less words were needed to convey our meaning. Now, it was more obvious than ever. The constantbat that we had engaged in led to a deeper understanding of each other. My eyes widened, remembering my status. Quickly I opened it checking to see if my theory was [Name: Darwin(can be evolved)] [Territory tier/level: 8/1] [Personal strength: Tier 6/1] [Skills: Dream*, Shared Senses*] [Dream: Allows the user to view the lives of his subordinates through dreams. Only subordinates with absolute loyalty can be viewed] [Shared Senses: Allows the user of this skill to connect to the other user''s senses and see as they see. Or the user can use the other''s sense of sight as their own. [Talent: Evolution*] [Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simte evolution in a smaller time frame.] [Dual Evolution: two beings of your choice now evolve together. Warning: Dual Evolution is inherently linked, any two beings evolved together will grow so close that it would be painful for them to separate.] Reading the effect of Dual Evolution I realized why we were bing so close. Even though it was attraction at first sight it shouldn''t have grown this much but my skill exined it all. The first time we Dual evolved together we had grown closer and had our first sexual encounter and ever since then I could not get enough of her and neither could Aoif. Now that we were evolving together for the second time the attraction must have grown so strong that we could read each other easily. Chapter 63 Ambush ?There was no more time to dwell upon my revtion. We had a limited amount of time before the minotaurs disappearance would be noticed. We set out immediately, with the amount of scouting we had done I knew that there would only be themanding officer and about 10 other minotaurs at the camp right now, the rest being sent out as a group to scout and try and find us. We hurried back to the minotaurs camp, intent on taking out the head of the operation before we did anything else. It would be a bit risky but seeing as I was able to take out the minotaur without any help from Aoif we should be fine as long as we are careful. It took us about 30 minutes of jogging to get back to the camp. It seemed like we weren''t as stealthy as we thought as what we found upon arrival was an ambush. 30 minotaurs each ready forbat stood in a formation with themanding officer ready in wait. An arrogantugh echoed out of themander''s mouth. "Fools! you thought we hadn''t noticed you." Aoif and I stayed silent, there was no reason to respond to the minotaur. The only thing we could do was prepare forbat. My spear and body were reinforced, Aoif next to me equipped her armor, dagger in hand. We dashed together while themander was caught in his little speech. Before any of the minotaurs could respond Aoif was upon them with myself not to far behind. With a quick sh the origin of one of the minotaurs was pierced, his body turned to dust. It was at that moment that they reacted. The ones closest charging at us while the further ones created a defensive line, protecting the archers. Arrows rained upon us however they were cut down immediately upon reaching my range. A quick sh of my spear in the arrows direction with all my power created a current of wind strong enough to disrupt their momentum. By the time the arrows had fallen Aoif was able to kill another 3 minotaurs leaving the others panicked as they were not able to even touch Aoif. *BANG* *BANG* The heavy stomps of themander could be heard as he made his way over to us. The subordinated in his way hurriedly moved, not daring to stand in his path. Those that couldn''t move were turned into a red paste as their bodies were punctured by the charge of the minotaur. Soon enough he was upon us, sword raised aiming at us. *CLANG* I was able to get my spear shaft in the way of the sh but the wood was chipped and I was sent flying into Aoif who was knocked down under me. Quickly I got up observing the damage done to my spear and my eyes widened in surprise. Ever since I had learned to reinforce my spear there had never been a time when it had been damaged. As soon as I was up themander was upon me again, this time I didn''t try to block, I only rolled myself and Aoif out of the way. *BANG* A huge amount of dirt was sent flying in the air. While that might have been a disadvantage I still had sight. essing Aoif''s soul sight I see the soul of the minotaur moving this way and that, no obvious pattern could be taken from it. Behind me Aoif obviously was able to see themander too and a cid understanding was made in that moment. Dashing I left Aoif to do her part while I yed mine. With the spear to my right I crouched low as soon as I was close enough and swung. *CLANG* The attack was blocked however I knew that was going to happen. The light of the soul showing me the way. *SLASH* The quick swing that I had taken at the minotaur while backpedaling had worked. A deep gash had appeared on the stomach of themander. *AOOOOO* A howl of rage left the minotaurs mouth as he charged at me, even faster than previously. I kept on moving backwards making sure to dodge the attacks that I could. When I reached the ce that he had thrown me I sighed in relief. *PIERCE* Aoif had jumped down from her hiding ce piercing the origin of the minotaur. However it hadn''t killed him. Even though half of his body had turned to ash he still had one more defiant move before he perished. With a mighty swing of his sword the ground under him ruptured. My eardrums rang, the sound of the sh like a grenade had gone off next to my ears. But that wasn''t the worst that had happened. The minotaur had, with that final sh had thrown Aoif to the gathering of minotaurs that had been waiting in the back. Quickly reorienting herself Aoif pounced upon the minotaurs, wiping out 5 of them before they regained theirposure. They had been stunned into an unmoving state with the death of theirmander but it seemed like they only got more aggressive. After they had processed the death of theirmander they got more aggressive. The once methodical methods they had used to attack us went to the wind as they instead abandoned all means of defense. Of course this only spelt their doom faster as with their recklessness came openings that we took advantage of with ruthlessness. ¡­ Sitting up against a tree I check my notifications. [You have advanced to tier/level 5/1] I could feel all my pathways being unlocked, aether flowing into me with reckless abandon. The power was overwhelming, the only thing that I could grip was an equally distressed Aoif, both of us coping with the sudden increase in power. I could feel the aether flowing off of both of us. It was mixing,bining into one. My once green aether was now tinted purple while Aoif''s aether now looked purple with green streaks. I could feel Aoif''s pathways just as she could feel mine. Chapter 64 Evolutions End ?In a sh of light we were back in the backyard of our territory. No time had passed despite the several days that we had spent evolving. I had always known that time passed differently while evolving however it was the first time that I had seen clear evidence of that happening to myself. When it happened to Tama or Aoif it was all outside experiences and even when I evolved myself it never really hit me but now it did. I saw that Tama was still standing in the same spot as she had been when I had initially initiated my dual evolution with Aoif. That was what really threw me off, despite the several days that I had felt pass with Aoif while evolving Tama had not moved at all. Breaking my thought Tama looks at me with astonishment softly eximing. "You''ve grown, my Lord." Looking inward I could feel the growth that Tama spoke about, the dormant aether in my pathways now excited with power. A green glow was constantly emanating off of me. Even the air around me was affected by the aether I emitted, bing so pure that taking in a breath of air felt ten times more refreshing than crisp morning air. However my growth in power did note without downsides. The full unlocking of all my pathways brought with it the problem of control, where I once could control the cirction of my aether with ease now it felt like trying to hold water, pointless. Every bit of my hard earned control was gone, reced with untamed raw power. Looking over to my left I saw Aoif who, herself, was having trouble controlling her aether too. It seemed like her control over it was better than mine though, as every passing second had her aether growing ever more invisible. However that was only with Aoif concentrating all of her energy on her control. How I knew that Aoif had her full concentration on controlling her aether I couldn''t tell you, I didn''t even know. It was just some sort of innate feeling. While I was thinking of this I was also trying to control my aether. Breathing in and out I close my eyes bringing my attention from Aoif back to my pathways. The cirction of my aether was uncontroble for now but I could at least control it in some sense. Instead of forcefully controlling it, I directed it to instead flow more efficiently so as to not permeate out of my skin. It was working. When I opened my eyes the cloud of aether that had been created by me had lessened now looking more invisible. Though there was still a visible string of aether that was traveling towards Aoif, tracking it I saw that it was intermingling with her own. I needed to fix that, even though it felt natural it would be a dead give away if we were going to try and hide once we went to the middle realm. ¡­ It took us a while but after a while of concentration we were able to hide the visible effects of our aether mixing. The air around us wasn''t covered in a cloud of purple and green aether constantly swirling together in a cloud of colors. However the downside was that we had to constantly hold skin contact so that it could mix directly from skin to skin instead of emanating off of us and mixing in the air. After we had done that I finally exercised my right to travel to the middle realm and brought with me Aoif. ¡­ In a great sh of light we were gone. I opened my eyes and all around us was a great cosmos of stars. Each star had its own realm circling around it. Next to me was Aoif who was admiring the sight as much as me. It was with unexpected force that we were drawn to a particrly big realm. It looked like it was cracked in two, one being a prosperous utopia and the other a bare desert colored blood red. There was a crack in thend that separates them from each other. However as we got closer and closer I could see that it wasn''t actually a crack but was a great wall of bodies each fighting in a never ending battle. Great sts of energy littered the sky. Thunder, rain, even just straight energy beams flew everywhere killing hundreds. In just the few seconds that we were observing the battlefield I could count at least a thousand that had died. It was more brutal than any war the earth had ever felt. ¡­ I wasn''t able to take in the scenery for too long though as soon after we got close enough we were teleported to some wild area. It wasn''t the desert nor was it the utopia that we had seen. Instead it was some sort of mountainous terrain. Above us was a great peak that I had not seen while looking into the realm and below us was a great cliff that fell into a deep abyss. ¡­ [A low realm lord has ascended into your realm] "What?!" The roar of the Gaul''s king echoed throughout his chamber. The servants waiting on him outside were cowed into a quivering mess. They had only seen their king this angry on rare asions and the servants around him at that point were all dead, used as stress relief by the king. Coming out of his throne room an angry re on his face the servants guarding the door were turned into a red paste, they had done nothing. ¡­ [A low realm lord has ascended into your realm] The eyes of the queen opened wide, her green eyes sparkling with confusion. "How?" she thought out loud. It hadn''t even been a few weeks since they had first ascended to the realmpetition. Calling for a servant, she gets dressed. When the servant arrives she has the servant call for the rest of her court. Arriving in the throne room, she waited, bored eyes analyzing the situation The rest of her court slowly trickled in, sitting down on seats. Severe expressions on their faces. Court was never called this close to the previous court date except in times of need. Chapter 65 A Great War ?It was after we were transported to the middle realm that we opened our eyes to what we thought was a mountain, seeing as we found ourselves in a bright ce with a great wall of stone next to us. However looking around again changed our perspective, instead of the mountain that we thought it was, we instead found that it was actually a great chasm. The light that we thought was the sun, shes of battle that were happening above us. We found ourselves in a difficult position, we couldn''t go down only up but up led to the battlefield where neither Aoif or I were likely to survive. Even if we tried to go down there would be nothing for us to find there. Again the only way forward was up. *BOOOM* The sounds of battle kept echoing down into the chamber as we thought of our options. "We are going to have to climb" I said to Aoif, to which she nodded, it was the obvious answer but it was good to confirm it with her. "How, though?" Aoif said, asking the unsaid question. "I think I have an idea," I said cryptically, still trying to think of a way out. ¡­ It was rather simple now that I was really thinking of it. The only problem that came about was how to secure our weapons so that we could climb with both hands. Luckily a solution presented itself in the forms of naturally urring vines that grew in the chasm that we were in. I went to chop some down with Aoif following behind me to help. I tugged at the vines trying to secure them to my spear and myself. It worked out surprisingly well. The only thing was that they couldn''t carry my nor Aoif''s weight, which was a problem because I wanted to give us some extra security when climbing. It was then that an idea popped into mind, I could evolve them and so that was what I did. ¡­ ''Evolve'' Imanded, targeting the vines that we had gathered. Soon enough the menu popped up and looking at the options I picked the one that would give them the most carrying weight. After finding the option that did that I confirmed the evolution. With a sh of green light the vines disappeared and a tiny screen appeared in the corner of my eyes. The vines that had disappeared seemed to be growing, seasons passed and the vines still endured. When winter came the vines looked like they hadpressed the once thick vines beingpressed into less than a cables width. It kept doing that, countless seasons passing the vines bing stronger and stronger before they underwent a great transformation. The once green vines were now colored vibrant blue and lengthened another 5 feet. They seemed to have grown some sentience too as they slithered out of the way of things. ¡­ Another sh of light and the vines were back in front of us. No status screen popped up in front of me as the vines were not yet considered a sentient species, however I could feel the subservience they had for me even with the tiny shard of sentience that they had grown. Now that we had something strong enough to hold us I tied our weapons around our bodies. Aoif''s dagger on her hip while my spear was tied perpendicr to me on my lower back. After that was done an additional strand was used to connect us together to make sure that if one fell the other could hold them while the regained their grip. "I''ll take the front, '''' Aoif insisted, pulling me towards her with the vine that attached us together. I had noints so I just followed, watching as Aoif instead of finding a hold to pull herself up, created a hole in the stone to make a grip and continued to do that as she climbed. I followed once Aoif was far enough up that we wouldn''t be in each other''s way. ¡­ The climbing went well. It was what came after that went to hell. When we got up I was pulled by Aoif back down the chasm where she made a little alcove where we could sit. "Too many" no more words were needed, I understood. When Aoif was up there she must have seen too many enemies for us to fight or even flee. That made Aoif''s actions make more sense. Using my skill I look at what Aoif had seen and what greeted me must have been hell. All around the chasm was blood red sand. The sand wasn''t inherently red as I could see grains of sand that were still yellow. That meant that so much blood had been shed in this area that the very ground had been stained red. Looking further I could see mountains of bodies that were being eaten by vultures. Battles off in the distance echoed loudly in her ears. Thousands were being ughtered in my very vision. Elves and Gauls that was what I had seen. Back in the alcove with Aoif, I retract my skill and look at Aoif. "How are we going to move forward?" I ask. "I don''t know," Aoif grimly said, grinding her teeth in frustration. There were not many options for us. The amount of carnage out there would not allow us to move. I could feel that the average level of our opponents would be around tier 7. Even if it was two tiers below us it would still be a hard challenge to even flee from them given their numbers. Sure we could take on maybe a hundred or two of them on our own andbined we may even be able to take a thousand but there were not just that amount but hundreds of thousands of them. The only thing I could think of was to flee however even that was not allowed seeing as stray shots from beings that we could not take on were flying around us everywhere. "Lets wait maybe the carnage will slow down at night fall" ... AN: sorry for thete chapter I don''t know why but the chapter was just fighting me even now i''m not sure if it is good. Chapter 66 Sneaking(R18) ?As night fell the constant shouts of battle and struggle fell to the wayside. The once loud battlefield filled with the shouts of desperation and death was now reced with the sound of heavy artillery fire. At least that was what we assumed it was, I hadn''t gone out again since the beginning. However if it was just artillery we should be able to leave undetected. ¡­ I tried to not wake Darwin, to let him get more rest however he must have noticed me silently struggling to get out of his hold on me as Darwin quickly woke. "Is it night already?" Darwin asked, sleep still in his voice. "Yes, i''m going to check" I responded, a silent determination echoing through my soul and into his. "Be safe." Even though words were not needed, he still felt a need to gently tell me to be safe. A smile bloomed on my face, the concern shown for me no matter how many times it happens still brings about great happiness no matter my mood. I shook myself out of that state and climbed out of our little alcove to see the situation above us. Using the footholds that I had created earlier I climbed up the chasm gently poking my head out. What I saw didn''t surprise me. Despite all the explosions that were constantly happening I had not heard the yells of soldiers nor the barking ofmands. The whole terrain was unusable deep holes caused by the mages on each side sending down explosive natural disasters. The boom of lightning, the rumble of earthquakes, all manner of disasters were happening. Though the destructive force fettered the other soldiers it couldn''t deter us as our natural resistances would allow us to endure the after effects. I don''t know where the confidence came from but I knew deep down that even if we were struck we would only be mildly injured. Even then that would only happen with extremely bad luck, as long as we avoid the fox holes made by the soldiers we should be able to sneak our way through this no man''snd without being noticed. ¡­ With a nod towards Darwin we departed the rope again tied our weapons to our bodies. Once those were secure we made our way to the top of the chasm. The disasters happening all around us were chaotic but with ease we were able to weave around them. The only problem was that we had to constantly maintain skin contact else our aether would go haywire, revealing our position. It took us no time to cross no man''snd however that wasn''t the only problem now. Now we had to deal with patrolling soldiers. Past no man''snd was a ton of sand that was filled with nothing, but once we crossed that there were holdings that had patrolling soldiers. Even though they were at the strongest tier 8 they still could alert the stronger beings that were tier 7 or even tier 6. If we got into a fight with them then we would not be able to scout this realm anymore having to retreat back to the low realm without information. To escape the patrols of the soldiers took effort. However it didn''t take as much as with it being night the soldiers were all tired. They had not been given rest. To avoid them we needed to control our aether, which was not an easy task even before our control had been shot by our evolution. The only good thing about this was that I got a valid reason to never let go of Darwin. A pout appears on my lips, intentionally, I wanted to take a break so I was going to tempt Darwin. I knew that he could not resist especially with the eyes that I was giving him, the killing blow however was dealt when I started projecting feelings of lust into my soul and out into his stroking his own mes of lust ¡­ ~lust~ ~desire~ We were practicing our aether control, safely hidden from the patrolling soldiers when I felt it. Aoif was propositioning me. I could tell not only because of the feelings that she sent over but by the look in her eyes and the pout on her lip. I knew that I needed to focus, to get us out of here but her desire was overwhelming. I couldn''t resist it, I stole her lips, forcefully sealing them while prying her lips open with my tongue. My hand that had been idle started to lower until it found her honeypot, even through our clothes I could feel the wetness on my hand grow. I kept stroking and I knew I was doing good when I could hear the muffled moans that Aoif was hiding in my mouth. "Ahn" "nnn" "Ahnnn" More and more moans leaked out of her lips as I stroked harder and harder adding another finger after I had deemed her wet enough. I pulled aside her panties and directly touched her pussy. Her figure shivered as I slowly started to finger her. My other hand was not idle groping her breast. "Hah" "Hah" When I left her lips she was panting, her eyes lidded with desire. The hand that was groping her breast brought up to her mouth as I stuck a finger in her mouth. Aoif started sucking at my finger and before I knew it my other hand the one stroking her pussy was soaked with liquids as she climaxed. ¡­ By the time we were done it was already pitch ck and even though we hadn''tpletely controlled our aether we had done it enough so that we wouldn''t be noticed by any of the patrols, especially in the dark Slowly we snuck by post after post and before we knew it we saw patches of grass that started to rece the desert sand. Life started springing up and in the distance I could see a forest. ¡­ By the time we were in the forest the morning sun had alreadye up. The frigid wind being reced by a humid breeze. The forest around us was filled with life, the croaks of frogs in the nearby ponds, the chirps of the morning birds. Everything was filled with life. Chapter 67 Time Runs ?Looking around the forest I saw that there was a rough pathway about the size of a car in width. However seeing as their technology level wasn''t as high as us it was most likely that it was a route for carriages to cross over and deliver supplies to the war effort. That meant that it would lead us further into the elves'' kingdom. The only problem was that we didn''t want to be spotted until we were deep enough into their territory to call ourselves orphans or something. The only problem in our disguise was that we didn''t have ears like them. While theirs were pointed like a typical elf from legend ours were rounded. If they noticed that our disguise would be blown. Luckily though we both had long hair that we could cover our ears with, along with beautiful appearances that would help us blend in. We couldn''t know if all elves were beautiful however no matter the race pretty people will always get the benefit of the doubt which is what we aimed to take advantage of. ¡­ It took us a whole day but eventually we had reached what looked like an outpost city. It was prosperous. The walls were made of stone and the gates of metal. Everything looked pristine. There were even heavily armed guards outside greeting and letting in caravans left and right. There must have been at least 10 caravans that had been let into the city in the time that we had been watching. However it seemed like a sort of ID was needed to get in which we didn''t have and we were still too close to the frontlines that it would be too suspicious for two travelers to be here. Looking at Aoif I conveyed our next move, not through words but from gestures. There was no longer any need for us to converse, our actions could be urately interpreted by the other. ¡­ Out of the three days that we had allocated to gathering information on this realm two days had passed with us only waiting and traveling. No information was gathered except a crudely drawn map that we had made, the strength of their soldiers, and the patrolling routes of them. It was with a heavy heart that we had to depart, we had spent too much time here when Aoif or I could have been growing our territory. Confirming that we were done we activated the teleportation home. ¡­ It was after Darwin and Aoif left that I immediately got to work. "I need you to have your workers construct better defenses, we have a limited amount of time until the invasion of this realm." "On it" Apetitive look was gathered on Melia''s face. I however didn''t care, if she worked harder because she thought this was some sort ofpetition then all the better. After leaving I went around and gathered my pack of Kitsunes. I had let them ck off for the past few days, seeing as I needed to tend to Darwin but now that I had some time I opted to train them. They all had potential just like me but without Darwin they would not be able to evolve like I had. Even just a couple days after Darwin had evolved me I had grown even more in power. I had grown my power having advanced to tier 3 and grown my sixth tail. Looking up at my subordinates they all seemed so weak to me. Ever since I had advanced to tier 3 it was like a new world had opened up to me. No longer was I worrying about my aether capacity since I could now efficiently absorb aether from the air, replenishing my reserves within seconds. The power of my abilities had grown stronger too. Before I could only kill a few hundred in a second but now I felt like I could will out of existence thousands at the same time. Just thinking of the potential my subordinates had for serving my lord excited me. If I could train them up to even just what I was at tier 4 then we would be unstoppable, however that wasn''t going to happen, not without Darwin to evolve them. That didn''t mean that I couldn''t try. A sadistic smirk found its way onto my face as I started to formte a training n for my subordinates. ¡­ *BOOM* *BOOM* Ever since Tama had gotten it into her head that she could train her subordinates up to her level the booms of explosions had not stopped. It disrupted the focus of the humans that I was teaching. Enough that I had to erect a barrier that blocked sound. Not that it stopped the sound from reaching my ears but the sound didn''t bother me at all. Not like it bothered my students. They had progressed well. Learning the mechanics of the turrets I wanted them to learn fast enough for me to trust them with the production of them. By now we had 4 turrets online which was enough for now. So now I found myself exining how the bullets are made so that they could mass produce them ¡­ After a lengthy lecture I had finally gotten it into their skulls on how to make the bullets effectively and without idents. I found myself back at the research bench where I was drawing up blueprints for my gun so as to arm the humans. "Shouldn''t this make it more efficient." One of my students had popped up behind me. A rather in ck haired girl with a surprising amount of intelligence. "No" I responded not in the mood to debate over something so obvious. Of course I had seen it and had dismissed it as being too inefficient. The amount of strength someone would need to lift that would be too much for a fleshy human. "What if we enhanced their strength with prosthetics though, wouldn''t that work" I had considered that too but it would be a whole nother project to do that which I didn''t have the time for. "Do it yourself and I''ll implement the design change" However I wasn''t going to discourage my student, if she could do it then so be it. Chapter 68 A Genius? ?A me passes over my head as an illusion of a sword passes through me. There would have been no need for me to block the illusion but I needed to. The Kitsune that had cast the illusion was starting to grasp denial of reality, meaning that the sword could deal damage. Only for a second but that was all that was needed. *CLANG* A sword created by myself with denial of reality blocked the sword before I threw it to the Kitsune that had cast the illusion, knocking her out. Their training was going well, although only one of them was able to control illusions to a level that I was satisfied with, others were still progressing well. Some had developed their power over fire while others had mastered their invisibility. Even with this progress over their skills their overallbat power had grown more than their skills,.before, when I first started to train them they could not evenst 10 seconds together against me, but now with more training they were able tost a whole minute. Seeing as they were still at tier 5 evensting that long against someone that was two tiers above them was considered good. Even better was that I could see the illusionary fifth tail that signified that they were on the cusp of tier 4. "That''s enough" I called out. With a sigh of relief the Kitsunes fell to the ground, transforming into their fox forms and falling asleep immediately. The exhaustion of fighting me getting to them. I had mostly broken the habitualziness from them but that was only when I was activelymanding them or I had them do something out of sight, other than that they kept theirziness. ¡­ I let them rest in theirziness for another hour before I woke them up again to start training. There was no rest for them. By the time that Darwin gets back the veil will no longer have much time left standing. So even if I wanted to give them a break I could not, the enemies that we faced would be nothing against the forces of the middle realm. ¡­ I was given permission. No matter how dismissive it may have seemed I was given permission to research and create something of my own. I was so excited, so happy. Ever since I was introduced to the world of technology by Delta it had overwhelmed all of my thoughts, nothing else was in my mind. Uncovering the secrets of the physical realm was something I never knew that I would love so much but now that I was introduced to it, there was nothing on my mind but that. Heading back to the research station after getting permission I started brainstorming. To use the modification that I wanted for the gun the arm would need to be able to withstand immense force. To do that I first thought of a brace but with not only the limited materials but my limited knowledge I had no way of knowing how to do that. I tried anyway, there was no progress without failure. Taking the meager supplies that I had on my workbench I got to work. ¡­ First things first there was no need for whoever was using it to have a hand or even an arm. So what I would want to design was an arm that could withstand the immense force that woulde from the pistol recoiling back onto the arm. It would also need to have something that would stabilize the arm so that the person shooting could shoot urately. "OH!" I could do that, however as I was finalizing my thoughts I realized that I had shouted out loud. With an imperceptible blush I mutter "sorry" then get back to work. What had caused me to shout was that I realized that I could just gauge out the person''s eye then rece it with a targeting system and a better eye all at the same time. Sort of like Delta has. But then I would need to partially gauge some of the brain out and rece it with a chip of some sort that could handle the calctions, even then that would have to be further connected to the spine so that the instructions could bypass the reflexes of the person using it. ¡­ Before I knew it I had used up all the paper that I had been allocated for blueprints. With a frown I had to go over to Delta to ask for more blueprint paper. "Show me" Delta was as sinct as ever but It didn''t discourage me, the fact that Delta even trusted in me enough to know that I would have something brought a smile to my face. With a beaming smile on my face I grab Delta''s hand and pull her over to my workstation, showing her the blueprints for the enhancements that I had made to the human body. "Good, but here the brain would be overloaded, the circuit would not properly take the information" I blushed in embarrassment, to have a w found in my work so soon, it embarrassed me so much. "Here, here, and here." Delta just kept on pointing out ws that I had never even considered. Tears started forming in the corner of my eyes, I had worked so hard but for it to be dismissed so easily hurt. *Pat* *Pat* I felt soft hands pat and caress my head. "You did good, don''t let my criticisms overwhelm you" It was the kindest words that she had said to me. I looked up into her monotone face, and saw a hint of kindness. I didn''t know how I knew but I just knew that she hadn''t meant it as an insult to me but for me to learn. "Come with me" Delta ordered it didn''t feel like a solid order, like themanding ones that were harshly said to those below her but someone of equal standing. "Your Lord is back, I''ll introduce you." Chapter 69 Advancement ?With a sh we were back, it left a bitter taste in my mouth that we had to leave before we could gather any more useful intel. However it would have been useless the middle realm was too big and if we had tried to cross into the utopia that we had seen it would have taken at least a week at the speed we were going. That was time that we didn''t have, time that would have been better put to use in preparations. Before I could go back inside to rest for a second we were intercepted by Delta. The odd thing was that Delta had with her one of Melia''s subordinates that I had her teach. She seemed rather in with ck hair and brown eyes, nothing exceptional but she seemed to be smiling which added to her charm. "This is¡­" Delta began before the girl interrupted her an eager grin on her face, "Rhea, I''m Rhea" Though after introducing herself she quieted down like she didn''t really have anything to say. "Rhea has a lot of potential, she wanted me to introduce her." Delta said her monotone features not betraying any of the emotion that she held. It was obvious by the way that Delta had learned her name that this Rhea had potential and Delta''s favor. After Delta had said her piece she handed me a blueprint which prompted a system notification to appear. [Cybeic Enhancement mk1] [A blueprint that guides the user on how to enhance the human body with electronics, allowing for the enhancement of arm strength, a targeting system, and enhanced cognitive abilities] The blueprint was amazing though I didn''t know if we had the resources to allow us to even enhance one person. The most advanced things we even have right now that we could make are the turrets but that was only because we had gotten lucky and found deposits of ores that would allow us to build them. "Are we-" "Yes, we have the materials for one person" before I could ask it was like Delta had already predicted what I would ask. "On Rhea?" I asked. "Yes" these enhancements would be useless to me but to Rhea would allow for her to improve upon her design and improve herself even further" Delta exined in the most words that I had ever heard her say. There was one more question that I had though. "If Rhea could improve on her enhancements what about you with enhancements much more superior to hers" "I am however it would have taken years without the research building that you gave me" a breath, "Now it should only take months" After that the conversation died down. Delta left to install the enhancements on Rhea and I finally was allowed to rest. Aoif next to me had already fallen asleep, the exhaustion of the day hitting her hard. Looking at her sleeping form brought my own exhaustion upon me. My eyes felt heavy and slowly they closed, my consciousness fading as I fell asleep. ¡­ The morning sun woke us up and it was then that I realized that we only had 3 days before the veil would fall. With the new knowledge of the power of the middle realms I was in sort of a panic. I had thought that we had enough power to at leastbat the middle realm but now I wasn''t so sure. Of course themon soldier could easily be killed but there were so many of them that we would be drowned by bodies before we could force a surrender. Even then I was sure that there were many elves and Gauls that had power equaling or even exceeding our own. The best example of that would be that I had an ascended talent. That meant that there was a realm of power above tier one and it was most likely that they might even have an ascended which could obliterate us. Thinking of this led me back to my talent. If I could frantically evolve everything in the territory we might actually have a chance. Just looking at Delta, if I evolved her we might even have a tier one that could defend us along with whatever technological advancement that she made in the process of evolving. I didn''t know for sure but seeing as evolutions catered for the individual Delta was most likely going to be evolved in a way that enhanced the technology inherent to her being. ¡­ It was with those thoughts that I found myself outside. The sounds of battle echoed in my ear as I watched Tama train her subordinates. The way that they utilized their aether to create mes, illusions, and turn themselves invisible being engraved into my mind slowly as I watched on and on. "Enough!" Tama yelled out and her subordinates fell to the ground, turning into cute foxes drenched in sweat, exhausted. Looking at Tama I gesture for her toe over. Walking over to me Tama sits next to the stump I was sitting on and before I could say anything she starts talking. "My Lord, I believe that you should evolve them" Tama paused for a second gesturing at the Kitsunes allid out sleeping, "It would bolster our fighting forces to a great degree." "I can do that but before I want to evolve you again, seeing the forces of the middle realm, it seems that we arecking in power" "That sounds fine my Lord" Tama current status - [Species: Kitsune] [Name: Tama] [Tier/Level: 3/5(Can be evolved)] [Skills: Solid Illusions*, Denial of Reality*] [Solid Illusions: Tama has transcended normal Illusions allowing her to form tangible illusions that can do real damage.] [Denial of Reality: Through tricking the world Tama can convince the world through illusions that her target never existed, erasing said target from existence.] With Tama''s agreement given I pull up her status before evolving her. A green sh of light quickly fades out before again a small screen appears in my view signifying the start of Tama''s evolution. Chapter 70 Worms ?I found myself back in the desert again, the worm''s presence that I had felt so long ago now clear in my mind. I could feel the murderous rage even more clearly now than I had before. Death res had focused upon my being, however the oppression that I remembered was no longer there instead reced by a confidence gained from experience. The first time that I was sent here I was not prepared, suffering death after death as I struggled to survive but now I was prepared. My immediate reaction was to deny the worm''s existence from reality but when I tried to do that the worm had some sort of innate anchor that disallowed me to do that. It seemed like they were anchored so much into this reality that despite the power I put into deleting it from reality it was able to resist. That was no problem, even if my first n had failed I had others. I was no stranger to directbat so with a sh of light a sword was in my hand. To the world around me, even to myself, for that was the next step to not only fool the world but to fool even the self, the sword was real. With the sharpest edge that could be imagined it appeared. Golden light appeared around it matching my fur. With an enhanced jump I was in the air, my sword poised to pierced the work that had dared show its face to me. A sh and the side of the worm''s face was cut off. No resistance was felt, the only reason it had not been decapitated was the size of it. Towering at 200 feet tall with a head marching its size, the worm looked over me still alive despite the devastating wound that had been given to it courtesy of my new sword. With a sh of light hundreds of thousands of tiny daggers appeared in the air and were sent flying towards the giant worm. Each was coated with a poison I made the world ept was deadly to the worm. *ROOOOOOAAAAA* *BAAANG* A mighty screech echoed in the air as the worm fell to the ground, discing a huge amount of sand and earning the attention of even more worms as they rose from their slumber. I had gingerlynded on the worm''s dead body intending to rest for a bit before fighting again. However that wasn''t meant to be as hundreds of other worm''s appeared lumbering with great power over to me. Some were the same size as the one I had killed while others were hundred or even thousands the size of the one I killed. I grit my teeth, it was most likely I had only killed a baby of their species. No wonder it went down so easily, these ones on the other hand would not go down as softly as the one I had killed. Getting up from my prone position I conjured another sword this time I made it as light as possible with a length equaling that of my own height. The sharpness was notcking either, it was sharp enough that even just moving like I am now would disce the very atoms in the air. *BOOM* With a push of my power I leaped up and cut at the worm nearest to me, taking out a portion of its face. I hadn''t forgot toce the sword with a poison that I had created by deceiving the world into believing that the poison with a touch could kill this specific worm. Making the poison that specific allowed for it to be even more potent than it would have been if I had only made it deadly to the species. *BAAANG* The worm didn''t even have the time to let out a roar before it was dead. Falling to the ground it created an explosion of sound and sand. Still in the air I deny the existence of there being no foothold under my foot and with a sh of light I now stood on solid air having deceived the world into creating a solid tform in the air for me to stand on. *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* Countless projectiles flew towards me, originating from the mouths of therger worms. I couldn''t tell what they were nor could I will them out of existence. The projectiles carried a resistance to my denial of reality just as the worms had. Turning into my fox form I start leaping here and there weaving between the tiny openings that the globs spit at me had not covered. Even if the openings wererge enough for my human form to pass through I was not going to risk the exposure. That was the whole reason I had turned back into a fox, my form being the size of a small dog allowed me much more leeway. Once I was out I transformed back into my human form and created thousands of daggers in the air, eachced with a poison specifically tailored for the worm that it had been aimed for. *WOOSH* All the daggers were released at the same time, the sound barrier that broke with the force of their throw only echoed once as they had been thrown all at the same moment. ¡­ "Haah" "Haah" The sound of my breathing echoed loudly in my ears, it had been days since I had first appeared in this world, but there had been no rest. Since the moment I had appeared the only constant was the never ending worms that I wouldbat. For every one that I would fell, another hundred appeared, each time growingrger andrger until the very heavens of this world were filled with the brown skin of worms. I had sustained countless wounds, 3 of my tails were broken in two separate ces, my right arm was cleanly broken with the hand fractured and unable to be used. Even more, there were countless burns that exposed my stomach. My clothes were barely holding on by this point. *BAAANG* Another fell and instead of being filled with hundreds more worms it just fell, the rumbling of worms having dropped a pitch. I could see hope at the end of the road. Looking around I saw the hundred thousand or so worms that surrounded my position and smiled. There was hope now. Now that the amount that came about was finite I could win this battle. My wounds were slowly healing but now that the panic was gone and I thought a bit more clearly I was tempted to hit myself on the head. Instantly the wounds disappeared, having denied the reality that they had even happened. My kimono that had been almost destroyed had now been regenerated and finally covered my whole body again. Chapter 71 First Time(R18) ?I sat on a mountain of corpses, my aether depleted. Hundreds of thousands of corpses piled up so high that I started to lose breath as the atmosphere of the started to get thinner and thinner.Countless wounds had been taken and healed but still I prevailed. A golden light signifying the growth of my seventh tail appeared, I could feel the power of the tail. Not only did my reserves grow but I could cut through the resistances of the worms.With a thought the corpses that I once could not affect with my denial of reality disappeared fading into nothingness.Just as they faded into nothingness I teleported to the ground. Before gaining my seventh tail I could not teleport but now that I had it was as easy and natural as breathing. After I reached the ground I was suddenly enveloped in a green light, just as I was enveloped when I was brought here.¡­When I opened my eyes it wasn''t the endless yellow sand that I saw but the curious look of Darwin inspecting me.I created a mirror to see what my Lord was so enamored with.What I saw even surprised me. Instead of the look that I had grown ustomed to instead I saw that I had grown in many areas. It was like I had aged 10 years in a moment. The once slender build that I had prided myself on was now reced withrge breasts that barely fit the clothing I wore. A seductive frown that I didn''t know my face could have and even worse¡­My tails were too fluffy, it would take hours tob these, I cringed at the time that would be wasted just grooming my tails. The only good thing toe out of this was that I could feel the power in my muscles, it was as if I had trained for years, even if my figure didn''t show it. Dismissing the mirror from reality I stare back at my Lord with a nk stare, trying to decide something. Finally after a while of awkward staring I pounce. I had been waiting for this for a long while and I couldn''t be bothered to wait any longer. Even if Aoif was standing right next to him I was going to do it.In a blink of an eye I had teleported next to my Lord. My lips were upon his in but a moment.Aoif who was next to us had not yet reacted seemingly in shock that I would try to steal her Darwin. However that didn''tst for long when I undressed Darwin with a snap, his clothes being teleported back to the house. That left him naked and I snaked a hand down grabbing his tool and jerking it off.Soon enough it grew in my hand, its girth big enough that my one hand could not hold the whole thing anymore. Aoif who had finally broken out of her stunned state tried to push me off but I just teleported her to the top of the tree and put some ties around her making sure that she watched as I took what she was too shy to take. With a snap of my fingers my dress was off exposing my dripping wet pussy. Slowly I lowered myself until I was directly on top of Darwin, then with a push he was in me.¡­"Nnnn" I could feel blood dribbling down my penis as I apparently took Tama''s virginity.This whole situation was too weird, as soon as Tama hade back from her evolution she summoned a mirror, looked at herself then pounced on me. Aoif was teleported to the tree lewd restraints being put on her. Looking up I could see the expression of pure pleasure that littered Tama''s face and something primal in me broke at that sight. I wasn''t gentle like I was with Aoif. I pushed us to the side making sure that I was on top of Tama and she on the ground. Then I started pounding away, in and out with reckless abandon. I kept that pace. I even enhanced my tool with all the aether I could muster."AH~" "AHH~" "AHHH~"Louder and louder moans were screamed from Tama''s mouth as I pounded harder and harder. Her tails wagging fiercely this way and that cutting the dirt that they were on and producing a loud sound.Tama kept moaning and moaning until I took her mouth, my tongue exploring her mouth and sending aether into it.I had noticed early on that the more aether I sent into her the more she moaned. I could feel the moans were muffled in my mouth.It was then that I noticed her fox ears they were wagging this way and that.Letting go of the breasts that I was mauling with both hands I keep one on there to keep on mauling them, rolling the nipple and causing her to moan even more.The hand that I had freed snaked up to her ear and with aether flowing off of it started to grope at it.Petting it this way and that.I had gone up for a breath and that let Tama release thergest moan that I had heard from her yet."AHHHHNNNN~"With that her eyes rolled and Tama passed out.Her velvety walls had not stopped squeezing on my tool yet and seeing the face of Tama passed out in pleasure was the final straw.With a grunt I climaxed in Tama releasing a giant spurt of cum sttered her insides white. When I pulled out a wave of cum flowed out of Tama.¡­When Tama had passed out her restraints on Aoif had too.With those gone Aoif came over to me and passionately kissed me.A flushed look of desire on her face telling me all I needed to know.~desire~¡­.AN: so harem I guess. It kind of just happened so enjoy.", asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 72 First Time PII(R18) ?It looked like Aoif was both flushed with desire and incredibly envious. Her emotions were wildly fluctuating. I could feel the immense jealousy that came from having my first time taken away from me and the confused arousal at watching me fuck Tama. It seemed like she had decided to take the initiative though and was as forward as she could be. "Take me" I did just that, taking her lips for a deep kiss, my hands reaching down groping her breasts. "Ahnn~" Aoif was incredibly sensitive, just the light squeeze that I had given her was enough to make her moan with desire. Slowly I moved us toward the house, where I could take her first time in a morefortable ce. The walk back was incredibly fast. Both of us were too excited to think of anything other than each other. We were both flush with desire. Once we were back we headed for the bedroom immediately. Once there our clothes were off so fast that it almost seemed like they disappeared. Aoif was as beautiful as ever. Her eyes were cloudy with desire, a pouty look on her lips. Her breasts and pussy were on full disy, her pink nipples already hard and a waterfall of juices flowing down her leg as she anticipated our connection. I couldn''t wait and immediately jumped on her, her back was on the bed and she looked up to me with bedroom eyes. I didn''t take Aoif immediately, instead I slowly rubbed one of her nipples and pussy simultaneously. As I rubbed and rubbed I slowly let an exploratory finger enter Aoif''s cavern hooking this way and that. AHHH~ Aoif''s moans reached a new level when I did that however they didn''tst for long as soon after I took her lips. MMnnn~ I could still hear her moans but they were muffled in my mouth. Soon enough her climax approached and I could feel the pressure building in her pussy just waiting for the right moment to explode. However I didn''t let that happen, instead I stopped climbing off of Aoif''s body and taking a good look at her. "Wh- why? Please" Aoif was desperate, her release being denied when she was only a step away. I didn''t answer verbally. Instead I took my tool and slowly started rubbing it against Aoif. Whenever I felt that she was about to climax I would stop and she would give me these lidded eyes and a pleading expression. Finally after what must have been half an hour I felt ready and plunged into her velvety walls. AHHHHH A cry of both pain and pleasure echoed out as I took Aoif''s virginity, her climax finallying as a fountain of liquids were sprayed onto my tool and the bed. I held my position there, halfway in waiting for the pain to go away. Looking down I could see the vaginal blood that had seeped into the bed covers and onto my tool. "You-" Ahhn~ "can continue" Seeing that I had permission I started slow, instead of the brutal pace that I had set with Tama I instead was as gentle as possible with Aoif. I would slowly inch out then back in making sure to let Aoif limate before speeding up a tiny bit. After she was used to that I started to go a bit more rough, I would slowly pull out until only the tip was in then plunge back in with reckless abandon. AHHN~ The moans of approval I got was all that was needed for me to continue. Soon enough I couldn''t hold back my own release and with a push I plunged all the way in releasing what had to be gallons of cum as it bloated Aoif''s belly. ¡­ "Hah" "hah" It was after another four or five vigorous rounds of sex that we were finally tuckered out. Not even bothering to clean up, we slept. Our sexes still closely connected. ¡­ Morning came and it brought with it the stench of sex that had not cleared out of the room. It seemed that I had woken upte as I could feel that Aoif was already up. Down below, under the covers I could feel that Aoif was holding my dick slowly stroking it this way and that, all the while licking it. Seeing that I was up she slowly rose the covers so that I could see what she was doing. A grunt came out of my mouth as Aoif suddenly plunged my tool all the way down her mouth. I was like she was practicing because before she would not have been able topletely take my tool all the way down now she could. Deepthroating it with ease. Her mouth was like a vacuum sucking as hard as she could while her tongue licked all over to coax out my cum. It wasn''t long before her ministrations work and I was cumming down her throat. A muffled moan of delight was heard as she gobbled up the cum that I had let out with a gusto that I only saw when Aoif was particrly hungry. ¡­ After that whole morning wake up call we got into the shower to clean ourselves. It seemed like we had tuckered ourselves out of sex because nothing happened there. We just cleaned each other''s bodies. Getting out of the shower and dressed again we headed downstairs and instead of being treated to the sight of food I saw what looked like Tama in an apron with no other clothes on. A seductive smile on her lips. "My Lord, so cruel, you just left me there" A mock tear fell down her eye as Tama gave me a pitiful expression. "All alone with no one to watch over this" entuating her sentence she strikes a pose and points to her body. "I was sure you could handle yourself" I reply stoicly, trying to ignore the tightness that the pose had induced on my pants. .... AN: this time Aoif, and Tama has a little change of personality. I hope you enjoyed :) Chapter 73 An End; A Beginning ?Nervously I entered the territory house or the town hall as we hade to call it. The house was just a simple wooden house there was nothing special about it except that it was tier 8 and had indoor heating. There were 4 of us that were allowed to enter myself and three others. That was not to say that we didn''t own this, in fact this tier 8 territory was owned by myself but is mutually used by all of us. All four of us were nervous, despite our power and the great strides we had made there was nothing we could do against the falling of the veil. There was one day left before the veil fell. At first we had a month then 15 days then 10 then finally to today the final day that had dawned upon us. Solemnly I contemted what we could do. It wasn''t until a whole minute of tense silence that a gangly man with short brown hair andmon brown eyes spoke up. "What should we do?" He softly asked. "We have no time" "From what we know the veil dropping is a bad thing but what that entails I do not know" Another person spoke up, this time not a man but a woman, she was beautifulpared to the rest. Her talent having stained her hair white and her eyes being tinted blue. Just sitting next to her gave us a feeling of the frigid cold. Wearing a dress weaved of ice her presence would be intimidating if it wasn''t for her most striking feature, her long tail. Her talent frost dragon, a tier 5 talent, higher than any of us gave her the characteristics of a dragon along with the power that came with it. Though you wouldn''t think that it was a dragon by how fluffy the tail was. The fur was so fluffy that even now just looking at it I couldn''t barely control the urge to let it. "What about trying to find the guys on the leaderboard?" The first one said again breaking me out of my fluff induced thoughts. "That could work, we''ve already met Darwin, what about trying to find him?" I ask the rest of them. While I was the leader, unofficially we all had a say. "I say we don''t, we can defend just fine, right Gabriel" the person who said that was another woman, this time a blonde woman with a halo sittingzily atop her head. She sat subserviently behind Gabriel the dragon woman. With a look of thought Gabriel looks over, "Darwin is strong, stronger than all of usbined, Naomi" "I guess but why do we need him even if he is stronger than us we can defend, just look at the pathetic Gauls that we had killed even their leaders were only tier 8." Looking over at Naomi over her outburst, the golden halo that shone on her was part of her talent. Simply called Halo it allows Naomi to heal those in the vicinity of their wounds, a greatbination with the power of Gabriel. With Gabriel''s firepower and the healing of Naomi they had been able to take out multiple Gaul sites though since they hadn''t been focusing on their takedown they had not ended up in the leaderboard. ¡­ We had ultimately decided that we would not seek help, even if we had there was nothing that they could do in such a limited amount of time. As the sun rose up into the sky a great crack resounded throughout the realm, shaking it to its very core. Everyone had fallen to the floor as the power that protected our realm shattered. [The realms veil has broken, prepare to defend yourself against invaders] Not even a second after the notification rang out two more came. [The Gaul civilization has obtained 1/5 ownership of the realm] [The elven civilization has obtained 1/5 ownership of the realm] "WHAT!" roared Gabriel equal parts shocked and horrified. "I- I didn''t even know we could own the realm and now these invaders own 2/5 of it." ¡­ [The realms veil has broken, prepare to defend yourself against invaders] [The Gaul civilization has obtained 1/5 ownership of the realm] [The elven civilization has obtained 1/5 ownership of the realm] ''They finally came'' I thought to myself. This war had suddenly gotten a lot harder. Before I had thought I had enough time to atleast take ownership of 4/5 of the realm but now, now that I had gotten so distracted they had taken 2/5 in just a moment''s time of being here. Sure they had their spies gathering info but that didn''t discount how horrifying their power must be to obliterate the realm defenders in such a short time. Turning to Tama I ordered her to prepare our defenses, "Have every human that the ash trees have spawned back in the territory building walls and traps." taking a breath I continue, "Melia and Delta will be responsible for the defense of the territory while you wille with me to hunt them down." "Yes, my Lord." Before I did that though I looked at the territory and decided to evolve it. I was tier 5 and as such could evolve it to that level. [Crowns house] [Tier/Level: 8/1(can be evolved)] Quickly I evolved the territory to tier 6. With two shes of green light the house had undergone a tremendous change. Instead of the small tree that it had been it now stood twice as tall as thergest trees in the forest. Though that wasn''t all, it exerted a feeling of pressure. Like if I wasn''t the owner I would have been knocked out just by feeling it. Looking at its status I could see the change. [Crowns house] [Tier/Level: 6/1(can be evolved)] [A nature aligned territory house that wards off hostiles with its great presence.] ¡­ AN: This is the end of volume 1, not sure what to call volume 1 but the next arc is the war with the middle realm. Thanks for reading Chapter 74 The Don ?The only realm protectors left were the one in the ocean and the one in the mountains. Since we did not know the exact location of the realm protector in the ocean I had my Aethon scout the mountain realm protector. *Caw* with a quiet caw he was off,flying into the distance. It took hours but eventually the Aethon was back, though from the ruffled feathers and disoriented look it didn''t seem as if whatever he saw was good. Seeing as he was in no mood to exin as he had nestled into my hair, I used my skill Dream on the Aethon to confirm what he had seen. ¡­ *Caw* With a quiet squawk I was off, in the direction of the mountains. Soaring in the sky I could feel theck of birds. None of the usual species were here, none to torment. I frowned or at least as much as a frown as I could manage. ''The trip will be boring with nothing to torment'' I thought to myself, already bored out of my mind. It was annoying that the lord was only using me to scout, I could do so much more, I could make unheble wounds. Granted those wounds could heal naturally but still I could help inbat. Though the Lord only used us Aethons for scouting, I guess I could see the point, there were no other birds that the lord controlled other than us so it would be natural that we would be chosen but still. ¡­ The rest of the trip was boring, there were a couple of small birds that were fleeing but they were gone too fast. Something had spurred them into fleeing. Now that I was at the mountains I could see and most importantly feel what had caused that. Bloodlust, so much bloodlust was emanating from that quiet corner of the mountain. Not that it would deter me, I had a mission to do, even if the Lord was underutilizing me I would still follow hismands, it was only natural to follow your father. And that was what he was to us, a father, not of blood of course. But he had birthed us at the summoning pool of his. Taken from the oppressive ck void that we all had experienced, given form, given meaning, given history, above all that we knew that he had birthed us. Thinking of the oppressive void I pushed on, this bloodlust was nothing. Even when it battered my wings, threw me to the ground I grit my beak and pushed forward. ¡­ Finally after all that struggling I had made it. The unreachable mountain was in sight, a bright barrier only seen by those with enhanced vision was within my sights. Thanks to how bright it was I could not see exact numbers nor the exactyout but what I could see scared me. A pair of golden eyes staring straight into mine, they held so much power that if I had not adjusted to Delta and Tama''s power then I would have passed out. Even with that slight advantage I was paralyzed my fight or flight instincts going wild but my body unmoving. Finally he looked away with a disinterested snort or what I could approximate as one. I didn''t know what to do but head back to the Lord. ¡­ *Caw* I announced my presence with a soft caw thennded on Darwin''s head. I tookfort in the warm presence that Darwin exuded. Soon enough my eyes dropped and I fell asleep, still nesting in Darwin''s hair. ¡­ I pet the Aethon gently, the experience it had gone through not something that I had wanted it to have to go through. Still it was valuable information. The strength of that stare, the bloodlust of the barrier. All of that would help in the conquering of them. However we would not leave now, the Aethon in my hand had done a good job and deserved a treat. ¡­ As soon as the crow opened its eyes it was greeted with a bounty of food of all kinds. Not knowing what the Aethon liked, I had Tama prepare a variety of dishes. Of course Aoif was next to me eating with all her might. The Aethon looked to me as if asking if it could eat all of this. I only responded with a nod of my head and allowed it to gorge itself. Soon enough the Aethon had stuffed itself, its belly gorging out in aical manner. Seeing as it was done the second part of its reward could be given. "You cane with us and attack those elves, I know how much you want to be used inbat, Don" The name had been something that I had not intended but seeing the effort I thought that the name fit him. Looking at him now Don fit him well, ck feathers, with a chest of white and a pot belly that he had gained from eating, Don definitely fit. ¡­ Once Don was capable of flight again we head out. Meeting Tama at the door I started to walk, all the while telling Tama of all that I had seen from using my skill. Once we had reached the tree line passed the waterfall we just had to go straight and we would reach the mountains. While thinking of the time it would take to get there I didn''t notice the sh of yellow light until it was toote. ¡­ Immediately I was on guard, my spear was in my hands twice reinforced with the quickest speed I could muster. All I could see though was the mountains, Tama, and Aoif. I sighed the tension leaving my body, I had forgotten that Tama could teleport. It was then that I felt it, that familiar bloodlust it was not as potent as I remembered it to be from the memories of Don. On my head I could feel Don start shivering in fear but I immediately pulled him into my armsforting him. He pointed a shaky wing in a seemingly random direction but I trusted Don to know where he was going. Birds were known for their excellent sense of direction Chapter 75 Arrival ?A man, eyes as cold as the frigid winter red into the distant mountaintops. In his hand was the eagle hybrid, better known as the realm protector. *POP* The head in his hands popped like a balloon, the realm protectors were a joke. This mission seemed more like punishment, he would have rather been sent to the frontlines, a death sentence even for one as strong as him, rather than being sent to conquer this new realm. The elves behind him cheered, seeing his unshakable strength. A pir of strength, amander willing to brave the front lines just as they were ordered to. His gaze swept the ocean of soldiers, their eyes opened with hope. The great majority of them have seen nobat. ¡­ [Congrattions on defeating one of the realm protectors] [You have gained 1/5 ownership of this realm.] The notification appeared and just as quickly disappeared. I had seen this notification thousands of times. A look, not even a re and the celebration was over. The elves had gone back to their upations. Some set up the tents while others went to cook the corpses of the subordinates of the realm protector. Either way I had nothing to do. "Sir, your tent is ready" One of the elves hade up to me, a rather scrawny one for all the training they must have gone through but nheless, I took his word and went to themander''s tent. After I arrived there and sat down I noticed therge stack of paper waiting to be filled and signed. ''Paperwork¡­'' I thought, ''the bane of my existence'' It was the whole reason that I didn''t want to be here. Everytime that a realm was conquered there would be thousands of forms and reports that would need to be written up, enough that veterans of the process were given special ess to more alcohol than most. With a ss of the strongest wine avable I started the long process of filing my paperwork. ¡­ *ROOOAAAAR* *GAOOOO* I answered the sea creatures'' warcry with one of my own. My ws were out poised and ready to attack. All intelligible thoughts left me, the only thoughts left were of battle. I jumped, meeting the charge of the sea creature with one of my own. Right before we collided I twisted my body to be parallel with its own. My wed hand was out, the razor sharp ws ripping into the sea creature with delightful ease. Blood sprayed all over me, my own smile filled with blood. However it soon turned to a frown as I saw that the sea creature had already died, the force of my blow having been enough to kill it. ¡­ [Congrattions on defeating one of the realm protectors] [You have gained 1/5 ownership of this realm.] *GAOOOOOOO* I roared and roared, the soldiers below me all cheering in response. I lived for this, not for the cheers, not for the recognition but the fight. No matter how pathetic the being I would fight it. The thrill of the fight is what I lived for. However these creatures disappointed me, the joy that I knew and loved was taken away from me by the weakness of these creatures. "Pathetic" I spit out Looking down I was equally disappointed in the very realm, it was not even able to properly heal itself from this small scuffle. The ind that I hadnded in was broken, my weak leap had damaged it beyond livability.The rest of the ones I hadnded here with were busy praising me. Though looking in the far distance I could seend, I could not see what it held though just an endless patch of green. Seeing as someone of my level could see for hundreds of miles with rity it must be very far off if I could only make out brief details. There was no reason to think of this though, I lived for the fight, not for this type of thinking. Going back to the celebrations I yelled at them. "Gather resources and build, we are leaving!" They grumbled but one snarl was enough to get them to work, the queens had thought they could get away withzing around. I sneered, as if. ¡­ [The realms veil has broken, prepare to defend yourself against invaders] [The Gaul civilization has obtained 1/5 ownership of the realm] [The elven civilization has obtained 1/5 ownership of the realm] A storm was brewing. I could feel it in thend, ever since I had buried myself to take the underground I had not gone outside. The moles that I had summoned kept on multiplying, even though it had not been long I already had a vast poption of giant moles. The room around me was luxurious, at least I imagined it waspared to the other crowns. Smiling smugly I thought of them, struggling out there, the only thing I needed to worry about were earthquakes and whoever the elven and gaul civilizations were. No other problems bothered me, you would think that living underground would be a burden, that at least food and water would be a problem but no. No, No, No I had no problem at all, food and water was taken care of easily by the underground river that ran through the underground. How? Don''t ask me, I just thought of it as a quirk of this magical realm. "Tch" I clicked my tongue, ever since I had gotten here my thoughts had grown more drastic, I had adapted but was that good. Every thought I had was of survival or of ambition. Even the lives of countless thousands that stood against those civilizations had lost meaning to me. Before where I would be concerned and try to help, now my default reaction was of using them to survive longer. Shaking my head I look to my right, the decadent table holding my only armament. The pistol that I had been summoned with. While the moles had been digging out a living space I had been tinkering with my gun. Carefully taking it and the bullets apart. Everyponent was analyzed and attempts were made to recreate it. Looking to the pile of deformed pieces of metal I cringed, my attempts had gotten better but they were still a reminder of my mediocrity. Hundreds of attempts and something as simple as a gun could still not be recreated. Chapter 76 Barrier Of Entry ?The hike to their base was as ufortable as it got, the constant looming of death in the form of bloodlust kept our bodies tense, no matter how we tried to rx we would just end up back in abat stance. Eventually despite my instincts I put my weapon back in the rope that held it, away from my hands so that I would not waste to much energy. Even then it was draining, to be so constantly on guard, to be scanning every corner of thend around us. It took up much of our focus, leaving us drained. My mind was also exhausted, the strain not only being physical but mental too. Though when I looked at Tama it seemed like she was able to regte her response. The tension that was ever present in our bodies was nowhere to be seen in Tama''s demeanor. Tama even seemed rxed like there was no bloodlust constantly hounding us. As we grew closer to where Don was bringing us the oppression grewrger andrger. Sweat grew on my face as I resisted the bloodlust however that wasnt enough. I grabbed Aoif''s hand beside me and held on tight, the feeling of holding herforted me. Feeling my hand, Aoif tightened her grip just as I had, takingfort in the warm presence that it brought just as I was. ¡­ *STARE* With a brandish of my weapon I was in my normal stance, my spear pointed down ready tosh out. Next to me Aoif was the same, her dagger in hand, purple aether flowing off her as she reinforced her body just as I did. I could barely notice it but Tama had tensed too, theid back appearance she had held broken by the presence that this being had brought upon us. I recognized the stare, it was the same one that I had felt when viewing Don''s perspective.Though this time I was experiencing it firsthand. I could now feel the extent of the bloodlust with all my senses. The gaze quickly fades away however none of us had rxed. *WOOSH* The sound of hundreds of arrows being fired was heard from atop the mountains. Looking up at the sound I saw hundreds of arrows forming a cloud over our heads. The silver tips of their arrows glinting in the sun as if to blind us. Tama looked over at the arrows then with an imperceptible nod and a sh of golden light the arrows had disappeared. That didn''t seem to deter them though as they just sent volley after volley towards us. Each of them disappearing in golden motes of light. It took no time at all to reach the base of the mountain. With Tama erasing the arrows from existence there was no need for Aoif or I to think of defense. And without those worried we were able to sprint towards the base of the mountain. ¡­ Once we were at the base of the mountain the archers were not able to harass us with their arrows. *ripple* I touched the barrier in front of me causing a ripple to spread out in a wave like pattern. I activated my shared vision with Aoif and could see nothing, it seemed like the barrier was concealing even their souls from our sight. Of course I could see the mountain and visually confirm how many there were but any other types of vision was disabled. Turning my thoughts back to the barrier I try to think of a way to get in. However the only idea thates to mind is to rely on Tama or use brute force. While the former option of relying on Tama was arguably the best n, I didn''t want to always rely on her. "I''ll try and break a hole in the barrier." Nodding both Aoif and Tama take a step back. ¡­ Breathing in I close my eyes and focus on the aether cycling through me. Ever since I had unlocked all of my pathways it was wild, untamed, the aether not answering my calls as well as I would have liked. Even then with the meager amount of control I now had I could still reinforce my spear which I did. Then again and again, the once in looking spear having transformed into a royal looking one. Thin white wood that had a sheen that looked almost metallic encased a spearhead that looked almost as if it had been carved from a raw emerald with how jagged and green it was. Still I could tell that it was sharper than I had ever seen. I picked up a random piece of wood from the ground and reinforced it to my best. "Here, test it''s durability please" Handing the piece of wood to Aoif I have her test the durability. *ng* Her dagger had not even left a scratch in it. Seeing how durable it was I knew it would serve my purpose. I threw it up in the air then aimed at it with my thrice reinforced spear. ¡­ *BOOM* *PIERCE* First an explosion as the air was cut in two then the sound of the spear piercing through the ultra durable wood that I had reinforced. Looking at the spear I felt only pride. The spear had cut through the air then the reinforced wood. It was the first time that I had triple reinforced my spear and I could tell that I would not be able to reinforce it further. Whether that was because of my control, reserves, or just the limits of the materials itself I could not tell. Now that I had tested the spear I looked back to the barrier. Brandishing my spear into my ready position I take aim at the barrier. *BANG* The spear passed through the barrier with minimal resistance however I could see that the hole that I had made was slowly recovering. Quickly I brandish my spear a few more time making a holerge enough for us to pass through. Chapter 77 Plan Of Attack ?We passed through the hole in the barrier quickly, it was only a couple seconds after we had entered that the barrier had regenerated. Once we were in the barrier the bloodlust that was constantly hounding us was no longer present. Instead there was this feeling of peace that I had once I crossed over. Activating my shared vision again I could finally see how many souls were in the camp. After counting them I saw that there were about two or three thousand individual souls in total. Before I could say anything to inform Aoif or Tama, Aoif with a shake in her voice said, "Should we retreat?" I felt like smacking my face, of course Aoif would have seen the massive amount of souls that were there, she constantly had her soul sight on. "We have Tama, she can kill the majority of them while we focus on the stronger ones." I point over to Tama as I say that, trying to reassure Aoif. "I can, my Lord, but do you want me to?" Tama suddenly interjects. Though she had brought up a good point. Right now Tama''s strength trumped all of our enemies but would that be true when we went up against the forces of the middle realm. Themander of the enemy right now was probably around tier 3 or 4 and if amander was that strong would we really be alright just letting Tama fight all our battles. Of course this thought had urred to me many times, it was the very reason that I had fought the realm protectors alone, why I had focused on evolving myself and Aoif and not exclusively on Tama. It was because I wanted power, I wanted to protect them myself, not rely on them. "I''ll stand on the side for this battle, only interfering when I deem you in danger." It was as if Tama had read my mind, stepping back and calmly exining what she would do. ¡­ "We need a n of attack" Nodding my head I listen to what Darwin wanted me to do for our siege against the elves. It took a while but after he had exined his n we immediately got to work. I split up and headed to the left side of the camp. The left side had less people but also had the strongest soul among them. We were assuming that themander was that abnormally strong soul. However to even get there I had to climb up the mountain. Luckily I already had experience with this, so I started to punch holes in the mountain that I used to pull myself up and ce my feet in them. Since I was being careful not to make too much noise I had to be quiet in how I broke those rocks. So instead of just punching them with a reinforced fist like I had done I took the knife in my hand and reinforced it. After it was reinforced I started to carve out a hole that would fit both my hand and my feet. It didn''t take long with how sharp the dagger was. The rock cut like a hot knife through butter. Making deep cuts with barely any effort on my part. Slowly I climbed the mountain one foothold at a time. Once I was halfway up there I took out the rope that Darwin had made in the middle realm and started to follow my second set of directions. The rope or more urately the evolved vine had a sort of consciousness, not enough to make its own decisions but enough to follow some very specific directions. The first thing that I did was carve myself an alcove to sit in while I work on the next step. That took some time but after I was done I sat down and with the extra rock that I had collected I started to tie the evolved vine down into some simple holes that I made outside of the alcove. Then with the extra rock I made them round so that they would roll when I needed them to. I ced those rocks in a line next to me and had the vine tense itself. I then ced the rocks that I had made in a little hole that I had carved on the vine. After that I sent a signal to Darwin, a burst of emotions that he should be able to feel. ¡­ I finally had gotten the signal that Aoif was done with her preparations. Once I had confirmed that I had gotten the signal I started my part in this n. Climbing up the mountain, I created my own holds to carry myself up. Slowly I started to reach the top of the mountain. Looking back down I gulped. I had always had a little irrational fear of heights but now seeing how high up I was with no vine to reassure me, I felt a little faint. I didn''t let that deter me though as I kept going and soon reached the top. ¡­ The camp wasn''t heavily defended as I thought it would be. It seemed like they thought that the barrier would be enough to deter all their enemies. I could see hundreds of elves in the distance justzing around talking about this and that. It was the perfect moment to strike. However I didn''t signal for Aoif to start yet, instead I slowly approached on my own. Since there were no defenses I could easily blend in with my elf like looks and a hood over my face. It seemed like the elves functioned simrly to humanity, just look like you belong there and no one would question you. No one even bothered to stop me when I went to what looked like the barracks. The sleeping elves didn''t see iting. Within just a couple minutes of entering I had already killed 20 elves in their sleep. I made sure to cut their vocal chords and cover their mouths but eventually one did wake up and was able to scream before I could end him. "ATTACK!" He screamed, "We''re being-" I silenced him before he could say any more but by then the damage was done, the hundred or so elves that were sleeping in her had woken up only to see the bloodied corpses of their allies. Chapter 78 Strength Vs Skill ?The n was quite simple, I would go and take out as many as I could directly while Aoif would anchor herself to part of the mountain and use the evolved vine to make a makeshift cannon tounch small rocks at a high enough speed to do damage to them. The reason Aoif was doing this and not me was because she could aim better than me, it was something instinctual for Aoif, her soul sight had let her lock on to them in a much easier way than just aiming. While I could do it I would no doubt be less proficient without the instinct that Aoif had for it. However ns rarely go how you want them to go. I wasn''t expecting to be able to take out a significant chunk of them undetected but there were several ws in my n. The first problem was that they were highly organized. After my initial attack, the ones that had been sleeping were instantly on guard, their weapons resting on the sides of their beds in their hands in barely any time at all. I had not nned for them to be that highly organized, to be able to get ready forbat in barely a second. Looking at them I thought it would be a hard battle but they had no armor, even if all of them were in their respective military wear it would not protect them from a sh to the neck. The worrying part was how fast they were ready, It took them less than a second to be up and ready forbat. There was even an unknown device that they had tapped when they had gotten up and that was the second problem, theirmunication devices. Immediately after they had pressed that button I could see the once calm souls pouncing this way and that, no doubt whatevermunication the soldier had sent had informed the rest of the camp of my presence. Though some of them were disorganized at first they quickly got into orderly lines moving about. Some were heading to a specific direction while others were heading to my location. It would seem that they would make it here in about 30 seconds or so. I had to be fast, closing my eyes I reinforced my legs, green light emanating off of them as they grew stronger and more resistant. Then, brandishing my spear, I charge forth. With speed that they could not react to I cut off the first one''s head then the next. Before they had even the chance to react the decapitated heads of theirrades spurt blood. Panic began to spread throughout the ranks, the sight of theirrades being ughtered in such an easy manner disorienting them. However, that didn''t stop some of them, only a couple. The ones that didn''t stop were the ones that knew that reinforcements would be here. Even then the brave faces they put on were just that brave faces, they were still terrified and partially paralyzed in fear. ''Rookies'' I thought, there was no way that a soldier that had gone through any sort ofbat would freeze as they did, especially the type ofbat that I had seen them wage in their realm. Even if they were rookies it changed nothing, they still were sent to invade my realm, my new home. It barely took another handful of seconds to kill the rest of the stunned rookies. ¡­ I sent a burst of emotion out of my soul, the signal that we had decided on before parting ways. ~SATISFACTION~ It was the loudest that I had ever felt my soul emanate. I didn''t even know that I could even hear the emotions but it was that strong. *BOOM* *BOOM* Entire halls filled with souls were extinguished in seconds. The explosions that I had heard were caused by Aoif. I could tell that those were not thest of them just by the satisfied emotions that she was sending toward me, as if to ask for praise. Of course I sent praise to her over my emotions. It was sort of like patting her soul on the head. I could see the preening that Aoif was doing under the praise that I sent over and I couldn''t help but think of how cute that was. However I soon shook those thoughts out of my head as the doors to the barrack that I was in were blown open. Before the smoke could clear I dashed in, turning off my normal sight and relying solely on Aoif''s soul sight. Twenty opponents, each with a soulparable to a tier 7 creature. However they did not have the power to conceal their origins. The bright dots with colors matching their souls were tantly obvious in my vision. In just seconds I was before the first enemy. I shed up with as much speed as I could muster. *SLASH* Instead of the fountain of blood I had expected, the elf was still alive. The only thing that I had done was sh through his sword. It seems like these ones were trained well, because as soon as they heard where I was they came charging in an organized manner. The one in front of me dropped his sword, not that there was much of it left seeing as I had shed through the lower part of the sword. After dropping his sword the elf dropped low and sent a sweeping kick at me. *woosh* The air was disced at the force of the blow, however I had already jumped over the kick intending tond on the elf''s neck and kill him. *CLANG* However I was unable to kill the elf, as one of the elf''srades had reached us and swung at me. I had blocked with my spear but the force of the blow had knocked me further into the air which forced me to readjust in mid air. By the time this had happened the smoke obscuring the elves'' vision had dissipated and I could finally see my enemies. Chapter 79 Failure? ?In front of me were 20 well armed and armored elves. The only reason I knew they were elves was because of the others that I had found. They were that well armored. Covering their whole body including their head was a silver colored suit of armor. The chest, legs and arms were covered in silver like metal while their limbs were covered with some cloth like material. The weird thing was that they had arge metal cor thatpletely covered their neck. If my spear wasn''t able to cut through their metal like nothing it would have been a hard battle, I would have had to cut through the weak points of their armor hoping they would bleed out from a cut off arm. However that wasn''t even likely given their inherent regeneration. We had never confirmed if it was something that higher tiers have or if it was something innate to the elves but either way it was an unknown. Luckily my spear thrice reinforced was able to cut through their armor like butter so there was no need to worry about their armor. It had barely taken seconds to analyze them but by the time I had they were already making a dash towards me, surprisingly agile with the heavy armor covering them. I got back into mybat stance ready to attack at any moment. They all reached me at the same time with teamwork that I had not seen in any of my previous battles. I didn''t let that get me off guard as I was expecting at least this level of teamwork. Seeing as they had alle from one direction I performed a sweeping sh putting all my strength into it. They inevitably dodged but hitting them wasn''t my intention. *WOOSH* The air was cut and a wave of dense air was let loose, throwing them onto the ground. Before they could react I pounced. Instantly my spear was in the heart of one of them killing him instantly. However by the time that I had done that they had all recovered from the shockwave and were back up. I could feel the hate flowing through them as they saw the lifeless corpse of their ally. They wereposed though, they didn''t let the death of their ally get to them. Instead they used that anger to fuel their attack. With even more speed than I had thought they could muster even knowing how fast they could go, one of the soldiers that had not taken the death well shot towards me. However by doing that he left the protected range of his allies. That left him alone which let me get an attack off on him. It seems that this was the one who had their sword broken by me as he tried to block my attack with his hand. It worked however now his hand was cut off and my spear was poised to circle back and cut him in half. I could see the widening of his eyes in his helmet. It seemed like he wasn''t going to go out without a fight as he instead of retreating or even trying to move, grappled me with his remaining hand. I saw him gesturing with his head towards hisrades but I was too busy trying to get out of his grip to see what they were doing. *PIERCE* Pain, it hurt so bad. The one that was grappling me finally let go and I fell to the ground. I looked down and saw that a sword sticking through my abdomen. I was lucky that it hadn''t pierced my heart, if it had I don''t know if I would still be alive. Even though I was in immense pain I had to ignore it, I had felt this pain before when I first evolved and it was much worse. So even though my body felt like it was paralyzed by the pain I ignored that instinct to just stay still and pulled the sword out. My vision was quickly fading but I had to do this before it was toote. I brought a hand to my abdomen, to where the wound was and channeled an immense amount of aether. Green light consumed the wound and once it left there was only pink skin leftying there. ¡­ With a snap of my finger the enemies surrounding Darwin were erased from existence, their bodies turning into little notes of golden light. Immediately I was at his side but I didn''t heal him yet. I knew that a tier 5 like Darwin could survive like that even without healing. A regr tier 5 would be cripple for months while their body recovered but they would heal. I could heal his body with a flex of my will, erasing the wound from existence but I didn''t, the constant damage and healing had a tremendous effect on Darwin''s body even if he didn''t know it yet. Each time that he had healed himself, Darwin thought that it was just his aether doing the healing but that wasn''t the truth. It was that his aether was stimting his body''s natural recovery and evolving it at the same time. That meant that each wound would only serve to make him stronger. Looking down I saw Darwin with hisst fragments of strength pull out the sword from his torso and start healing himself. It took a couple of seconds but soon the once bloodied skin was gone and reced with pink skin freshly healed. After Darwin had healed himself he passed out. I didn''t let him fall, instead I picked him up and teleported to where Aoif was bunking. I didn''t let Aoif get a word in before I had grabbed her and teleported us back to Darwin''s territory. ¡­ Once we were back I gentlyid Darwin and Aoif together in their bed. Aoif was ring at me asking for answers. It was only natural seeing that I had suddenly appeared with an unconscious Darwin then immediately teleported us back home without any time to allow for questions. Chapter 80 Stress; Emotions ?When I had reoriented myself from being teleported by Tama I saw next to me Darwin, all tucked in. It was after I had nced at Darwin that I turned my head to Tama all the while leveling a re against her. "What happened?" I quietly said as to not wake Darwin. Still there was an edge to my voice to make sure that my anger was made clear. Thest thing I knew before being teleported was that I was doing what Darwin had ned when Tama out of nowhere grabbed me and teleported both myself and Darwin out of there. She gave me no time to protest or at least ask what had happened. The only thing that I knew was that something drastic had happened that required Tama''s intervention. "My lord almost died, I extracted you and my lord out of there." "What!" Not caring for my voice I shouted out loud however it seems I was lucky as I had not woken Darwin, it was then that panic overcame me as I hurried to Darwin''s side to check for wounds. With shaky hands I hurriedly undressed Darwin, looking around his torso I only saw pink skin. The wound was already healed but I could not help but notice where the wound I found was. Right next to his heart only a couple of inches off. If it was just a couple inches to the right Darwin would have been dead. My legs felt weak, I looked at my hands and noticed a visible shiver oveing them. My legs fell, the strength taken from them. Horror filled my face as I realized how close Darwin was to death. "I- I could have- could have l- l- lost him" I kept on stuttering, I felt dizzy, the words noting out of my mouth. My vision was getting blurry and I could feel a wetness drip down my face. Wiping it I found my hands wet with tears, my own. With what strength I had left in my limbs I lowered myself down and cuddled with Darwinying my whole body on him. My head on his chest so that I could hear his heartbeat. With that I lost all strength. ¡­ It seemed like Aoif had calmed down, enough that she had fallen asleep. It seemed like the shock of how close my lord was to death had exhausted her enough to knock her out. I wasn''t able to inform Aoif that my lord would have been fine even if he had been stabbed in the heart. I was too shaken up. Even if intellectually I knew that my lord was not in danger of dying, it still was a shock to see my lord be so wounded. My instincts as a Kitsuen were telling me to wrap him up in my tails and never let him go. When I had given him my virginity I had unconsciously bonded to him, now my instincts just regarded him as my mate. It took constant effort to maintain the face of a loyal subordinate and not jump However looking at the two cuddling right now it wouldn''t hurt to give in for a minute. ¡­ ''I''m weak'' I think while cuddling the two. I had tried to resist the thought but the urge was too strong. I held the Aoif in my tail, making sure that she could cuddle it while I took Darwin for myself. The only reason that Aoif was getting anything to cuddle was so that she would not wake up at theck of Darwin''s warmth. Once I had made sure that Aoif was settled and hugging my tail, I focused my full attention on Darwin. Looking at the way he slept, the rise and fall of his chest. I couldn''t help myself, he looked too delicious. Licking my lips I bring his body into my bosom then angle his head so that I could steal his lips. Darwin still hadn''t woken up, despite my ministrations upon his body. I couldn''t help myself and started kissing all around Darwin''s body. I only stopped when his brows started to furl, a sign that my lord was starting to wake. Quickly not wanting to be found out I erase the marks that I had made while suckling all around his body then ce him and Aoif down. All the while I had teleported outside the room. ¡­ When I woke up I twitched ready to find myself captured or at the very least injured heavily however instead of the worst case scenarios that had swirled around in my head I found myself cuddling Aoif. Her head was on my chest, listening to my heartbeat. Aoif must have sensed the rapid spike in my heartbeat or maybe I had woken her up somehow, whatever it was it had woken Aoif up. "Nnn" Aoif let out a cute noise before opening her eyes only toe into contact with my own gray eyes. A cheeky look overcame her as she stole my lips then immediately got up pulling me into herp all the while. Though that smile that was on her lip was fine immediately after she pulled me into herp facing towards her. Now that I was looking at Aoif''s face I could see tear marks running down her face. "Are you alright?" I softly asked, running my hand over her face, petting it. A fierce look bloomed on her face at my question, my wrist was grabbed and using that grip pulled me into her chest. "Am I fine?!" She angrily asked before continuing, "No are you fine, I saw the wound" I tried to push Aoif away so that my head wasn''t buried in her chest and I could actually respond, but it didn''t seem like Aoif wanted an answer as she tightened her grip, hugging me even closer. After a while I could feel drops of liquid softly falling on my head. I hugged Aoif back, quietly rubbing her back as she cried into my head. Eventually her grip ckened and I could pull myself free. However I didn''t, I let her fall asleep in my arms then switched our positions lightly so as not to wake Aoif up. Gently I pether hair making sure that she could still hold onto my body even in her sleep. Chapter 81 Introductions ?Looking around the camp all I saw were pathetic weaklings, there were thousands of them but they could not fight off one kids. A good 40 of them were killed by the kid, 10 killed in their sleep. How pathetic, trust could not sense danger and react. At least the others went down fighting. Of course I could have intervened at any moment but I wanted to see what they would do in the event of an enemy attack. And what I saw was absolutely pathetic, I don''t know who trained this lot but they did a terrible job. Even from my lowest standards, not waking up at the slightest sign of danger, especially in unknown territory is a huge risk. No wonder they were able to kill so many of them. Even if it was only 40 out of the tens of thousands that we had, the enemy was still able to infiltrate. Not to mention that it took the closest team a whole 30 seconds to gear themselves up and make it to the sight. They were low tier 7, with training they should be able to do that in 15 seconds not the measly 30 that they had shown. That was not to mention the hundreds that had died as a result of the artillery that they had set up. ¡­ All the while I was contemting this my subordinates were all at attention. I could smell the fear that they had. Not only were 40 of theirrades killed directly but the smoking ruins of the other barracks was a testament to how dangerous their lives were. That was not even mentioning the smoking corpses of the soldiers that were resting in there. "Pathetic!" I spat out, "Who trained you lot." No one answered me, wise, they should have been trained to take the abuse not spit out their worthless opinions. "Good at least you know not to say anything, now you have seen the deaths of yourpatriots, are you not angry, are you not scared," No one responded, their heads down. However I could see the mes of anger and fear in their eyes, a smile yed out on my lips. ''They had hope yet'' I thought to myself before addressing them again. "Good you should be, take that fear, take that anger and focus it on your training!" Done with my little speech I point at the officers beside me. "These will be your instructors. They have read your files and picked out the ones who they think will do good in their squad." Done saying that I stepped back and let the first instructor, the mage of the three, pick the soldiers that he wanted. ¡­ Out of the tens of thousands gathered here only ten were worthy in the mages eyes to be given instructors. "You, you, and you" I pointed quickly at the ones I wanted. Within seconds they were by my side standing at attention. "Good you can teleport," I praised them, "However you were sloppy, three seconds to teleport, pathetic!" With that being said I waved the staff in my hands, a foci specially created for the mage corps, and teleported us to one of the other mountains where I would teach them how to actually spell cast, in more detail than their past instructors could. ¡­ Looking around at the gathered soldiers all I saw quite a few that could do well in my squa, however they would need quite some work. With a silent gesture hundreds of daggers left my hands, in an instant they had made their way over to the candidates I had chosen. "tch" I clicked my tongue out of the hundreds that I had chosen only 50 had blocked the daggers and survived, the rest had their necks pierced, fated to die bleeding out. "Those who survived,e with me." My voice was not loud, I didn''t need it to be, if they could not hear me from this far away then they had already failed the second test. Waiting a moment I saw 45 soldiers appear behind me. The rest that had caught the daggers but had not heard me were teleported to the side of mymander. While they would not be good scouts like the ones behind me, they could thrive with themander. "Follow" With that I set off at a speed that the tier 7''s should be able to follow, if only barely. ¡­ Looking at the soldiers before me, I knew that over half of them had the talent to learn what I could teach but none of them had the requirements to know this. Some were just too dim witted and would take ages to teach while others had too much pride, or not enough. Out of all of them only 20 fit my requirements. With a snap of my fingers the bodies of the 20 that I had chosen walked over to me. Once they were beside me I relinquished control of them. Their eyes once zed over now had their light back in them. However, that iron discipline to not twitch and only widen their eyes was why they were chosen. "Come here" The one I had pointed at approached me. I forcefully took her hand and cut the artery on her wrist. "You will bleed out in 10 minutes, don''t rely on your natural healing. I have nullified it." Done saying that I handed her a book. "Use this to heal yourself, learn and survive." The grin on my face must have been predatory at the moment because she flinched back. Once the book was in her hands she started reading immediately. Surprisingly she had finished the boom in 2 minutes and was able to heal her arm in the remaining time she had, despite the loss of blood from her brain. "Good, next" ¡­ After the instructors had left I was still left with tens of thousands of recruits that I would need to train plus the 5 that the scout bastardized had left me. A grin split my face as I walked towards them, they were already tired from standing at attention for so long but this would be nothingpared to what I would put them through. If they were ufortable at just this then they would be dead by the end of my training. Chapter 82 A Night Visit *knock* *knock* A knock echoed from my door before it slowly creaked open, looking at who opened my door I could see from the doorway, Tama''s head poking in a quiet expression painted on her face. Although I knew who it was before Tama had opened the door. Before Tama had knocked she had announced herself by asking me if I was awake When I didn''t answer she opened the door to my room and asked again to make sure. I didn''t answer the first time as I was busyforting Aoif. Even if she was asleep, Aoif still unconsciously clung to me. I couldn''t ignore that and put her closer to my chest, which seemed to help calm her. "My lord, are you awake?" It was after Tama had asked again that I raised my head looking towards Tama and replied. "Yes," I quietly said, making sure my voice was not too loud as to wake Aoif. With my confirmation Tama entered the room. Tama was wearing a golden kimono most likely conjured by her denial of reality, unless Tama had found someone to tailor clothes for herself. Shaking my head I dismissed the possibility, if there was a tailor I wouldn''t be wearing clothes conjured by Tama. Besides the kimono, the other thing that struck me was my hunger. It wasn''t random, Tama came in holding a te of what seemed to be an borate meal. It was only after seeing the te of food that my hunger had struck. It seemed when I was soothing Aoif and her concerns, my body had suppressed its hunger so that I could properly care for Aoif without feeling the pain of hunger. However the pain came to me immediately after seeing the food that Tama held, all other thoughts were out of my mind at that moment except how I was supposed to eat it. Though even if I had lost my mind from hunger I still didn''t disregard howfortable Aoif was in myp. I was conflicted for only a second, I would bear more pain just tofort Aoif, if I had to leave myself hungry for as long as it took for Aoif to wake then I would do so with a smile. Though my internal dilemma did not go unseen as Tama, seeing my situation, had prepared. With a snap of her fingers the te that she was holding now sat on ap table. It was just the right size so that it could fit in myp while Aoif was still there without disturbing her. cing the food on myp Tama backs away, waiting for me to finish my food so that she could dispel thep table. ¡­ It seems that the aftermath of healing my body from that injury had used up too much energy as I had quickly devoured the food that Tama had ced before me. Even then, after eating the whole thing my body''s hunger was not sated. It took a grand total of four meals, spaced out within 30 minutes of each as Tama did still have to prepare the food, to finally eat my fill. In a sh of golden light thep table, tes, utensils, everything that was in front of me were scattered into golden motes as Tama dispelled them. After finishing my meal I could see Tama make to leave, however I couldn''t help but notice something. Her soul was fluctuating with emotion. It was a kaleidoscope of emotions but the one that was most apparent was pain and longing. "Come here" Sighing I softlymand Tama toe over to me. As Tama walked over to me I could finally identify why her emotions were fluctuating so much. It was a deep longing fought by an iron will of professionalism. Ever since our coupling together Tama had hidden her emotions under a thick cloud of professionalism, this was the first time that I had seen the unfiltered desire for warmth, forfort in my arms,ing from her. It was why I had hardened my resolve, I would break that shell, I would allow her to soften her emotions for once. Tama''s soft footfalls fell one by one as she gradually approached me. "Yes, my Lord?" Tama questioned as soon as she was close enough to me. Instead of answering her question I hold out my hand and gently grap Tama''s. "Huh" With a small exmation of surprise Tama was pulled onto the bed. Even if Tama could resist, I knew that she would not resist something that I had done to her. So even if Tama had the strength to resist she did not. Once Tama had fallen onto the bed I used my other free hand to scoop her up and pull her onto my side as myp was full with Aoif. "My- my lord?" "Shh" I shushed her and started to pet her ears, pulling her closer to me all the while. Initially Tama was ufortable with the situation but eventually thefort of my hand petting her won her out as she closed her eyes and leaned into my hand of her own will. ¡­ The rise and fall of Tama''s chest signified the end of her consciousness as she fell asleep clinging to my arm. However I did not stop my ministrations on her ears. There was no particr reason for why. It could have been the soft purrs of delight that Tama let out, or maybe thefort I derived from it, but either way I kept my petting of both her and Aoif. I had not forgotten about Aoif in this whole situation. Despite the noise we had made Aoif had not yet woken up. There were some times where I could swear I saw Aoif''s eyes fluttering but despite that a quick look at her soul, which was dormant as it always was when she slept, showed me that Aoif was asleep. With both of my girls sleeping next to me my eyes slowly closed as the exhaustion of the day hit me. Chapter 83 An Icy Meeting "Are you sure you want to go back to Pandora''s realm alone?" "Yes I want to be stronger, if that means going to a ce of danger alone then so be it" ~resolve~ I projected all the resolve that I could muster out onto Darwin. Seeing my resolve, Darwin sighed and gave me a pat on the head then made to leave. Though before he left I dashed over to him and stole a kiss. Myst sight of my Darling was of his smile and the small shake of his head at my attitude. ¡­ The world went dark again, the vision that I had worked to obtain with Darwin gone as a realms distance separated us. Gone was the world of colors that I had grown so used to in that short amount of time and back was the creeping darkness that showed nothing but the souls of the damned. Even now I could see the fading souls approaching me. It seemed like I was in a hotspot of veiled guards as five of them approached me. I dashed towards them knife in hand as I searched their souls for their origin. "Eep" An ungraceful sound left my mount as I tripped on something, knocking myself to the ground. I had grown so used to my sight that I had forgotten how hard it was to move when I had no vision. Luckily the guards were not expecting me to fall to the ground so their attacks flew over my head. However, that also gave me an opportunity, I might not be able to dash around without falling but I could at the very least attack the soul that had been gracious enough to overextend itself over my body. With one hand I pushed my body off the ground, the other holding my dagger. I had pushed with enough force that it would spin my body leaving me face to face with the veiled guard. Of course I could not see the guard but I could see his soul and more importantly his origin which I was aiming for. *SLASH* With a sh to the origin the soul disintegrated and with it the body it had. [You have killed a remnant of the veiled guard.] [You have gainedprehension and a fragment of the veil(1/1000)] Seeing the notification I smiled, this was my whole goal ining here. We had left the realm before we could find out what the veil was, however now that I was stronger I could return and hunt the fragments of the veil. Darwin had offered to join me but I wanted to blow off some steam, not only was I angry at the elves but I was angry at myself. I knew logically that it was not my fault and there was nothing I could have done to change the result but I just¡­ I just couldn''t help but me myself. Standing up I listen to the surroundings, it was unusually quiet l, even if the guards were silent they would usually make some noise that I could perceive. But there was nothing that I could hear except the normal sounds of the forest. I smiled looking around. It seemed like they wanted me to believe they had left but I knew the truth. They had not left, I could still see their souls. Though the weird thing was that they were faint, flickering like they were trying to hide. To anyone else it may seem like they actually had left but not to me. They had picked the wrong opponent to try and deceive with their petty tricks. I called upon my bonded armor, the leg armor appearing on my legs and lowering the surrounding temperature. While I could not use them to boost my speed like I had done previously, I could instead use them to manipte the fog that they emanated just by existing. With a push of my will I spread my aether through the fog around me and shaped them into spears. *WOOSH* Tens of spears were sent at each veiled guard all aimed at their origin. ¡­ [You have killed a remnant of the veiled guard.] [You have gainedprehension and a fragment of the veil(5/1000)] Was that a bit of overkill, maybe but I still was blowing off steam. Either way it had not dipped into my aether reserves at all so there was no problem in wasting that amount of energy as it had regenerated the moment I had expended it. Though while I was basking in the carnage that I had created I saw more souls approaching me, at first nce I thought they were just more veiled guards but when I went to take a second look after creating more spears aimed towards them I realized that their souls were not faded, instead they were glowing. The most notable one of them was an ice cold soul the color of ice. "You d-" before the soul could begin berating me another intervened. "Enough, Naomi" The one that had intervened was the one with the soul the color of ice. "I''m sorry for my subordinates disrespect, I am Gabriel and my subordinate''s name is Naomi." "It is fine, I am Aoif." The emotions of the souls around me all fluctuated, some in surprise while others in confirmation. I could see that none of them held any ill will. Though just because I felt nothing bading from them didn''t mean I let my defenses down. I had already found their origins and was ready to attack if they gave me a reason. "We would like to invite you to join our little alliance, Aoif" Before I could reply with a no Gabriel continued on. "We humans have been invaded, we of this alliance are dedicated to protecting our fellow humans, it would be a great help if you could join us." I could feel the shocking from the one named Naomi. It was likely that she had never seen Gabriel ever act so politely to someone else. Chapter 84 Do You Fear Death? With a sweep of my tail a hailstorm of ice fragments were sent in the direction of the veiled guards. Beside me Naomi dashed forward sword and shield in hand, intending to take down the guards before they could react to my attack. I had purposefully not aimed for the guards vitals but had instead struck their limbs intending to freeze them so that Naomi could finish them off. *BANG* *SLASH* The veiled guards were killed with no chance to retaliate the ice that I had thrown on them blooming into restraints. "Good job" Under my praise Naomi preened, a smile blooming in her angelic face, made even more angelic by the halo hovering at a slight angle over her head and the ethereal wings that were growing on her back. Ever since Naomi had advanced to tier 8 the wings on her back were slowly growing from ethereal to corporal. The onlyint I had was that when Naomi was happy or inbat the halo that I saw right now would appear, it was a testament to the terrible control she kept over her powers. I didn''t let the disappointment over her control appear on my face, keeping the encouraging smile that I had always held on. There was no reason to discourage her right now, even if her control was terrible she was still a great asset to have if I could properly train her. Even then Naomi''s control wasn''t that bad,pared to the others in our little alliance she excelled butpared to me. ''Heh'' she was nothing, the sheer amount of aether flowing off of her when she utilized her abilities was a testament to how terrible she was and even more to the others in the alliance. Off in the distance I could hear something of a boom. "Hm" I hummed, "Do you hear that Naomi?" The only answer I got was a shake of her head and a confused look. Looking in the direction of the sound I heard and focusing again, I could hear the sound of battle. It wasn''t that far but I could notpletely hear where it hade from, just the general direction. *WOOSH* It was as I was contemting on how to find the disturbance that I heard it, the whoosh of air being disced by something being thrown. Taking a nce at Naomi I dash towards the disturbance intent on finding whoever was brave enough to traverse this realm. ¡­ Blue, that was all I could see as hundreds of icicles were pointed at me. Looking at the girl I could feel the weight of her aether covering the icicles that were aimed at us. ''Shit'' *DEATH* That was the first thought that came to mind, we had almost died. My legs felt a bit shaky from the fear of death that I had felt. Luckily my tail was able to conceal the shakiness in my legs. Looking over it seemed like Naomi wasn''t able to sense the incredible power that the girl was able to put out. "You d-" beside me Naomi was trying to defend me, her halo was out in full bloom and was in the middle of casting some support onto me. "Enough, Naomi" I say, turning to look directly in her eyes to convey my seriousness and stop Naomi before she escted this encounter to a fight. Looking back at the girl, I saw a purple haired girl with closed eyes somehow ring at us. It was like my whole soul wasid bare to her sight. However when she opened her eyes I was surprised. Instead of the crystal clear eyes that I had expected all I saw was the cloudy purple eyes. Naomi could not feel the power flowing off of this girl, but I could, I knew that if we had fought there was no way for us to win. Thinking back there was only one person that I knew could put such feelings into myself, Darwin. She must have been at the very least as powerful as he was. "I''m sorry for my subordinates disrespect, I am Gabriel and my subordinate''s name is Naomi." Looking back at the girl I introduce myself and Naomi. "It is fine, I am Aoif." Next to me Naomi''s eyes widened in surprise however this had just confirmed my suspicions, this was Aoif the second in the fame rankings. A scheming smile appeared on my face as I started to n, this was a great opportunity. If I could get Aoif to join our alliance then our power would skyrocket, I would not have to worry about being overtaken by the others and could break off. "We would like to invite you to join our little alliance, Aoif" Before Aoif could respond I continued on, "We humans have been invaded, we of this alliance are dedicated to protecting our fellow humans, it would be a great help if you could join us." This part was made up on the fly, if she had a noble heart then this would appeal to her, the chance to be the savior of the human race and even then if Aoif had a cruel streak then I could y that off as a cruel joke. Either way I could spin this to my side. It seemed that Naomi had recovered from my scolding though as she had meekly gone behind me, hiding in my tail. "No" It was a quiet answer but it echoed out in my ears like the world had exploded. All my carefullyid ns. Well carefullyid in thest few seconds but still that was a lot of work. "Do you at least want to hunt together?" I ask, trying to at least salvage the situation. Yes if I could get Aoif to hunt with us then I could grow closer to her and with my amazing body would seduce her into my camp. Of course none of my thoughts were shown outwardly, I had an image to maintain after all. A nod and the icicles pointed towards us were dispelled was the only answer I got. However before I could lead us in a direction, Aoif had approached me with speed that almost seemed like she was teleporting. She grabbed my shoulder and I could feel an invasion of foreign aether rushing into my body. "There I can see again, thank you" "If I may ask, what did you do?" I question not allowing the panic to appear on my face. "I connected our senses so that I could see again." Aoif said before continuing on, "I am blind and the only way I can see is by taking the sight of others." With that said Aoif let go of my body and started off into the distance. Naomi behind me finally spoke up now that Aoif was supposedly out of earshot. "Are you sure?" She questioned. "Yes, now let''s go." Chapter 85 Evaluation I closed my eyes, activating my soul vision, numerous souls appeared in my vision. There were hundreds everywhere I looked. The only frustrating thing was how far apart they were from each other. Some were on their lonesome while others formed groups of hundreds. However the only ones that were close to us were the ones in groups of one to five. Luckily there was a group of five nearby. I left the two to their talk not caring if they could catch up or not. The only reason that I had even agreed to hunt with them in the first ce was because they had potential. When I first looked upon them I was surprised, Gabriel''s soul was actually half as bright as Tama with Naomi''s soul being maybe a quarter the size of Tama''s. Either way they both had potential. If they were agreeable when we were hunting I would invite them back to the territory but for now I wanted to push their limits. To see if they were worthy of being allies. It seems like my disappearance had shocked the two out of their conversation as they had quickly dashed forwards trying to catch up to me. I deliberately left my speed just above what the two could put out so that I would stay slightly ahead of them. If they got lost while following me then they were not worth the effort either way. ¡­ I stopped in a clearing, in front of me were the five veiled guards that I had seen. Behind me the duo had finally caught up. "Hah" "Hah" Though both were panting in exertion. I had not taken it easy on them. Once we had made it about three quarters of the way to the enemies I was heading towards I had kicked up my speed a notch. It was enough of a speed boost that there was no way for them to follow. However I hadn''t done this mindlessly. I had deliberately left tracks for them to find and follow with. Looking at the two I point out three of the veiled guards and point to them. "Those three are mine, you two take thest two." With speed typical of that of a tier 8 I dashed. I could have ended the battle in an instant but I still wanted to blow off some steam hence the tier 8 speed. *CLANG* The veiled guard blocked my attack but wasn''t able to block the follow up leading to me piercing the guards origin. Behind me another tried to back up its fellow guard but it was useless, the second that I was done with the first I had already turned around and found the origin of its soul. In just a second I had killed two of them, the third not even able to reach me before they were dead. I saw it contemting something before it suddenly turned tail and ran. I wasn''t going to let it though. With a burst of speed I dashed from my spot and stabbed it in the back. Done with the fight I checked the system messages that had rang while I was killing the veiled guards. [You have killed a remnant of the veiled guard.] [You have gainedprehension and a fragment of the veil(8/1000)] ¡­ After checking the notifications I looked over to Gabriel and Naomi. They had not moved an inch since I had told them who they were going to kill. Not that I could me them, after all it had not even been a second since I had initially told them who to kill. Soon enough they broke from their stunned silence and went to fight the remaining two. Naomi manifested ethereal wings and a halo on top of her head as she unsheathed her sword and shield. Gabriel on the other hand didn''t seem to prepare at all. However that was only the truth if you did not look at the aether she was manipting. It seems like that fluffy tail of hers gave her excellent control over her aether as even though I could see countless shards of ice form behind her there was no waste of aether from what I could tell. It could have been that Gabriel was just naturally talented in aether control but even then it had only been a couple of days and all of her pathways were unlocked, something that did not happen to either Darwin or I until we had advanced to the fifth tier. Clearly whatever talent Gabriel had awakened allowed her immense control over her aether. Going back to the battle Gabriel had unleashed a wave of ice shards at the two veiled guards however weirdly enough they were not aimed at vitals deliberately. Instead they were aimed at the limbs. ''That''s why'' I thought to myself. The shards that Gabriel shot were still in her control, which was why she didn''t aim for the vitals. Gabriel was aiming to make restraints on the guards so that Naomi could take them out easily. Clever. The shards on the ground that the guards had disregarded started to coalesce into chains. Slowly without their notice as they were busy fighting Naomi, they slivered onto their ankles. *bang* *bang* The sound of the veiled guards hitting the ground echoed out. Naomi took advantage of this and with two swift stabs killed the two. ¡­ Sitting on a stump the duo approaches me. However I don''t say anything, I just look at them questioningly. "Are you sure that you won''t join us, you would be a great boon to our forces. You could even take us as subordinates." Naomi''s eyes widened at that, her soul reflecting the turbulent emotions that she was feeling. "No, I will not join you, have I not made that clear?" I red at them, even if I was nning on offering them a ce in Darwin''s territory did not mean that I was willing to entertain their insistent requests. Not only was my mood bad but the annoyance of being asked to leave Darwin would have made me snap even if I wasn''t in a bad mood. Though they were only getting off with a re because I saw potential in them and didn''t want to kill potential subordinates. Chapter 86 A Crazy Idea Looking around all I saw were the scattered souls of the veiled guards. They were so far apart that it would take days to gather all the fragments that I wanted. "This is too inefficient" I thought out loud. "What is?" Beside me Gabriel had decided to speak up. "The amount that we are killing is too low." I responded simply. They both nodded, knowing what I was talking about. It was Gabriel that had spoken up, voicing the obvious thought. "You''re right, it is very inefficient, we would have to spend days, maybe even weeks hunting them down to get sufficient fragments." Nodding at Gabriel''s answer I start to think of a solution. ''The veiled guards seemed to be attracted to anything that moved, anything alive. What if I transmitted that there was life here.'' "That might work¡­" "What might work?" Naomi asked, finally mustering the nerve to question me. I ignored her in favor of closing my eyes and trying my idea. Just as when we were attacking the elves when I projected to Darwin that I was ready I did the same. However it seemed that they could not sense my projected emotions. It seemed that the veiled guards, even though they were nothing but broken souls projecting themselves on the physical world, were unable to interpret the signals that I had tried to send. Frowning at that, I tried another idea. If I couldn''t tell them that I was at this location then I would send a wave of aether at them, something that they could at least interpret. But how to do that, if I tried to just unleash a wave of aether then it would just explode, killing everything in the immediate area except me. It was that thought that brought me to the answer, the shockwave. An explosion of sufficient force would have a shockwave that would ripple out far beyond the initial explosion. If I could replicate that without an explosion then I could draw the veiled guards to my position. Looking at my palm I draw out a bit of aether, then start to manipte it so that it would spread out in all directions. A small bang resounded in my palm and I could feel my aether being scattered to the treelines. I smiled, my idea had worked. Now I just needed to replicate that on a higher scale. I opened my palm again but this time I gathered a significant amount of aether, almost a quarter of my reserves. Once I had that I formed it into a ball then manipted it so that the individual particles of aether were separated. It took a lot of focus but after a minute of preparation it was done. The particles that I had separated all mmed into the center. The resulting explosion while not deadly certainly could be felt for miles. Looking back at Gabriel and Naomi I point to the pulse of aether and say. "That, that was my idea." ¡­ A silent bang echoed throughout the forest. It could not be heard, only felt. The animals that had felt it all ran, the power contained within it enough to scare them off, but the veiled guards that had felt it all shrieked in tion. Not only did the pulse alert them of a living being but the smart ones were able to deduce the origin of the pulse from the direction that it hade in. ¡­ "Wha-" Naomi went to ask what I had done but was cut off by a cacophony of footsteps banging on the ground, deafening her question. From the tree line came hundreds upon hundred of veiled guards. I smiled, this was exactly what I wanted. Arge crowd of monsters that I could take my rage out on. "Good luck" With that I was off , leaving the duo to survive on their own. The veiled guards wereing from all sides but it didn''t matter. When I dashed into them hundreds of arrows wereunched at me but with my speed I was able to weave through them. They were not fast enough and by the time that they had realized that I was already in their ranks. My dagger was angled just right so that with a little push it would decapitate the one in front of me. *BANG* With a little exertion of force I pierced through the neck of the veiled guard. It dropped to the ground, dead, the others around me already moring to cooperate with the others to attack me. Though some had gone for Gabriel and Naomi, that was just a minority of them, the majority were focused on me. ¡­ Aoif was insane, there was no doubt about it. I had only asked if she had a solution to our inefficient hunting. I was expecting a better pattern, better directions, not for her to call hundreds of them to attack us. *WOOSH* *CLANG* Countless arrows fell off my shield, their tips ruined by the durability of my shield. Behind me at least ten guards were charging at Gabriel who was casting support frantically. One of the ones that were shooting arrows at us seemed to get frustrated and dashed into the fray attacking me. I was able to defend against his attacks but that meant that Gabriel was undefended. I had to finish this quickly. The next attack that hit me, I didn''t just block it but parried it. Putting some force into my shield, I hit the sword that nged against my shield pushing the guard back. The guard was disoriented and pushed back by the attack. I wasn''t going to let this opportunity pass me by. I dashed toward the guard and with the sword in my other hand pierced the head of the guard. [You ha- I immediately dismissed the notification from my vision and fell back to Gabriel''s side, all the while blocking the countless attacks that were pounding on my shield. Behind me Gabriel was fading no better except she had no shield to fend off the countless attacks raining upon her. Her tail was bloodied, the once wless skin littered with shallow wounds. Countless ice fragments were made and quickly shot out but the tide of veiled guards were not stopping at all. Chapter 87 Ease And Hardship I shed upwards cutting the hand of one of the veiled guards off then using the momentum generated I pivot my foot letting the momentum transfer to my hand where it then allowed me to imbue more strength into my piercing strike which allowed me to plunge my hand over the heart of the veiled guard. Once my hand was over its heart I closed my hand into a fist, crushing its heart. The veiled guards around me all started to scatter, however I did not chase after them. I could have killed them all, not allowing any to escape but then I wouldn''t have the free show of Gabriel and Naomi fighting for their lives. It seemed that they had finally noticed that I was not attacking them as long as they attacked Gabriel and Naomi. It took them a while to determine that it was attacking them that got me off their backs and not fleeing. If they fled then I would just generate ice and stab them in the back with it but if they attacked the duo then I would leave them alone, not bothering to kill them. After the final veiled guard had fled over to the help of its brethren I finally sat down and checked my notifications. [You have killed a remnant of the veiled guard.] [You have gainedprehension and a fragment of the veil(481/1000)] Sitting upon the mountain of corpses that I had created I contemted the gains that I had achieved from this ughter. While they were no challenge to kill, the veiled guards still offered me a unique opportunity. Their numbers, their skill in battle, and most importantly their cooperation had helped me toe up with numerous tactics to take downrge hordes of enemies. I had tried out the ideas as they came to mind and most of them did not work, the blemishes on my skin a testament to that, however there were a rare few that did work and that was worth all the cuts and bruises that I had gained from the failures. While there were a few tactics that worked, the one that yielded the greatest result was the crushing of the enemies heart. For some reason whenever I crushed an enemy''s heart or their blood spilled upon me I could feel my lost stamina replenishing, my aether reserves that had sat at half full the entire time going back to full. I didn''t know why that had happened but it was a great discovery anyways. ¡­ Looking over it seemed like Aoif was done with her side of the battle but it seemed she had no intention of helping us. She just sat there with that self satisfied smile of hers. My attention was soon drawn back to the battle as a dagger flew over my shield and into my shoulder de. The momentarypse in focus allowed the attack to ovee my defenses. I grit my teeth and quickly pull the dagger out of my arm applying a generous amount of aether to heal the skin to stop the bleeding. With my control over my own aether the amount that had been wasted, instead of healing as it was supposed to do it just flew off into the distance, useless. The sword in my hand was starting to wear down. The edge that I had cared for with utmost dedication was worn down, now barely able to pierce the skin of the veiled guards. It was useless, which was why I had sheathed it and had put all my focus into defense. Gabriel had seen this too and instead of creating opportunities for me like we always did on a hunt, instead started to createrger andrger ice fragments that she then threw at the veiled guards. Therger size aided in the piercing power of the fragments, allowing them to actually do damage. Looking at the strained appearance of Gabriel though showed me that we could not keep this up for long. Even with her impable control over aether, her reserves were limited. For how long we had been fighting it was a miracle that we could even muster the strength to defend. Even with the tens of corpses that we had put down, more and more kepting. I would have to do something drastic or we would both be dead. At this point Aoif''s presence was not in mind anymore, even if it was I would not have counted on her to save us. It seemed as though she had this apathy towards us, whether or not we died was of no consequence to her. With the thought of Aoif well out of mind I did something drastic, something I never knew I could do. Gathering all the aether I could muster, I grew it into a tether connecting myself to Gabriel and pushed. All of the strength I had left, all the aether in the tether, everything was transferred to Gabriel. I knew that with more strength that Gabriel would be able to get us out of this situation. I trusted her to save me, to pull us out of this dark situation. It was with thosest thoughts that I cked out. The shield I held fell to the ground and soon after my body. ¡­ I felt a rush of power flowing into my body. Suddenly the tide of guards no longer felt insurmountable, the once hopeless situation taking a turn as I finally had the power to fight back. However it came at a price, looking to the ground near me I see the fallen body of Naomi, my friend, my treasure. I felt more power flow into me and with a mighty sweep of my tail a hailstorm of ice was thrown at the veiled guards. There was no way for them to resist it. The usual storms that I summoned were regr ice, they were sharpened but they were still regr ice, the storm that I had summoned now was different. The ice that I summoned was no longer regr, they were imbued with aether. The durability and sharpness had been enhanced enough to pierce the iron that made up the guards armor. I looked at my tail then Naomi, had she done this. Was this the power of her buffs? I didn''t know it at the time but my dragon nature had shown its fangs there, my first treasure having been identified had added onto the strength that had been given to me. At the time I had attributed it to the desperate buff that had been given to me by Naomi. Chapter 88 Enough A sweep of my tail sent thousands of ice shards into the horde of guards swarming me. The shards pounding at the horde stopped the flood from nearing but it did not stop their ranged attacks. Just looking up I could see the thousands of arrows and daggers being thrown and shot at us. the wall of ice fragments was doing a good job of keeping them from hitting me but it didn''t keep everything. There were still tens of daggers and arrows that pierced through my defenses and into the surrounding area. Luckily out of the ones that passed my defenses only a couple had actually hit my back. "Nn" the pain of just a couple of daggers and arrows pounding upon my back was unbearable but still I did not move, despite the pain I had something I needed to protect. Lowering my head I see blood dripping off of my sides onto the ground below and below me, covered by my body was Naomi. She was the whole reason that I had not dodged was that her unconscious form would have been killed by now if I had not done what I had. I could not allow harm to fall upon her. She had entrusted me with our survival and I would not disappoint. I grit my teeth and pulled the projectiles out of my back. With a flick of my wrist and tail I created a shield around us. It would notst for long but that didn''t matter. I only needed a couple of seconds. Quickly I got up, grabbing Naomi in my tail. I wrapped her body so that only her head was poking out of my tail and ran for the trees. All the while the horde that I had been holding back easily broke the barrier and surged forth attacking us. I curled my tail so that it was in front of my body, my back taking the brunt of the attacks allowed me to safely carry Naomi to safety. Once I was at the treeline I leaped onto one of the taller branches and put Naomi down. After I was sure that they solely focused on me I left Naomi where I had dropped her. Falling from the tree I created a tform about halfway to the ground angled so that it would protect me from the countless projectiles that were aimed at me. There was no point in staying on the tform for long, once it had done its purpose i leaped from it and while in the air I targeted one of the guards and shot at him shards of ice enhanced by my aether. [You- I quickly dismissed the notification and focused back on the battle. The guard that I had targeted was dead, proving that I could kill them. Before I had to aim carefully for their throats, or the weak points in their armor, my ice not being sharp enough to cut through the iron armor protecting them. Now however I did not need to worry about where I aimed, as long as I aimed at their chest with a significant amount of aether enhanced ice they would die. "I think that''s enough" The voice was quiet but it echoed throughout the battlefield. The projectiles that I had made were dismissed with haste I didn''t know I had and the guards that were attacking me dropped dead, their bodies disintegrating into dust. I dropped from the tform that I had created in the sky, still stunned by the disy of power that I had just witnessed. I had not seen it clearly but I had seen countless spears made of ice elerated to speeds that I could not see with my eyes. I was only able to witness the death of one and even then that was only because I was lucky. I had my eye on my next target and was intensely watching it to make sure that my shot hit when Aoif had acted, the spear of ice hitting directly on some weird point on its body and not even a moment after it had hit the guard was dead turned to dust. ¡­ I spread my aether out creating countless spears of ice. I had already identified the origins of all the veiled guards that were attacking Gabriel and Naomi. With a flick of my power I released the spears all of them were aimed precisely into the origins of the guards turning them to dust and killing them. Notifications flooded my vision however I ignored all hit thest notifications. [You have killed a remnant of the veiled guard.] [You have gainedprehension and a fragment of the veil(672/1000)] I had seen enough, the desperate buff by Naomi and thebat prowess of Gabriel, both far exceeded what could have been expected of a tier 8 and 7 duo. The amount that had been killed by them was in the low tens, not even fifty of the veiled guards had been killed by Gabriel and Naomi. I couldn''t me them though, it was still impressive how many they were able to fell under the circumstances I had forced upon them. Gabriel copsed on the ground as the exhaustion caught up with her, though she was still awake which was good. I grabbed both her and Naomi and dragged them with me. I was done hunting for the day and would return the next day after I had hunted a sufficient amount toplete the 1000 kills that were required but for now I would allow them to rest and recuperate while I found us dinner. "Do you know how to make a fire?" I asked Gabriel, if I was going to cook the food then they were going to make camp. "Ye- yes" Gabriel was still out of breath, the adrenaline of the fight wearing off and leaving her tired but she was not allowed to fall asleep until we had all eaten. I was doing something kind, she should appreciate it. "Good, make the fire and set up camp while I hit our food for tonight." With that said I left searching for a living animal to ughter. Chapter 89 Campsite Hunger With shaking hands I fought the sleepiness that threatened to ovee my being. The sticks that I had gathered from around the forest were all bundled up to the right. Slowly I started to build a little tower, the sticks slowly forming into something that would hold a fire. Once that was done I flexed my aether and drew out all the cold from the sticks, changing them from wet to sparking. I frowned when I did that, usually when I was assigned to make a fire it would take longer to spark the wood. It was like my power had gone up a level. I knew it wasn''t a problem with skill because I had enough of that. My control over aether was second to no one. Well not no one but everyone in the alliance had lesser control over their aether. I shook those thoughts out of my head and blew on the sparks. The sparks quickly ignited into a zing inferno that I stoked with more wood that I had gathered. Soon enough it was stable and I could just feed it wood while Naomi rested on my shoulder the both of us waiting for Aoif to return with food. ¡­ "Wake up" A loud voice echoed in my ear. Opening my eyes I see in front of me Aoif holding what looks like a dead deer. The wound on the deer looked fresh, like it had just been killed. I looked behind her and I could see where the deer had been dragged, the grass being ttened. The fire in front of me crackled as I felt my stomach grumble in hunger. Watching Aoif I see her bring her dagger from its ce on her hip and cut the head of the deer off. For a moment everything was silent as Aoif let the deer bleed out all the blood in its body. Once that was done Aoif dragged her knife across the skin of the deer then ripped it open like a bandaid. The skin was haphazardly thrown to the side as the red meat was revealed beneath. Within a couple shes the revealed meat was cut into neat bs of deer that could be cooked nicely. Seeing the food being cooked didn''t help my hunger at all, I was counting down every second that it was cooking waiting for when I could eat it. I don''t know when but at some point Naomi had woken up, her hunger was even worse than mine, her body unable to move from how much pain the hunger was causing her. A b of meat was finally ced before me but I opted to give it to Naomi who needed it much more than I did. Once I had given the food to Naomi she devoured it like a woman possessed the food gone in not even a couple seconds. A blush appeared on her face from how unsightly Naomi looked while she was eating the food, however that was soon gone after she was distracted by more fooding into her view. I giggled a little at the expression Naomi was making, her eyes were glowing with hunger and her mouth hung open, strands of drool slipping down, thankfully onto the ground and not me. The food that was in front of us was meant to be mine but I opted to just give it to Naomi, I could endure a little hunger but Naomi looked almost like a ghost with how much energy that buff had taken from her. ¡­ I sat with a content look on my face, I had just eaten at least three servings of some form of meat. I couldn''t tell what the meat was by taste but by that point I was so hungry that it didn''t matter. Gabriel could feed me bugs and I would be content to devour them raw. Yawn~ My mouth opened involuntarily and a sleepy yawn came from my mouth signifying the tiredness that came from eating so much. I didn''t regret it though, I was so hungry I would have eaten anything to get rid of it. Yawn~ Another yawn came through my mouth and this time I had decided that I was going to sleep but before that a cheeky smile came to my tired lips as I got an idea. While Gabriel was busy eating her food her tail wagged behind her at the food going into her mouth. That was where my idea came into y. I pounced with considerable speed, pinning the tail down and snuggling myself into it. The soft fur of her tail both warmed andforted me. What did surprise me though was that Gabriel did not wag her tail harder to get me off but actually curled her tail up wrapping my body in the soft, fluffy, warm tail. I couldn''t resist petting it and a yelp came from my mouth as I realized that I heard somethinge from Gabriel''s mouth. Purr~ A purr, Gabriel was purring. This was the happiest day of my life, well except for the whole brush with death but other than that, just the sight and sound of Gabriel purring was enough to make me go through hardships twice as much as this to hear her purr again. However I didn''t get to revel in Gabriel''s purring for too long as the sleepiness that filled me was soon back and took from me my consciousness. ¡­ I looked down on my soon to be subordinates and smiled. The sight of them cuddling was cute. Gabriel had wrapped Naomi in her tail and the ethereal wings of Naomi were covering the both of them giving them warmth. Soon enough I had gotten sleepy and decided to rest. I had no one to sleep with tonight and Darwin was not with me to hug me to sleep so I had to make my own bed. Using the hide that I had just skinned I made a makeshift nket to wrap myself in for the night. Chapter 90 Cat? Seeing Aoif off I could feel the sinking loneliness that came with no longer being able to feel her presence. It was painful but I knew how much Aoif wanted to do this, I would not deny her this chance. I went back into the house where Tama was waiting for me, lunch in hand. She ced the food down on the table and it was then that I remembered something. I could evolve the house, previously I had waited to evolve it because I was not the right tier but now that I was tier 5 I could evolve it to that level. Looking at the house it was already luxurious, the tree that housed it bursting with vitality and the insides being furnished with the mostfortable furniture. The bed was the best part though, it was the most refreshing thing about it. Whenever I slept on it I would always feel refreshed. "Hmm" I hummed out loud, now that I thought about it, it might not be that the bed wasfortable but more that I was the most at peace when I slept with Aoif. I shook those reminiscent thoughts out of my mind as I focused on the house again. [Crowns house] [Tier/Level: 6/1(can be evolved)] [A nature aligned territory house that wards off hostiles with its great presence.] Thest time I had evolved my territory I had only evolved it to tier 6 despite being tier 5 and being able to evolve it to that level. I don''t know why I didn''t evolve it to that level, it may have been because of the impending invasion, or the preparations but either way I had not evolved it to the tier that I could have. Focusing on my talent I evolve the house. A green sh of light consumed the tree and grew until I could not see the top of the light any longer. Eventually after a couple of minutes the light receded and what I saw was majestic. The tree had grown to cover the whole forest that we had imed. I could feel the power in the tree too, it felt like a wrong movement could spell my end. That feeling soon disappeared as the house recognized me as its master, but the sheer power that the tree emanated was still great. Looking at the leaves of the tree I could see golden leaves begin to form. They were notpletely gold but I could see the growth all the same. In another evolution or two would the tree grow gold. [Crown''s House] [Tier/Level: 5/1] [A nature aligned tree that grew closer to its roots. The power hidden in its bloodline breeding true. The power that once only warded off hostile beings has evolved to actively hunt the invaders for sustenance. The house that once inhabited the insides of the tree now has been transported to a separate dimension hidden within the tree.] Walking up to the tree I found no door to allow me into the house. My eyes opened in surprise as soon as I thought ''into the house'' the bark turned incorporeal and my hand fell through. I lost my bnce and my whole body fell into the tree. When I opened my eyes again I saw a grand living room. Complete with fancy furniture and fixtures that I didn''t even know the names of. I sat down on one of them and groaned at howfortable it was. It was soft but not too soft that I sank into it. It had enough firmness and softnessbined into some heavenly couch. An eager smile appeared on my face as I imagined howfortable the bed would be if the couch was thisfortable. I could just¡­. ¡­ My eyes that werefortably closed opened as I realized I didn''t know the way out. The sleepiness was washed away as I got up and started to look around for a door, exit, anything. My first thought was to go back to where I entered but when I looked there all I saw was a highly decorated wall. Walking up to it and touching it I remembered how I entered and thought ''exit'' Just as how I entered the wall became incorporeal and my body fell through it back to the outside of the tree. I wanted to go back in and sleep but I had other things I needed to do. ¡­ ''Summon'' Imanded the summoning pool. With a green sh of light only one figure appeared out of the summoning pool. ''Weird'' I thought, the summoning pool guaranteed that I would summon 6 summons more than just the one I had summoned. Soon enough the green light dissipated finally letting me get a view of what I had summoned. A woman with green hair turning golden at the tips, with cat ears and a tail. An impassive look on her face. "Are you my summoner?" A voice devoid of emotion spoke to me. "Yes, I am Darwin and you are?" I questioned, although I could have just identified her with the system, I felt that it would have been rude. "Darwin, is it, a fine name, I am called Astraea" With that Astraea did a small bow, clearly she had felt there was no need to be fully subservient to me. "Follow me" With a wave of my hand I brought Astraea around the territory. Though while Astrea was following me I could hear her quietly muttering to herself. "The nature here is vibrant¡­" I knew there was some subtext there that I was missing, however I ignored it for now in favor of introducing Astraea to the territory. When we got to my house I reached out my hand to Astraea. Picking up on my meaning she offered her hand to which I took it and touched the tree. ''Open'' Imanded and within the moment both Astraea and I were in the house. ~purr~ An unconscious sound echoed from Astraea''s mouth as she entered the house. Her eyes went wide as her ears and tail both rxed. Her tail flickered behind her softly while her ears ttened as if in immense enjoyment. Concerned, I reached out to her to try and get Astraea out of the state she was in. My hand was instead grasped in an inescapable grip as she brought it to her face and made me pet her. I was drawn further in as she dragged me to a nearby couch and pushed us both onto it. ~purr~ Astraea''s eyes were closed as shey on my stomach, her tail wrapped around my leg shifting this way and that. ''She fell asleep'' It seems like whatever had happened to Astraea put her in some form of drugged state and then put her to sleep. I tried to get up but it was futile, everytime I tried Astraea would grip my body and not allow me to leave. Eventually I just gave up and gave in to the sleepiness that I felt. Chapter 91 Bones As dawn broke and the morning sunlight shone upon my face, I woke up. I felt more powerful, like the things that once took considerable effort were now trivial. I went to my unread notifications and looked. [Congrattions, you have advanced to tier/level 7/8] I had leveled up, I was so close to the peak of tier 7 that I could feel it. My tion was soon dropped when I felt next to me Aoif, who was still as unfathomable in power as ever. Even with my recent increase in power I could feel that I would not be able to make a scratch on her if she was focused. I might be able to do some damage if Aoif was unprepared but nothing substantial. "Let''s go" impassively Aoif dragged me out of my thoughts and towards some unknown ce. Behind me Naomi followed, the sleep in her eyes still there. "Ugh, did you have to wake me so early?" Naomi wasining behind me, the early morning not helping with her attitude. ¡­ It didn''t take long before Aoif was satisfied with the ce that we had arrived at. All around us was a field of grass, no trees were in sight except the ones that we hade out from. I could see for miles from where I stood. However I didn''t see any veiled guards which was weird, I had assumed that the whole reason we had moved here was because Aoif wanted to hunt enough guards so that she couldplete the fragment of the veil. Looking at the surroundings, with no enemies in sight it seemed like there was a different reason for us to be here. Is Aoif going to train us or something. The thought of that made me frown, my brain going through scenario after scenario of why she would want to train us. The frown that she had on her face this morning led to the thought that maybe she just wanted to take her frustrations out on us but no that wouldn''t make sense. If she wanted to take her frustrations out on us then why not do that to the veiled guards. Soon after that thought left me another soon filled in, what if s- My thoughts were interrupted by Aoif throwing an ice shard into the ground before me. "Pick it up" With those words Aoif remained silent again waiting for me to follow her instructions. I looked at the ground where what I had thought to be an ice fragment from what I had felt was but was instead greeted to the sight of an some roughly shaped weapon, I couldn''t quite make out what it was supposed to be from just the sight of it but once I picked it up I instinctively knew what it was. In my hand I was holding a saber. A shoddy one that might as well have been carved out of ice with how rough it was. Wait, it actually was carved out of ice. Looking closer I could see patches where a knife had been run down it, sharpening the tip. I tried flexing it and surprisingly enough the de of the saber was flexible but sharp, good that meant that it would not break too easily. I poked myself with the edge and despite my natural defenses it cut through my flesh like it was nothing more than dirt. "Nothing for me?" Naomi pouted out in a cute manner. "You already have a sword and shield, that''s all you need." Aoif answered a sharp re being pointed to her. "B- But it''s too dull to use." Naomi was thoroughly chastised the youthful energy that she had brought to the conversation cut through like a knife through paper. "Then you''ll be learning something useful, I can''t have my helpers be so inept" With that said purple energy flew out of Aoif''s hand and coalesced into the dagger she was holding. "Imitate" That was all she said before Aoif charged at Naomi and I. Instinctually I brought the saber I held up but that did nothing as soon after I could feel something cold on my neck. Looking down I could see Aoif crouched with her dagger poised to cut my neck. I backed off and tried to imitate what Aoif had done while she was busy attacking the shield of Naomi. I didn''t have much time as I could see Naomi''s hand, the one holding the shield started to give out. Quickly I focused my tail wagging behind me as I brought my aether out of my body and into the saber that I held in my hand. It was then that I could feel it, the saber that I was holding felt heavier, like its weight had suddenly tripled. "Good" A smile graced Aoif''s face as she saw what I had done, "Now apply it to your body." With that said she charged at me. Frantically I applied aether the way I had to the saber onto my body. "GAHHH" Something had gone horribly wrong, the leg that I had been trying to reinforce was broken. The bone being visible. It was not only that but the bone was broken into countless shards each poking out of different ces. All I could feel was pain, the broken leg felt like I had been punched in the face, cut, then had acid poured on it all over. That wasn''t the worst part, the worst was that I could see the bone, the meal that I had just eaten threatening toe out as I tried to look anywhere but my leg. I wasn''t squeamish like other people, I could handle seeing my own blood but thebination of seeing my bone sticking out of my leg and the pain that threatened to kill me was overwhelming. I twisted my neck to the side and out came my breakfast and probablyst night''s dinner. It was then that I heard a shout. "Gabriel!" With no regard for anything else Naomi rushed over to my leg and started to apply her own aether frantically. A white glow enveloped my leg as the pain slowly faded away, the bones going back to the ces that they were supposed to be. However the pain was still there except instead of feeling like I would die it felt like I was being constantly cut, it was better but it was still terrible. "What did you do?" There was a pleading look on Naomi''s face that I just could not lie to. "I¡­" Chapter 92 Hostile Intelligence "I¡­ I messed up, I failed." It was a bitter truth to admit. For so long I had known that I was a genius or at least as close as one could get to one. Things that were generally hard for others to do, or to learn came as easily as breathing to me. I might fail once or twice but that was the extent, the only errors after that were ones that were caused by my carelessness. Maybe I had forgotten a step or maybe I rushed through it. But this was different, I had tried my best, my life was on the line. The fear of death should have stimted my potential, it should have allowed me to seed at a much easier rate. I failed however and that left a bitter pain even worse than the pain of my leg. It was like a p in the face saying you aren''t a genius, you aren''t talented. I looked up to Aoif, who could do it in less than a second almost unconsciously, how talented must she be that she could do what I could not do in the same amount of time that we had been in this realm. "That''s fine, I''m always here to heal you. So don''t worry about failure." Naomi tried to cheer me up with a false smile on her face as she tried to put on a brave face to cheer me up. It would have worked if I was not so intimately familiar with her. Naomi was hiding the pain, so far she had only worked on minor injuries such as cuts, gashes, even some sicknesses but today was the first day that she had seen one of her allies so injured. Of course she had seen the corpses of many enemies but just like the rest of us, the bodies of our enemies never bothered us. Those thoughts brought me back to the first kill I had on this realm, when I plunged a sharp icicle into the stomach of some aggressive boar. The ssh of blood that had appeared on my face and body had not bothered me, the dying screech as the boar suffocated in his own blood brought no emotion. ¡­ "Up, your leg is better, try again" The voice of Aoif echoed in my ear, breaking me from my thoughts. I lifted my body being careful to not put too much weight onto my injured leg, however the pain that I was expecting was not there. Instead I felt nothing like my whole leg was numbed. I tried running on it and I could dash around without any pain. I had been healed by Naomi before and this had never happened, usually the pain would linger but now it seemed as if Naomi had ced some sort of anesthesia effect on the wound. "Did you do that?" I asked Naomi, trying to confirm my theory. "Do what?" Naomi asked, an oblivious look on her face. "The wound, I can''t feel anything from it" "You can''t! That''s wonderful" Naomi shouted, her joy being clear to see as she jumped and hugged my neck. It also gave me some confirmation. Whatever Naomi had done was unconscious, it might have been a result of pushing her buff so hard in thest fight. Just as I had grown stronger both physically and in the strength of my aether, Naomi must have grown stronger in healing. Pushing Naomi off of me I ask her what level she is. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, I''m at tier 7/1, though I don''t feel any stronger, did I feel stronger to you, I hope I did that would be awesome" "No it was just your healing that came off as stronger, did you not notice how fast you were able to heal me or that I didn''t feel any pain afterwards" "Oh now that you point it out, yeah that is pretty obvious but I was looking for obvious signs¡­ like" "Like actual strength, more aether" "Yeah that" her smile grew as the cheerful atmosphere grew. It didn''tst long though as it seemed Aoif had gotten bored. I was only barely able to react. *CLANG* The dagger Aoif held was blocked by the saber I was holding at my side. I could see a smile on Aoif''s face. "Good your learning, now try and reinforce yourself again" "Again? I was almost crippled!" The incredulous look on my face must have been amusing for her as she smiled in this way that unnerved me. Like Aoif had figured me out. "Both I and Darwin got it in one try, what does that make you?" I knew that was deliberately provoking but I couldn''t help but take the provocation. I focused inward and this time I would get it. Circting my aether, I think of my legs muscle groups, of the bones in my body and how those would rte to my strength. I didn''t just look for that I also started to permeate aether into them "Guh" a grunt of pain left my mouth as something in my leg burst, I wasn''t going to let that stop me though. I pushed through the pain and tried another muscle group. This time instead of permeating in a small amount of aether I take an even smaller part and smother it around the muscle. A blue glow appeared on my leg as I felt the power in it rise. "Good, now do your whole body, I was able to do that, you should too" Aoif seemed to know just the right words to hurt my ego l. I was just about to celebrate when she had said that, stoking mypetitive spirit even further. Intellectually I knew that she was doing this to stoke mypetitive spirit, to be told that someone was better than me, more talented than me was an insult I could not tolerate. I was smart, I knew that, but even though I knew that I was not as smart as some of the famous geniuses I knew that I could stand right below them in terms of intelligence. That was why I could not take this insult because to see someone better than me would tell me I''m not that special, that the ones smarter than me aren''t just in the past but right here in front of me and I would never surpass them. Even if the insult wasn''t a big one it threatened my intelligence. That was why I tried, I pushed my aether throughout my whole body. Even when I started to bleed from my skin to my internal organs I did not stop. I needed to do this. Even when my bones broke and I fell, I continued. The world around me turned ck as I tuned out every outside stimuli, my whole bodyyer bare to my senses. Every piece of skin, every strand of hair, every cell was shown to me. My understanding extended even further than that, I understood how to reinforce my whole body. The bonds of my cells, the small holes of my skin and muscles were filled with aether. Chapter 93 A Show Of Genius My n had worked, it wasn''t hard to see that Gabriel prided herself on her intelligence. Her actions showed how much she thought of herself. From the very moment that we had met up till now, there were many instances where her intelligence both shone and cost her. The borate maneuvers that she performed while fighting yesterday which while they did get her out of trouble left Naomi on her own, even the methodical use of aether in how she manipted her attacks into chains even after firing them off. The one that sticks out to me the most though would be how she started the fire. The way that Gabriel had used her control over ice to change the temperature of the wood allowing it to spark much easier. It was a show of masterful control, I didn''t even know if I could do that but if I could it would be a useful power. That was why I had started to insult her intelligence, if she really was this smart then there was no doubt some arrogance, a smile unwittingly pulled at my face, and I would love to pull that out. I hadn''t confirmed it yet but the grit teeth that I saw when I subtly insulted her intelligence gave me all the results I needed to know my theory was right. Looking at her right now, the immense focus despite how much she was bleeding, how much pain must she be in. Then it happened, scales grew on her as her tail straightened out as if making room for something. Looking deeper at her soul I could tell that she had broken through to tier 6 only one away from my power. She truly was a genius, to be able toplete the technique in only a handful of tries. Both Darwin and I had mastered it sopletely that it was subconscious for us but we had evolved together, something of a cheat with how easy it was to develop in that evolutionary ne. "Naomi, heal her" While Gabriel was learning to reinforce herself I was holding Naomi back, she was a little teary eyed. I couldn''t me her though, with all the blood that hade out of Gabriel while she was learning, anyone else would have died from that much blood loss. I knew she could take that much blood loss, even if she couldn''t I would have just knocked her out and have Naomi heal her. ¡­ I rushed over to Gabriel, Aoif had finally let go of me and allowed me to go and heal her. Immediately I knelt down near her body, my hands were on her immediately. Aether wildly flew from my pathways where they were circting out of my hands and into Gabriel''s body. A white glow appeared on her body as the numerous cuts from her trying to reinforce her whole body were healed, however I still felt that there were wounds. The only wounds that were possible with all the outside injuries being healed were internal. My panic grew as I realized that Gabriel was dying, her internal organs must have been ruptured. The flow of aether started to get chaotic as my emotions fluctuated. "Focus" Breaking me from my panic was Aoif, she had put a hand over my shoulder bringing me out of my panic. The chaotic aether once again calmed down as I was able to keep a lid over my emotions. I don''t know why Aoifforted me so much that I could control my aether again but I was thankful for it. ¡­ It was weird, despite the things that Naomi had no doubt seen, the sight of Gabriel bleeding out internally was enough to put her into a panic. Sighing I stepped over to her and put my hand on her shoulder. Subtly I sent feelings of calm through my soul and into Naomi''s masked by my hand on her shoulder, I calmed her down. The panic that she was feeling was unnecessary, however it seemed as though Naomi was going to spiral into a panic of self doubt. I had to intervene, if I did not then Gabriel might actually bleed out with no one to heal her. That would be no good, a woman of her talents would do good being at Darwin''s feet, a subordinate for us. ¡­ Eventually the white glow enveloping Gabriel stopped as her eyes fluttered open. The transformation that she had gone through slowly dissolved into nothingness. "Congrattions, you''ve reinforced your whole body." There was no change in my tone, I purposefully kept it monotone to make sure that herpetitiveness was not extinguished. "Oh, and good job healing her too, Naomi" I turned and nced at Naomi, saying this as almost an afterthought. ¡­ "Now that you''ve done that you may actually pose a challenge for me to defeat on my own." It was after a second of thought that I heard Aoif say that. Just likest time, I was ready. I knew that Aoif would charge me immediately after I had healed, thuggish this time I was more prepared. My reinforcement had not let off yet allowing me to focus less on keeping it and more on the fight. That didn''t mean that I could just ignore my reinforcement, no I had to keep a constant flow of aether circting into the holes of my body''s cells. It was worth it however when I could actually see Aoifing. Instead of her speed being something that I could not see, now I could actually see and react to Aoif charging at me. Bringing up the saber that Aoif had created for me I crouch down to avoid the stab and stab at where I predict Aoif would stop. It didn''t go that way though, it seemed like Aoif had seen me crouch down and had reversed her grip. Two hands on the grip of her dagger she pushed down. I grit my teeth expecting the pain of my skin being stabbed through but I didn''t feel much, it felt as if I was only nicked. Chapter 94 Progress "Oof" I was pushed to the ground, my footing gave away as I fell to the ground. I pushed myself so that I was sitting, wiping the dirt from my face as I looked up at Aoif. Aoif had stopped near me and reached out a hand to pull me back up. I red at the hand and pushed it away pulling myself up on my own, ring at her all the while. "Again?" Aoif asked, a smirk on her face as if to imply that I could not go again, I grit my teeth at that, the power and skill that Aoif had shown, I could not fathom how she had grown that much in such a short time but I knew thatining would do nothing so instead of wallowing in self pity I looked up at Aoif and in lieu of answering her I grabbed my saber that fell to the ground and shed at her neck CLANG The sound of Aoif''s dagger blocking my saber rang out in my ear, I didn''t expect to get a clean hit on her so the fact that it had been blocked did not bother me. In fact it was part of my n, using the momentum from the force used to block my attack I jumped back, my tail stabbing at the air, creating ice shards that were sent flying towards Aoif. Aoif crouched down and followed my form, dodging and weaving through the ice shards that I had sent. However that wasn''t the ultimate purpose of the shards. Manipting them I create a chain from the shards on the ground intending to trip Aoif up. Chains flew in both the sky and the ground as I tried to trap Aoif in a cage of chains. CLANG CLANG BANG The chains that I had created haphazardly broke under Aoif''s assault but the ones that I had reinforced with aether were able to resist Aoif''s power. Though that meant nothing as Aoif''s dexterity shone, her body weaving through the gaps of the chains, gaining on me. A shine, the dagger''s metal reflecting on the sun, I tried to keep my eyes open but the miniscule flinch from the sun reflecting off the dagger onto my eyes allowed Aoif to set her dagger on my neck. I could feel drops of blood fly off my neck as the force of the air from her attack pushed them from my neck. ¡­ "Take a rest, you are adequate enough now" With that Aoif turned her back to Gabriel and walked toward me. I grit my teeth, I was nervous. The battle with Gabriel just reinforced how inadequate I was, I could barely even follow the speed of the battle. The only things that I could make out were the remnants of broken chains then Gabriel suddenly having a dagger to her face. I raised my shield, from what I had seen Aoif had just up and attacked giving no forewarning. CLANG It seemed that I was right to raise my shield as soon after I had seen a glint of metal and instinctively angled my shield to block the attack. I immediately backed up, my shield was damaged and I needed space to reinforce it so that it could take the beating that Aoif was no doubt going to inflict upon it. Weirdly enough it seemed like Aoif had seen that I needed space as she gave it to me. However, I wasn''t going to waste the time that I was given by pondering why Aoif had given me time, immediately I backed up, aether flying off of my body as I struggled to control it. White aether coalesced in the air as I tried to manipte it into coating my shield. Eventually it did but by the time that the shield was reinforced it had already been two minutes. "Tch, slow" I muttered to myself as I focused on Aoif''s form. BANG The sound barrier was broken as Aoif charged at me, by reflex I brought my shield up to block it. ¡­ "Tch" I clicked my tongue in frustration, this was the third time that Aoif had gone past my shield and brought her dagger to my neck. "Rest, you''ve done enough today." I looked down, the words hurting my pride. I knew that I was not as good abatant as Gabriel but I expected to be able to fight back even a little but every time that I could even hope of reacting Aoif changed her speed either speeding up or slowing down. The constant change in speed disoriented me and I could never manage to block an attack. The only thing I was able to do was identify the attacks but my body would not react fast enough, or the ingrained instincts would hinder me allowing even the slower attacks to weave through my defense. Looking back up I saw that Aoif had left, however the energy that I had while sparring with Aoif failed me, my legs buckled as the strength left them. I only had enough strength to pull myself over to Gabriel and sit down. "You did a good job" My eyes widened at the unexpected praise from Gabriel. "Aoif may not say it but I noticed, your reaction time, the positioning of your shield, even the strength in your arm they all grew." "I- what, I- I- I thought that I had not learned anything, it- it seemed like I had not i- improved." The words came out in stutters, tears threatening to pour out of my eyes as I processed the praiseing from Gabriel. It may have been the adrenaline leaving me but I felt emotional at that moment, the emotions that were usually kept under locking out through my voice and facial expression. "No, you did good, the time between Aoif attacking and you angling your shield to block had decreased by a whole millisecond, even the angle that you used was more efficient, if I had attacked straight on at that angle my strength would have been redirected to my own arm stunning me for a second, Aoif is just a monster." I just stood there stunned, staring at Gabriel, now that she had mentioned those things I could picture it, the angle that I used to use felt inefficient now that I looked back, the angle that I had adopted while being attacked by Aoif was much better. I smiled leaning my head on Gabriel''s shoulder. "Thank you" Chapter 95 Twice As Strong, Twice As Tricky Walking off, I left Gabriel and Naomi to their own devices. It was about time that I finished my self-appointed mission. Initially I was only going to train them so that they felt indebted to me but as I started to train them more and more I felt a small joy start growing in me as I saw the progress they were making. Gabriel''s sessful deployment of a full body reinforcement, her increasedbat awareness, Naomi''s reflects growth and shield mastery. Every time I saw them grow I felt joy, it was an odd feeling that I had kept on thinking about as I walked further and further. Once I was a suitable distance from the duo I stopped my thoughts of them forcefully and prepared another pulse. I was going to finish gathering the fragments of the veil now and noter. BOOOOOM All around me I could feel the change in the atmosphere as hundreds of veiled guards rushed at me, the animals startled creating the echoing sound of hooves on the ground adding to the haunted atmosphere that they created. However I just smiled, I felt at home in the ghastly atmosphere that they had created, it was like the hunting of souls was what I was born to do. ¡­ It barely took minutes before I was surrounded by hundreds of veiled guards, that didn''t surprise me, though what did was that there was something more, a veiled guard with twice the soul as the others. Nothingpared to my own or Darwin''s but it was enough that it matched the soul of one of Melia''s nymphs. ''Strong'' I thought to myself, the very fact that they had a soulparable to a tier 4 existence was exhrating. Why a tier 4 being didn''t have a soul asrge as Darwin''s or mine was a question to be asked another day as I was caught up in the excitement of a strong fight. "Though it would hardly be fair with all these cannon fodder, would it" I muttered to myself. With a flex of my will the leg armor appeared again, fog spreading throughout the forest area that we were in. I grabbed ahold of the fog and manipted it into thousands of spears made of ice. "Guh" I felt a significant portion of my reserves fade away as the aether needed to perform this act was used up. I was not done though, closing my eyes activated my soul sight to its maximum performance. In just seconds I had found the origin of every soul around me and with a flex of my aether I sent the spears that I had made flying straight for them. ¡­ [You ha- [Congra- I swiped the system messages away as I focused on the opponent in front of me. Unlike the other veiled guards the soul dressed in borate gear, made of some metal that shone with an ominous light blue, it covered everything except its joints and head. On the chest armor was a symbol that I had not seen on the other veiled guards, it was in the shape of two feathered wings with a double sided scythe sticking out the top. Looking further up I saw that its face was uncovered, no helmet nor cloak to cover its ghastly appearance. It looked vaguely humanoid with two eyes, a mouth, and a nose, however that was where the simrities ended. Its skin waspletely transparent and it had no ears where ears should be. Instead I could see that on its neck were holes that seemed to imitate the gills of a fish. The weapon that it held did not stand out at first but as the surprise of its features faded I couldn''t help but notice how its weapon, a double sided scythe, heavily resembled the emblem that it wore on its chest. That was as far as my observations got before it charged at me, seemingly done with observing me as I had observed it. It must have thought me a mage though as it did not bring up anything that would help against physical attacks, it just charged mindlessly, thinking that I could not do anything at close range. It would soon find out that its biases were wrong as when it drew close I crouched down and with a mighty push shed upwards. CLANG My dagger had done nothing to its armor except create a gash but I could feel the astonishment from the soul of this being as it did not expect what he thought as a mage to attack with such speed. However, his shock was soon discarded as whatever training he had gone through kicked in. With a twist the scythe that was as long as my whole body was seemingly cut in half as the soulpensated for how close I was by discarding the range the scythe gave him. CLANG CLANG I had to quickly dodge and block the rapid attacks that came from the soul as he took advantage of his strength tounch dozens of attacks in the span of seconds upon me. It seemed that the soul was not built for speed as soon enough the attacks that had constantly pushed me back slowed down to something manageable. The strength of the attacks was still there but the speed that made them worrying to me tapered off. Taking advantage of this I spread the fog further, this time I did not create weapons from it but instead thickened it, taking the vision of the soul from it. The attacks slowed down even more as the soul saved its strength, not knowing where I was. I carefully prowled around, making sure to form a spear of ice every so often to harass the soul. While they did nothing as the spears were quickly parried, it served the purpose to put him on guard, to make sure that he could not rest his mental strength. BANG Dust rose from behind me as something flew and impacted the ground. Looking back I saw that it was the scythe handle that the soul had discarded at the beginning of the battle. However I couldn''t help but notice the string attached to it, the string that I had just identally touched. ''Shit'' Chapter 96 Emblem ''Shit'' the string that I had identally touched had just shown the soul where I was, not to mention that the string had somehow wrapped itself around my leg. ''Guh'' I grunted to myself, the string had tightened, the string drawing blood from my leg. It seemed like the string was not only meant to find my location but to also damage my leg if possible. I could see the soul charging at me, he would be at my position in barely a second. There was only a moment to think on whether I was going to cut the string and allow myself to move or attempt to block the attack. Ultimately, there was really only one decision, to cut the string. If I blocked the attack and my leg was still wrapped there was no doubt that I would lose the leg. Between losing my leg and a wound the choice was obvious. As fast as I could I dropped my dagger into a reverse grip and stabbed at the wire holding my leg. SNAP The wire snapped allowing my leg the freedom to move again but I wasn''t fast enough. By the time the string had been cut the soul was right next to me, its scythe poised to cut my head off. I didn''t allow that, in the millisecond that I had to react I flexed my will, an aether enhanced barrier of ice separated the scythe from my neck. CRACK The ice cracked only a moment after being touched by the scythe but it had done its job, it bought me the time that I needed to counterattack. Crouching down so that the scythe flew over my head I push with all the force that I could muster at the moment. My body was flung by the force, my dagger in front of me, aiming for the leg of the soul CLANG "Tsk" I clicked my tongue, my attack had done nothing to the soul, only creating a visible nick on the armor. Seeing that I could do nothing I disengaged, the soul following me closely. However the heavy fog under my control allowed me to cloak myself from his sight. The soul was a perceptive one though, it followed my indents on the ground that I had created and the sound of my foot. It made it almost impossible for me to disengage for a second, the soul constantly harassing me with well ced daggers that he had picked up from his fallenrades. Wounds quickly piled up on my body as the daggers that he had thrown found their mark. I knew that I wouldn''t be able to dodge them at the speed they wereing though and because of that I didn''t dodge, instead I directed them to less lethal spots on my body. My stomach, my back, my arms and legs. All of these ces were filled with wounds. Although the daggers were thrown with much force they were not able to fully pierce my skin, only nicking them and causing blood to fall out. Still the wounds added up as more and more blood fell from my body. I knew I could not dy this as much as I wanted to, originally I wanted to dy the fight so that I could regenerate the lost aether that I had used at the beginning and also recover my stamina but it didn''t seem like I could do that. It was also a wed n, if I disengaged for that long the soul would also recover, the strain that I had put on his mental faculties gradually recovering as I did. Gritting my teeth as another dagger drew blood I knew I needed to finish this quickly. I knew how I was going to kill him, even if his armor protected him, it did not protect his biggest weakness, his origin. Not that I could me him, the origins of every creature was in some unique ce. Luckily for me his origin was to the left of his left eye. Though the origin was much smaller than I was used to seeing, I knew that given the chance I would be able to pierce it with a well ced attack. That was easier said than done though, his strength and explosive speed was better than mine. The only advantage I had against him was my speed and ability to manipte the fog into ice. However there was no other options, this was the only way I could think to kill him in the limited amount of time I had to think. ¡­ CLANG CLANG My attacks were continuously blocked, each time I thought that I would be able tond the decisive blow on him, he would block with either his arm, covered in armor, or his scythe. No matter the approach I tried, the soul would just block the attack. However, over the many times that I had tried to attack him I had noticed something, the soul when he was attacking would take a couple moments to return the scythe he held to its ready position where he could block my attacks. I could take advantage of that, though I would need to be precise the arm that held the scythe was on the side of where his origin is, meaning that his other arm could parry my attack. ''I just need to try'' I thought with a vicious smile on my face. I needed to bait out an attack, to do that I slightly retreated feigning exhaustion, the soul seeing this fell for it and attacked, the scythe he was holding falling down with power. Right when the scythe was above my head, with everything that I had I exploded with force, rocketing upwards so that my hand could reach his face. CLANG My attack was blocked but that was not the end, I had nned for this. The force with which I had attacked knocked his arm away and I up into the air. Creating an ice tform above my feet I pushed and held my dagger in two hands, falling to the origin of the soul with as much force as I could muster. ¡­ [You have killed a general level veiled guard] [You have gained 1/100 fragments of the veiled legionary emblem] Chapter 97 New Weapon [You have killed a general level veiled guard] [You have gained 1/100 fragments of the veiled legionary emblem] Looking at the notification I quickly dismissed it, there was no way that I was going to be able to hunt another 99 of these, the 1000 regr veiled guards though, that should have been done already, just by the sight of how many I had decimated at the start of the battle it should have been more than 200, more than enough to fulfill the condition. To confirm this I went back to my notification looking at thest one before I had killed the general level veiled guard. [congrattions on gathering 1000 fragments of the veil.] [the fragments of the veil are reacting to each other] [the fragments of the veil are reacting to yourbat] [the fragments of the veil have determined the best form to take] [the fragments have fused into the veiled dagger] After I had read thest notification a purple light appeared before slowly descending into my open hands. Soon after the light had receded, revealing an ornate dagger. Holding it by the handle I could feel how it was perfectly weighted, the decorations not detracting from that even though they were ced at odd angles the decorations on the handle just added onto the bnce of it. The most striking detail of the dagger though was the des color a pure ck, darker than anything I had ever seen, even darker than the oppressive darkness that came from being blind. ncing at the de once more it was like it was less a color and more a hole in reality. It was intoxicating to look at, the darkness giving way to different levels of darkness like it was trying to tell me something. Raising the dagger into the air I wanted to try its sharpness, to do so I shed the dagger around in a quick pattern. What I saw was mystifying, not only was it sharp enough to cut the air but it left a trail of nothingness where it seemed like reality was taken away. I dared not touch these holes in reality as my instincts were telling me I would lose my hand if I touched them. However I wanted to test its sharpness in another way, it was one thing to cut the air but how would the de hold up against actually cutting something, would the dee out undamaged or would the edge be chipped. To test this I walked over to the nearest tree and with the least amount of force that I could muster, I shed at the tree. The gash that appeared on the tree was quickly consumed by a trail of nothingness that devoured the immediate area around the tree. I shed another time to see what would happen and this time the whole tree was consumed by the nothingness generated by the dagger. ~satisfaction~ ~sated~ It was then that I noticed an emotion appear from nowhere, a deep sense of satisfaction and bloatedness. I looked around but saw nothing but the ashes of the veiled guards and myself. Looking down to my hand I finally noticed the source of the emotions. I looked at the dagger and focusing hard I could see a nascent soul forming in the de. ''It''s sentient'' I thought to myself. I hadn''t noticed until now that the dagger had a soul, it must have been so small that my soul sight wasn''t able to see it with a cursory nce. I shook my head, trying to get the thoughts out of my head, the most important thing right now was coordinating with Gabriel and Naomi so that I could have them find me after I returned thening back to Darwin. With my objectives set I set out. ¡­ The trip was silent, no veiled guards bothered me and I did not bother them, my objective had beenpleted there was no reason for me to actively hunt them anymore. Even then it seemed like they were avoiding me, the ones that I saw actively left the area when I drew near to them. There were even some that I wasn''t even in the vicinity of that relocated to another ce. It was most likely either the dagger in my hand that seemed almost hungry for more food after the time that I had spent walking or they had finally felt fear after I had killed their general. I would have tested my hypothesis if I didn''t want to get back to Darwin so much. With those thoughts in mind I finally reached the area that I had left Gabriel and Naomi in. When I reached the ce that I had dropped Gabriel off, the tree stump, I found Gabriel and Naomi both resting in the same tree that I had left them on. Both were awake though, I could tell from their souls both were alert. It wasn''t just that, the subtle twitch of their limbs, the uneven breathing it all signaled that they were not asleep but in some meditative state. "I''m back" Their eyes twitched as they woke up from the half awareness they were in. "I''m going to send you some coordinates message me when you get there, I''ll be waiting" With that I open a direct message to both of them and send the coordinates of my abandoned territory.I was not going to give them the coordinates of Darwin''s territory, not until they submit to his will bing his subordinates. I didn''t bother letting them respond and instantly after activated the gateways ability, allowing me to leave Pandora''s Realm wherever I wanted to. ¡­ With a sh of light I disappeared from Pandora''s realm. Appearing right outside of the gateway that I had initially entered. Instantly I could see the changes to the territory, most striking among them was the giant tree that sat where the house used to be. However that wasn''t the biggest change, I could feel it in the air, the massive amount of nature aligned aether floating around the giant tree that had sprung up while I was gone. Chapter 98 Breaking In The Bed(R18) I could feel Aoif''s presence again, the hole in my stomach from her disappearance, filling with her presence. However I could not go and find Aoifas thezy cat that I had summoned still sat on me, trapping me on the couch that wey on. I had tried on multiple asions to get out of her hold but her strength was greater than what my body trapped could muster. On the bright side the constant purrs that tumbled in her chest were cute, I was even able to slightly maneuver my hands so that I could pet Astraea''s soft cat ears. The purring only increased in volume when I started to do that but I didn''t mind, disregarding how cute they were, the constant rumbles on my chest felt nice, like a massage. However I did want to get up so there really was only one option, to wake up this mischievous cat. ''But how to do that?'' I thought to myself, I could just draw blood or something to jolt her but I didn''t want to do that. ''Maybe¡­'' "Yeah that''ll work" I thought out loud. Maneuvering Astraea,face to the side a bit so that I could see her features I bring my both hands to her face and plug both her nose and mouth. "Uwah!" Like a startled cat Astraea jumped off of me and onto her feet next to the couch. Astraea levels me a fearsome re, her slitted eyes focused on me. "What, huh, why''d you do that?" Contrary to the serious reprimand that I had expected to be given to me, her words came out slurred like she was either drunk or high. "You were sleeping on me and I needed to get up." I gave her my best deadpan stare all the while I was walking off to the wall to leave the house. In the corner of my eye I could see the embarrassed blush littering her face as she sat down, no doubt mortified at what she had done. However I did not care about that, all I cared about was finding Aoif. ¡­ ''Exit'' Imanded, the wall I was touching turned ethereal as I dropped outside the house. Instantly the sun hit my eyes blinding me for a second. I had spent so much time resting under Astraea that my eyes still had not adjusted to the sunlight peeking through the canopy of trees. "Oof" my back hit the ground as something tackled me to the ground. I could have fought back but why would I when it was Aoif that did that in the first ce. Kisses littered my face courtesy of Aoif which I reciprocated, my tongue wrestling with hers. Our saliva mixed as Aoif tasted my mouth with her tongue. Though after a while it seemed as though Aoif grew bored of the kissing. "Where -hah- is the house" "-Hah- it''s the tree -hah- you just need tomand it and you''ll fall into the house." Aoif smiled at that quickly dragging me up and pulling me by the arm over to the tree. "Lets break in the new bed then" ascivious smile on her face. ¡­ Ignoring the dazed Astraea I''m pulled to the upstairs where we quickly find ourselves a room. I was sure it wasn''t the master bedroom because it was only the same size as the master bedroom of the previous tier. However I wasn''t given much time to contemte that as soon after we entered the room Aoif had chucked her clothing off and was looking at me with a lustful look. "What are you waiting for, undress" it was neither amand nor was it a question, it was more of a confusion than anything. I wasn''t going to dwell on the mysteries of what that tone had meant though, my whole attention was taken over by Aoif''s body. Slowly I walked over to Aoif, her body still as her gaze followed my every movement. My fingers traced her skin as she shuddered at my touch, a clear enjoyment being taken from my mere touch. My fingers trailed down and down before they stopped at her honeypot, slowly my finger started moving in and out, in and out. "ahh" a low sound came from her mouth as she started to slowly moan at my ministrations. As I did this I was slowly walking us towards the bed. When we reached the bed I took my finger out and with both hands pushed her into the bed. "Wah" Aoif let out a low grunt as if to ask why I had stopped, however I didn''t let her get any further as I soon stuck a finger in her mouth. Aoif had immediately guessed my intention and had started to y with my finger in her mouth, her tongue swishing this way and that as she kicked my finger. My other hand went back down to her pussy, stroking it. "Mmm" "mmm" Her moans were muffled by the finger that I kept in her mouth. "Mmmm" "mmm" "''mmmmm" A gush of fluids stained my hands as she climaxed. A sudden idea entered my honey mind, which I acted in immediately. "Good girl" I praised taking my finger out of her mouth as I pet both her hair and her sensitive pussy. Taking my dick out I angle it at her pussy and m in without warning. "AHHH" a moan of both pleasure and pain echoes from Aoif''s mouth. It doesn''tst long as soon after I stick my finger in her mouth and she immediately starts to suck again. I didn''t start slow like I did when I was fingering her. Instead I started to hammer at her, as hard as I could. ~lust~ ~harder~ ~more~ I don''t know how Aoif had done it but she had said words through our emotional bond but I didn''t want to know why at the moment instead I kept at it. In and out I jackhammered her pussy as hard as I could, I was sure that Aoif liked it and could take it. Soon enough I approached my first climax and was about to pull out. ~inside~ Who was I to deny her, my rationale at this point was gone, so I didn''t deny Aoif. Bottoming out in Aoif I start to spurt out cum in her, her belly inting a bit as the sheer amount of cum fills her womb. "AAAAAHHHH" Aoif''s moans were loud as she climaxed at the same time that I did. "Good girl" ¡­ "Round 2?" I asked. "Of course" Aoif said, her voice bit breathy from the exertion. Chapter 99 Voyeur(R18) Darwin, my new master, had just left, I was entirely mortified, I had actually fallen asleep on him. It was so embarrassing. The only exnation on why this had happened was the density of the nature aligned aether that saturated this ce. The aether outside was heavy but tolerable, however the aether in here, where Darwin had taken me, was so strong that it had been like I was drugged. Even now I could feel my inhibitions loosening like I was drunk. It was taking conscious thought just to keep myself from purring. It was while I was sitting on the couch focusing that I noticed something, the wall that my Master had exited from was almost ethereal again. Just a second after I had started to look at the wall Darwin and another girl came in from the wall. My face flushed as my sensitive nose picked up the heavy scent of arousal wafting off of them. I''m d that they were preupied as I''m sure that my face was flush with arousal. The aether in the air and the smell of both Darwin''s and the woman''s arousal were both very stimting for me. Ignoring me they rushed to the top of the stairs where they disappeared for a bit. ¡­ "Aaah" "ahh" The noisesing from the room upstairs were distracting, I could hear the constant banging that the walls were echoing and the moans that Aoif was screaming out. I didn''t even need to use my enhanced hearing to know what was happening. Unconsciously a finger dipped down to my lower body, starting to slowly rub it. I tried to resist, I really did but the aether in the air and the pounding that was happening upstairs was so distracting and arousing that I could not resist the temptation. Slowly I rubbed circles around my pussy, my fingers slowly being drenched by my fluids as they started to release their juice. When enough had umted onto my finger I reached up to my mouth and started top it up with my tongue. The tangy taste of my juices fell down my throat as I only grew more intoxicated. Another hand started to grope at my breast, rolling and pinching my nipple this way and that, treating me roughly. I could imagine that it wasn''t me but Darwin doing this to me and my arousal spiked at that, a low keening cry echoing from my mouth as I came. After I had cum I didn''t let myself rest, I started to envision what they were doing up there, to arouse myself even more. However all I could think of was Darwin''s dick going in and out of my pussy, giving me the hard pounding that I wanted. Darwin asserting his authority over me, taking control, putting a cor on me. At that thought I started to imagine what that would be like, I saw him cor me with a leash and drag me around and treat me like a pet. It was so arousing. He would walk me around the house and every time I would cum he would have mep it up with my tongue and then at the end he would use and abuse me. At that point I couldn''t even me the aether around me as these were my own fantasies, not something that drugged me coulde up with. "Guuh" "GAH" A slow stream of fluids rushed out of my quim staining the couch that I was sitting on. With lidded eyes I slowly sat up and started to lick the fingers that had been sprayed with my juices. After I had licked up all of it I got on all fours imagining a cor around my neck and Darwin forcing me to clean up the mess that I made. I move my head down to the ce where my juices had sttered and start to lick at it. ¡­ I finally broke out of my lust induced haze and was mortified, the me of that time had made a huge mess, at least she had the courtesy of sort of cleaning up the room. The only relief that I had was that I could hear both Darwin and the woman sleeping upstairs, I had enough time to clean the room. Right when I had thought of cleaning the room, the whole room was transformed, the scent of my cum was erased and the stains that I had made were gone. "That- that is convenient" I stuttered out loud, ''A little scary too'' I continued in my head. To be able to read my mind and respond even when I had my mental defenses up was bad. I prided myself on being well bnced but even then my mental defenses should be at the very least mid tier 2. That is not something that anything could ovee. For the house to be able to prate those defenses would be incredible but to do it without me noticing was almost impossible. I wanted to test something out, ''move that couch there'' with that thought the house moved the couch to where I wanted it. ''Give me a view of Darwin and Aoif'' I wasn''t expecting it to actually do that but apparently it could even do that. A mirror appeared in front of me and I could see the image of Aoif and Darwin. They both were naked with smiles on their faces as they cuddled together. Gulp I gulped down the spit in my mouth as I saw what was the most arousing sight of my life. All around and in Aoif were huge amounts of cum almost coating her whole body with it. It was like she had showered in it. Another hand reached down trying to touch my honeypot but I stopped it. ''No bad hand, no touching'' I had already masturbated once today. I didn''t want to be caught doing it a second time. He was my master. I should not be doing this. ''But it felt so good, why not do it again?'' Another part of my being said and I couldn''t help but agree however my will was strong and I would not sumb to it. ''No,No, NO Chapter 100 Morning After The sun shone down on our bodies, the sweaty scent of our bodies mixing with the air to create a musky atmosphere. ''We need to clean this'' was the first thought out of my mind as I woke up. The scent disappeared, the nkets that were scattered around the room were magically back on top of us, seemingly tucked in. Our clothes scattered around the room were cleaned and folded onto a nearby dresser as all other signs of messes were cleaned. "Wha-" I blurted out, the house had never done this before. "Nn" Aoif groaned as she woke up to my exmation, "What happened?" Her eyes slowly opened a sleepy gaze to them. "New features of the house I didn''t know about" I responded, still contemting what had happened. Aoif''s eyes widened a bit as she finally got a look around. "Did you clean?" "No, that''s what I meant, the house cleaned for us" I responded, gesturing to the clean room. "Nn, that''s good, we can be as messy as we want" ascivious smile appeared on her face as she said that. I raised my hand and flicked at her nose. "Gah" a pouty expression appeared on her face as I flicked her. "We don''t even know where the shower is, the house cleaned the room not us" Aoif didn''t respond, she just pouted at her offer being rejected. Our bodies were still sweaty from the heavy exercise ofst night and I wanted to wash up, I felt a bit unclean. ¡­ The clean clothes that were set on the drawer were donned as we explored the upstairs, looking for a bathroom. It didn''t take us long to find one, we only had to open every door that we found. While we were exploring Aoif and I had found at least three other bedrooms, each as luxurious as ours, oddly enough a weight room, a garden, and even an indoor pool. It was weird that upgrading the house to tier 5 would cause this much of a change. Anyways I shook the thoughts out of my head as I opened another door. This time we finally found a bathroom. It was as luxurious as the rest of them but by this point both Aoif and I didn''t care, we just wanted a good shower. We ignored everything in the bathroom except therge shower. It hadn''t nozzles and buttons everywhere. I tried twisting one of the nozzles and water came crashing out filling up the shower with water and turning it into a tub. "Good enough" I grunt out before jumping in, absentmindedly I notice that the water doesn''t ssh outside the shower despite the clearck of a shower door. The more noticeable thing was that the water was the perfect temperature, enough to warm me up and keep the body parts exposed from freezing in the air. It was like the room had adjusted to my needs, almost like it was sentient. It was then that Aoif followed me into the bath, her body sshing into the water as sheid her naked body onto mine. Her head resting on my chest as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the water. ¡­ Eventually we had to get out of the water, our skin didn''t get all wrinkly but it did start to get ufortable to stay in the water for so long. Nudging Aoif who had fallen asleep against me, I tried to wake her up. Slowly her eyes opened as my nudging continued. Once she was awake enough I got out of the water and started to dry off, Aoif ogling me all the while. ¡­ While we were heading downstairs I remembered that we hadn''t told Tama about the change to the house. My eyes widened at the implications of that. Tama was extremely protective of Aoif and I, more importantly she knew that Aoif was off in the pandora''s realm but me, Tama didn''t know and that was what worried me. I hurried down the stairs startling Aoif as I made my way for the exit. "What''s wrong?" Aoif asked as she followed my pace. "I forgot to tell Tama where we went" "Oh" "Yeah" there was no telling what Tama would do, assuming that she thought that something had happened to me. It took just moments for us to exit the house, the tree pushing us out at ourmand. Looking around I ignore the protesting grumbles of my stomach as I activate my ability to share Aoif''s soul sight again. Reconnecting with Aoif''s soul sight felt natural, however I didn''t focus on that, instead I searched around, looking for Tama''s brilliant gold soul. Eventually I found it among other souls of simr make, it seems like I was panicking for nothing. However just to make sure that my sudden disappearance didn''t cause any undue stress to Tama I made my way over there. ¡­ "HAH" The recruit in front of me was repelled backwards by an illusory gust of wind. The world let me y it to my whims as the illusory wind pulsed back to take out the remaining ones. Although my mind was not fully on the battle I could still weave and take out any attackers without any trouble. My mind was full of worry, I knew that Darwin had gone to introduce the new summon to the territory but I haven''t seen hair or hide of him anywhere. The only reason I didn''t drop everything to find him was that the new summon was begrudginglypetent. When I had walked past her the first time I could feel that she was as powerful as me at tier 3. Nothing could threaten her or anything that she protected and being that she was a summon of my lor- Darwin''s , her loyalty was unquestionable. However there still was some worry about what my- ahem- Darwin was doing. It was still a struggle to refer to Darwin as Darwin and not my lord. He had requested this of me and I would try my best but it was not a habit that could be easily broken. "Hmm" I hummed out loud as I felt Darwin''s presence approaching mine. It was a relief to see that he was unharmed but I could hear his stomach grumbling from here. ''It seems I would need to attend to him'' I thought a smile on my face as I mentally thought of what I would prepare for him. Chapter 101 Bugs I found Tama standing in the clearing, facing me. All around her were various kitsunes, some were in their fox form, others in human form, the unifying factor though was that they were all unconscious having been beaten ck and blue by Tama. "There you are, where were you?" "I fell asleep¡­" I sheepishly say, rubbing the back of my neck. Walking towards me Tama brings her nose to my neck and takes a sniff. "Doesn''t seem like you just fell asleep, Darwin~" My name was said with extra sybles, Tama emphasizing my name. Her pouty lips almost touching mine as she continued on. "I can smell it you know, no amount of washing is going to wash of that scent, My- Darwin." Blushing a bit I looked away, it''s one thing to have been caught but to have Tama bring it up in such a seductive tone was embarrassing. Grumble I was broken out of my state by the growl of Aoif''s stomach. "Ah¡­ can you make us some food Aoif, please" ¡­ I devoured the food in front of me, the hunger from both the exercisest night and all the hunting that I had done before all culminated into the ravenous hunger that I felt now. Still I kept my table manners as best as I could, not wanting to let Darwin see such a messy scene. Though by the amused emotions that were flowing off of him I could tell that he had already noticed. I flushed in embarrassment and slowed my eating down. Every slice of my fork and knife was carefully ced so as to be as elegant as possible. But the amusement in Darwin''s emotions just grew as he saw this. Swallowing my food I asked Darwin who the cat girl that I had seen was. "She''s the new summon, Astraea, I don''t know much about her other than the nature aligned aether drugs her for some reason." Darwin responded. "It''s most likely because Astraea isn''t used to such dense aether and because of that her senses have been honed to a fine point." Tama interjected, telling us her theory on why that was. "It could be" I absentmindedly said, still focusing on eating. The thought of what Gabriel and Naomi were up to crossed my mind but it was soon reced by the fresh te of food that was ced in front of me. ¡­ "Are you sure we should do this, we had an agreement with them?" Naomi asked, concern filling her voice. "You saw her power, and from the clues that she dropped knowingly or unknowingly she seemed to be suborned to Darwin." I exined. "Yes but we made an agreement with them it would be wrong to just abandon that!" "There''s no need to worry about them, after the bit of training Aoif gave us, they shouldn''t be a problem to handle." "I guess" With that, silence prevailed, the quiet sounds of the forest overtaking us as we hike over to where Aoif had said to meet. We weren''t idiots, even if we knew that Aoif meant us no harm didn''t mean that we weren''t going to scout the ce that she had told us to meet at. "Do you smell that?" Naomi asked to the side of me, her nose up as she sniffed around the air. "No?" I didn''t smell anything, well anything that wasn''t the normal smells of the forest. "Weird, it almost smells like¡­ like a- a graveyard." "A graveyard?" "I don''t know, I''m struggling to find the right word for it, that was the best that I could do." Naomi looked at me, her mouth pouting at something. "Weird." With that final word we went silent again, continuing our journey. ¡­ When we got close to the coordinates, I could feel that something was off. The air felt heavy, it was almost as if you could reach your hands in the air and catch the air in your hands. It was then that I felt it. "We need to go, NOW!" The presence that I felt was not ordinary, it felt even stronger than Aoif was, and if I had sensed whatever that was then it sure as hell could sense us. "Buff us both, we need to run!" I yelled at Naomi, not caring for the volume for I knew that something wasing. BANG BOOM BANG BOOM BANG BOOM Behind us I could hear the trees crashing down as whatever was following us gained on us, not caring for the obstacles in its way. "SHIT!" I yelled out as I felt the air behind me be disced, something being thrown at me. CLANG Naomi who was following close behind me had reacted in time and blocked whatever had been thrown but the force behind it threw her into me knocking us both down. Turning myself over so that I could get up I got my first glimpse of what was chasing us. Humanoid in build it towered above us. However those were its only humanoid traits, its red eyes trailed us in unnatural patterns as if it was scanning every part of our body''s and the nearby terrain. Instead of skin it had a hard shell covering its whole body in interweaving patterns, looking like a scarab. BOOM The sound of it moving broke the sound barrier as it was upon us in mere seconds. By reflex I called upon my aether and created an ice spike that was aimed at where I thought he would appear. CLANG All the spike did was slow it down, however that was all I needed. As soon as it was stunned I picked up Naomi from where shey, still dazed from the force of the attack and ran. [Gabriel: Help xx/xx/xx] [Aoif: ? omw] [Aoif: details?] [Gabriel: big humanoid bug too strong] While my attention was diverted to calling help the bug had gained on us, luckily I was able to dodge and weave through its attacks now that I knew where they wereing from, slowly making my way towards the coordinates that I had sent Aoif. Chapter 102 Rescue "Tama, could you teleport us to here?" I ask Tama showing her the coordinates that I had been sent. Shaking her head Tama replies with a negative. "Unfortunately not I can only teleport with a line of sight or somewhere th at I have already been." Sighing I get up, getting ready for a run. These were people that I had scouted for recruitment it would be in bad taste to just let them die. "I can get you there fast if you need me to." Just as I was about to sprint off towards the coordinates Tama spoke up offering to get me to where I needed to be. "Ah, yes if you could do that it''d be nice." I didn''t expect for Tama to be this helpful towards me of her own initiative. Of course if I had asked then she would have done it, but from the impression that I had gotten from her, it seemed like Tama didn''t like me too much. As if she was only tolerating me because I was important to Darwin. "Eep" A small gasp of surprise left my mouth as I was picked up by Tama and rushed over to the area that I needed to be in. We had to stop a few times to check the coordinates, both ours and the ones that had been sent. Eventually after a bit of sprinting we had made it to the ce specified by Gabriel. BOOM From the side of me I could hear explosions echo out in the air as what I could only assume was Gabriel ran from something. Manifesting my armor, fog spread out over the area as I used the armor to hasten my steps. ¡­ "HAH" "hah" My breath was heavy, numerous wounds upon my skin as the Gaul that chased me sent out more projectiles. I was lucky that Aoif had taught me to reinforce myself otherwise I''m sure that my legs and torso would have been unusable from all the projectiles that I was unable to dodge. Naomi in my hands was doing her best to buff me with all her strength. However it was just barely enough to allow us to run but not enough to allow us to escape. I hoped that Aoif had already made it to the point that I wanted us to meet at. We were so close, maybe only 100 feet or so away, I could literally see the ce that I had sent Aoif to. A sigh of relief broke through my mouth as I saw Aoif and some unknown woman with her standing in the clearing. ''Onest dodge'' I thought to myself, gathering the strength in my legs to dodge out of the way of the enemy''s hand, poised to cleave me in half. "GUH" I grunted out as I fell to the ground on my back near the unknown woman. "Hahaha" Naomi'' in my grip startedughing. "We made it" "Yeah, we did" I softly said, petting her hair, my tail slowly swishing in the air. Looking back up I could see the Gaul that had chased us, looking at us in confusion on why we had chosen to stop running, however the confusion didn''tst long as he soon had to dodge the ice spear that threatened to skewer his head. To the right of the Gaul was Aoif, the armor that I had seen her wear inbat upon her, a new dagger in her hand. A bloodthirsty smile was upon her face as she stared down the being that we could not fight against. "Ah!" I screamed a bit as a hand was ced on my shoulder. Behind me was the woman that had apanied Aoif, I could not feel anythinging from her, not even remnants of aether that fell off of everything that consciously used aether. My body soon rxed, though not of my own intention whatever the woman had done to me had some sort of calming effect. It was only then, now that I was calmed down, that I saw the tails swishing behind her and the fox ears on her head. "Kit¡­sune?" I asked a bit unsure. A mischievous smile appeared on her face as she nodded, the hand on me disappeared just as she did. A weight on my shoulder and I could see a 7 tailed fox on my shoulder. Sitting there doing nothing but making my heart pound in shock. A Cheshire grin sat upon the fox''s face as she observed my reactions. Definitely a kitsune, it acted and had all the characteristics of what I would assume a kitsune would have. AAOOO The howling of the Gaul brought me back to the fight, its arm was cut off. The dagger must have been razor sharp, I hadn''t heard any resistance to it nor even a soft squelch from the arm being cut off. Looking at Aoif the bloodthirsty grin on her face soon turned into a frown, I don''t know why, all I could do was guess. My only theory was that she was someone who enjoyed her fights, Aoif probably expected whatever was chasing me to be much stronger and was disappointed. I whispered my theory to the kitsune on my arm, asking if it was right. "Maybe~" was the only answer I got out of her, her voice singing in a melodic tone. I looked back up to the battle and saw that it was almost over, Aoif was in front of the enemy and her dagger was raised as if to stab through him. However the height of the enemy worked against her as Aoif could only reach up to his chest. That didn''t seem to bother Aoif as all she did was jump a little and sh at its neck, the Gaul being decapitated. Its eyes turned lifeless as it drew itsst breath. "That was disappointing, I thought you were stronger than that" Aoif''s eyes bore holes into mine as her disappointment radiated off of her. "I- it- it was too strong, anything that I tried would not pierce its skin and my instincts told me to run" I rebuked. Chapter 103 Dissapointment The Gaul that I fought was a disappointment, I had thought that something that had Gabriel running, someone who I had trained, no matter how short it was, should have been strong but the Gaul could not even react to my advancements. Sure it could react to the ice spear that I had thrown at it but anyone could do that, it wasn''t that fast, only a bit faster than Mach 1. I looked at the severed arm and head with disgust kicking it off into the distance before I grabbed the aether core in its chest, pocketing it. Gabriel was still on the ground holding onto Naomi in her arms, on top of her shoulder was Tama in her fox form. "That was disappointing, I thought you were stronger than that" my eyes bore a hole into her head, my immense disappointment being transmitted. "I- it- it was too strong, anything that I tried would not pierce its skin and my instincts told me to run" Gabriel rebuked, gathering the courage to counter me. Sighing I just grab her by the cor and drag her off with me. "Apparently I haven''t taught you enough¡­" I muttered to myself, I had tried to teach them how to be betterbatants, but it seemed that even with their talents they were not going to learn in just a day. Not like I had, it seemed like I would need to constantly train them, or have Darwin evolve them. It left a sour taste in my mouth that I might have to resort to Darwin''s evolution just to get these two up to my standards. bang A soft bang echoed out in the quiet forest as I threw both Gabriel and Naomi onto a nearby tree. "Attack me together." ¡­ I finished the food that had been ced in front of me. My appetite wasn''t really there, with Aoif and Tama gone the meal tasted a bit nd, the food losing its taste. Sighing I got up and walked back to the house, intent on finding Astraea. I hadn''t actually told her how to leave the house, a bit of an oversight but she was a high tier she shouldn''t even feel hunger but just in case I brought two tes of the food we were eating as an offering. Judging by how she had cat features I guessed that Astraea would like fish, it was the part of the reason that I hadn''t eaten the fish that was before me. The other being that I just didn''t like fish too much. I would eat it but I wouldn''t enjoy it. Still I saved it, Astraea on my mind. I reached the tree and with a thought I was inside. Sitting on the couch, her eyes half lidded was Astraea. ~Purr~ "Bwahh!" It seemed she noticed my presence, her purrs stopping and a sound of surprise exiting her mouth as Astraea was caught by surprise. "I have food if you''re hungry" I say to her, gesturing to the food in my hands. Saliva drips out of Astraea''s mouth as she beholds the food in my hand. "Is that fish?" "Yeah" I could see literal stars shine in her eyes before the food was snatched from my hands. Surprise littered my face, I couldn''t even see a silhouette of her when the food was taken from my hands. The speed even surpassed Tama''s. Before I even knew it the tes were locked clean and put back into my hands. "More?" Astraea asked, tilting her head and holding her hands out. "I don''t have any more but we can go and find some, if you want?" An excited nod was all the response I got as Astraea grabbed me by the hand and dragged me to the wall of the house before stopping. "Uh¡­ How do we get out?" "Justmand the house to exit and it''ll let you go through" "That makes sense, thank you" Astraea sent me a beaming smile as she reached the hand that wasn''t holding mine out to the wall. Since she held my hand I was dragged outside with her. "Now! Onwards to more fish" her hand stopped in the air. "Which way?" Awkwardly Astraea turned towards me, her face flushing in embarrassment. "Ah, there''s a river right up that cliff over there" while I said that I pointed to the waterfall in the distance and more importantly the river that was behind it. "Nn, ok" with that I was suddenly picked up my body being swept off the ground by Astraea as we suddenly appeared next to the river that flowed into the waterfall. A sh of her ws and a fish was in her hands. Her speed did not allow me to see what had happened, though I could infer. Most likely she was so fast that the fish didn''t even know it was being taken out of the water. Astraea held out the fish to me, expecting me to prepare and cook it. Taking the fish in my hands I ask her to take me back down to the house where I could actually prepare the fish. Earlier when Tama had prepared the food, she had used the fire outside the tree to cook it but I was sure that the house had a kitchen, we just needed to find it. Nodding her head Astraea picks me up again and before I know it were back in the house, in a kitchen. It seems that Astraea had known that we would need a kitchen so had done the job of finding it. "Sit down somewhere Ill find you with more food." Saying that I went about preparing the fish. First thing I did was cut the head off, then I cut it in half to take out the bones. It was crude but I was able to get the meat out which using some spices that I found seasoned it. After that I looked around and found a pan and the stove. I ced some oil on the pan and started to cook it. After a minute or so of cooking I judged that they were done and took them off the heat. ting them I find Astraea at the counter drooling over the food that I hadyed out before her. Chapter 104 A Victory? "Attack me together." Aoif was standing in front of us, her eyes boring holes into our own as she expectantly looked down on both of us. I sighed, it was just like Aoif to do this, despite only knowing her for what was only a few days I could tell just how much of a battle maniac she was. Slowly I sat up, flicking Naomi on the head to break her out of her half asleep state. "Gabriel, you need somethin?" Naomi sleepily said gathering herself as she started to get up. I didn''t say anything, I just gestured to where Aoif was standing and that was enough. Pulling myself onto my feet, I manipted the moisture in the air to create a crude saber. It wasn''t the greatest, the bnce was slightly off, the edge wasn''t aligned properly but it was the best that I could do right now. It dropped into my hands and once it was there I circted my aether throughout my body and out of my hands, making sure to reinforce the saber as much as I could. Once the saber was done reinforcing I swung it around a bit to get a feel for it. With that done I didn''t keep Aoif waiting, with a quick nod to Naomi to make my intentions known I dash to Aoif, reinforcing my whole body as I do so. ¡­ CLANG CLANG The sound of the saber that I had created being blocked echoed out into the empty woods. Every time the saber that I made shed with the dagger that Aoif held it was broken, forcing me to use up the limited aether that I had left to create another saber. I could have just retreated and peppered Aoif with ranged attacks but I know that wouldn''t work. With only Naomi to protect me from the raging strikes that Aoif would send back at me I would be helpless. Speaking of Naomi, she had finally joined the battle. Her sword and shield were up in a stance that I couldn''t call neither good or bad. It was a stance of instinct not one of practice or training. Either way with Naomi being ready I pounced on Aoif again, this time with more ferocity than the previous ones. I intended to overwhelm Aoif, keeping her attention on me while Naomi would strike from behind. To the side the kitsune was watching intently, her eyes bore holes into the back of my head as my attacks were continually blocked by Aoif. "Guh!" A sh of the dagger hit my shoulder, luckily Aoif was using the blunt end otherwise my shoulder would have been cut offpletely. However with that timely bit of pain my attack was dyed allowing Aoif to focus on Naomi who was already behind her, her sword poised to cut into Aoif. Aoif pivoted her foot and with a spin she deflected the sword and got in an attack all in one move. BANG Naomi was able to pull her shield up in time but that was all, the force behind the attack both cracked her shield that Naomi had not reinforced and rocketed her to a nearby tree. Another saber was swiftly made in my hand as the one that I held cut into Aoif. CRACK The saber that I had attacked with cracked but I didn''t just let it break, instead I intentionally broke it into thousands of pieces so that it might blind Aoif. BANG The other saber that I held in my off hand impacted Aoif''s side. Of course it broke too but I had gotten a hit onto Aoif. A smile appeared on my sweat stained face, I had done it. I had damaged Aoif. ¡­ I set a beaming smile on my face, I was truly happy, Gabriel and Naomi had progressed enough to actually hit me. Of course no damage was done to me but they had progressed from totally helpless to me to being able tond a hit on me. The smile I held was soon turned into a frown as I thought of what they could do. Naomi had been underutilized, from what I had seen she was supposed to get the hit in while I was distracted by Gabriel, a good n but not the one I wanted them to think of. This n relied too heavily on Gabriel. Naomi could have helped much better. She could have attacked with Gabriel, providing support in her buffs and defense by taking my attacks with good timing. The coordination between them was not as good as I would like it to be, however I couldn''t really help with that as the coordination between me and Darwin was more like a dance, each of our weak points were covered by the others in a fight. That''s not something I could teach them though. Not unless Darwin evolved them together. "Good job" I praised them as I approached both Gabriel and Naomi. "Thanks" Naomi and Gabriel both said half heartedly both still recovering from the blows that I had set upon them. "Tama, can you teleport us back home?" "Yes," Tama replied, transforming back into her human form and scooping all three of us up in her tails. I could see the looks of surprise on Gabriel''s and Naomi''s face as they were scooped up. Both of their faces dusted in a light blush as they were picked up like children. I was used to this, however that didn''t mean that it wasn''t embarrassing for them. ¡­ With a sh of golden light we were back in Darwin''s territory, the trees littered with houses that blended in with the surroundings like they were almost invisible. Picking myself up I grab bohh th Gabriel and Naomi while Tama goes off to do her thing. As both of them were tired from our previous fight I skipped the tour and brought them to h the house. "A tree?" Naomi questioned quietly. "Yes" reaching out my hands I grab them and pull them into the house with me. Chapter 105 Invasion Upon entering the house I took them upstairs where I settled both of them into a room beforeing back downstairs. In the kitchen area that I had just found I could see both Darwin and his new summon eating. Well more like She was eating while Darwin was cooking, either way I got to see Darwin cook in an apron so it was worthwhile. Sitting down on one of the chairs I stare intently at Darwin as he cooks another portion of fish that the woman had ced on the te in front of him. "Are you going to introduce me to her?" I ask Darwin. "Ah, she is Astraea, a new summon." Darwin responded inly to my question, my appearance not surprising him. cing the food that he had cooked in front of Astraea, Darwin turns to me while sitting down on the chair next to mine. "What did you need to do that had you rushing off so fast?" He questions after staring at me for a minute. "New subordinates that I was training needed saving." I simply answer, not exining too much. Darwin raised his eyebrows at my exnation, as barebones as it was. Though seeing that I didn''t want to discuss it that much he just shrugged and gave me a kiss, weing me back. ¡­ "Are you going to introduce me to her?" Aoif''s voicees from behind me, questioning me about the new servant that I had summoned. I had noticed that Aoif was here a while ago but had said nothing since I was cooking. Without turning to Aoif I inly respond. "Ah, she is Astraea, a new summon." cing the food down in front of Astraea I leave her to her food as I sit down next to Aoif. A moment of silence as I just stared at Aoif, her presence soothing my tired soul. Although I knew how to cook, it didn''t mean that I entirely enjoyed it. Thesest few hours as I cooked for Astraea were neither good nor bad, just tiring and Aoif sitting there soothed me. "What did you need to do that had you rushing off so fast?" I finally broke the silence asking her this. However all I got was a in answer, almost evasive. "New subordinates that I was training needed saving." That was all the exnation that I had gotten from her. I was fine with that though, if Aoif did not want to talk about it then I would not force her to do so. Shrugging I pull myself closer and give Aoif a chaste kiss before pulling her onto myp. Though with the size difference between us it was more like I had pulled her head into myp, her bodyid down on the rest of the couch. It was weird to me that the dining table that I would expect in the kitchen was instead afortable couch with a table in between. It was like one of those circr tables at restaurants meant forrge parties but I wasn''tining about it, it allowed me to rest Aoif in myp and that was what mattered. Slowly I leaned my back to the headrest and started to stroke at Aoif''s hair, my own eyes closing as I got into a sort of meditative stance, both awake and not. ¡­ My hand ached, the whole time I was in that state I was petting Aoif''s hair. However I dared not stop as below me Aoif wasfortable sleeping her head unconsciously pushing into my hand with every stroke. Good things weren''t meant tost though as while I was petting Aoif I saw Tama approaching me with Melia by her side. Both wearing a frown. Sighing I got up, carefully cing Aoif onto the couch. A frown formed on her face at theck of my presence but it seemed as though Aoif would still sleep. That was a relief but now I had to face the music. Normally Melia and Tama would keep their distances from each other but for them toe to me, together, something must have happened. "Darwi~" I shushed Melia, putting my hand over her mouth and pointed at Aoif who was still sleeping. "Let''s take this somewhere else." Nodding at that both Tama and Melia both follow me towards the living room where all of us sit down facing each other. "We were invaded." My eyes widened as the words slipped out of Tama''s mouth. "WHA-" I stop myself looking back over to where Aoif was sleeping. I lower my volume and cough awkwardly before calmly asking Tama to borate. "It wasn''t the elves if that is what you were worried about, my l- Darwin. It was the Gaul''s luckily Melia was able to notice their presence and hold them back while one of her nymphs informed me of the situation." Melia chirps in a frown on her face. "I didn''t just hold them off, I decimated over half of their forces with our own." "You lost most of our forces that you sent out, luckily the majority that we recovered only had minor wounds that I healed" Tama quickly rebukes, ring at Melia. "Wait" I interrupt, "how many did we lose?" "Only 20 or so, they were the ones that had not yet been enhanced" Tama answers for Melia, interrupting her before she could answer. "On the bright side," Melia smiles, "The enhancements worked, the ones with them were able to survive blows that were deadly otherwise and were able to shoot super urately with those guns of theirs." "Yes, yes, that''s very nice but how are we going to retaliate Darwin, do you want me to hunt them down?" "No, not yet, I want to evolve you again, I don''t want to take any chances. Even if you are strong I want to make sure that there is no doubt that you could kill them all and return to me." A smile bloomed on Tama''s face at my words, her self control leaving her as she jumped onto me peppering my face with kisses. Chapter 106 Mass Evolution (1) "Off!" A stern voice that I almost didn''t recognize as Melia echoed throughout the room. Looking up I could see that Melia was pouting her body poised to leap onto me but stopped by Tama''s tail. I could feel the tension between them as they both red at each other. However Tama had the upper hand seeing as she had already restrained Melia. Their battle was over before it had even started. "HAH!" Reality proved me wrong with a smirk painting her face Melia snapped her finger. A startled yelp left Tama''s mouth as both our eyes opened. The smirk that Melia held on her face widened as I saw Tama get teleported all around the house. While this was happening I was picked up by Melia and ced in herp. A giggle escaped Melia''s mouth as she taunted Tama, whose eyes narrowed as she barreled at Melia however before she could even get close she was teleported back. "You''re not going to get here~" Melia sang out a smirk ever present on her face as I was restrained in herp. I didn''t care about how I was restrained though, instead I was wondering how Melia had done that, despite the low almost nonexistentbat power that Melia had she had managed to best Tama despite her efforts. Looking at Tama I could see her focusing, a golden sheen of light surrounding her. My eyes opened as I saw it, an almost invisible sheen of green light was suffusing Tama''s form. ''The tree'' I thought to myself, it had to be the tree. No wonder Melia had been able to do this, she had control of all the nts in my territory, the tree being one of them. And with the control that the tree had over the inside of this pocket dimension if she controlled that she could control everything in here. It was like her own personal territory where everything would go her way. "Enough" I quietly dere, both Tama and Melia stopping to look at me. "What are we going to do about the attackers?" I ask, looking at both of them. "There is a great probability that our location has beenpromised. The Gauls are a sort of hive minded race, it wouldn''t surprise me if more were already on their way." Melia analyzes. "You could start evolving everything around the territory, so far your talent has been underutilized a tad bit, Darwin" Tama respectfully suggests, adding onto Melia''s own argument. "You''re right," I mutter, now that I thought of it, I truly have been underutilizing my talent. For what reason I don''t know, maybe it was arrogance, maybe it wascency, whatever it was, it stops now. Standing up, I break the loose restraint that Melia had over me and walk over to Tama. Without any input I knew that Tama would be fine with me doing anything to her, her blind loyalty to me was clear. However I was not going to take advantage of that, even if I knew the answer was yes I was going to make sure this was what she wanted. "Do you want me to evolve you, Tama?" I question, although I knew the answer. With a nod of her head as her answer I activate my talent. ''Evolve'' With a sh of light Tama was gone, recing her was a screen showing the ne of evolution she had been sent to. "Did you do this, Melia?" I question, before the screen was only visible in the corner of my eyes but now It was like a TV, the screen in front of me was both the size and shape of one. Even more, I knew instinctively that Melia could see it. Not just me like it had been the previous times. A smile on her lips and a nod of her head were my answers. I just frown, wondering just how much control over the territory Melia had. ¡­ Again I would evolve, the now familiar darkness overtook me. When I opened my eyes it wasn''t to the desert that I would have expected but it was to something more fantastical. Instead of the dry and arid desertnd that I had grown ustomed to during my evolutions, I now saw a vibrant world filled with life. There were no dry spots on the that I could see. It was a world filled with forests, ins, oceans, everything except deadnd. However I wasn''t allowed to look at it for long as before I knew it I was being pulled down to the world. A heavy pressure descended on me as I got closer and closer. Eventually, my feet feltnd and the pressure covering my being was heavy enough that my knees buckled despite the great power that they hid. With great difficulty I opened my eyes. What I saw stunned me enough to allow the pressure to take me to my knees. All around me was life, however it wasn''t that fact that shocked me to my knees. No it was because I could not feel any of their presences, not while I was focusing on resisting the heavy pressure that was upon me. Even when I did focus on their presence I could feel the overwhelming strength that flowed through even the weakest of them. From what I felt, the giant bugs that were walking around, climbing the proportionallyrge trees, were at the very least tier 3 existences, something that was almost impossible to see on the realm that we inhabited. Looking further I could sense the presence of thousands of these same bugs, though it seemed like they were the lowest on the food chain as before my eyes somerge malformed creature walked up to the bug and before it could even act in defense was swallowed up, no resistance given. ''I need to get out of here'' I thought to myself, although I doubt that the malformed creature could kill me, it at the very least would be a hard fought battle. There was no doubt that the creature was not the only one of its kind. If I were to engage in battle and be injured I would not even be able to escape the hordes of tier 3 bugs. In all it was a lose lose situation if I did not flee. Not to even mention that was assuming that I was in peak condition which I was not, the pressure of the world not allowing me to exert most of my strength. Taking that into ount I would not even be able to kill those bugs. Chapter 107 Mass Evolution (2) Looking at the screen in front of me I didn''t see the desert that I hade to expect from Tama''s evolutions. A world, vast in its dimensions, was teeming with life. Everywhere that I looked I could see some sort of creature. I could tell they were multiple times stronger than I just by looking at them. Their very presence was intimidating, even just from looking at the screen I could tell that they could kill me with their presence alone. Next to me Melia took me into her arms, petting my head trying tofort me. Though the perspective quickly changed to one overlooking Tama, I couldn''t help but think back to the terrifying presences that I felting from the creatures that inhabited the evolutionary realm I had sent Tama to. Even though I knew that Tama was strong in her own right I couldn''t help but worry for her, for those creatures to make me fear from that far away from a distance was terrifying.Thinking of it those terrifying presence that I had felt just from the screen must have been magnified dozens of times in Tama''s perspective with her being so close to them. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, all the while praying for Tama''s safety. ¡­ I grit my teeth and turned into my fox form. With the size of all the creatures around me being as big as they were I would have a better chance of fleeing when I was as small as I was in my fox form. I needed time to adapt to the atmosphere, if the pressure that constantly pulled me down was not there then I was confident that I could at least take a horde of those bugs but to take on the malformed creature along with the bugs, there was no doubt that I would perish. It was the whole reason that I left the whole reason that I was trying to retreat from this situation. I would adapt, then I would hunt everyst one of these creatures down. With careful steps I slowly struggled my way to the treeline, currently I was on what I assumed to be an ind or something simr. With the fresh sea water that was behind me and the tropical trees that I was heading towards, what else could it be. Although the trees were spaced generously apart, they were still big enough that I could burrow into them and the holes wouldn''t be seen by those creatures. Especially with how small of spaces I could fit into. Those giant creatures would never be able to find me, if they even knew I existed at all. ¡­ It took a while, the trees being not surprisingly durable but eventually I was able to burrow a hole for me to rest in while I adapted to the harsh conditions of this. Luckily for me Darwin''s talent not only transferred me to this realm but allowed me to adapt at a much quicker pace than I would ever be able to on my own. With quicker and quicker moves I maneuvered around the burrowthat I had created for myself, each repetition allowing me to get that much closer to my true speed. If I had to guess then it would take another day or two of constant exertion like what I was doing topletely adapt. That''s exactly what I did, without rest I practiced and practiced, each hour of the daypletely filled by intense focus. I did not neglect my aether either, I knew that with the realm being as it was there was a possibility that I would not be able to use my denial of reality, so topensate for that I started to return to my basic illusions. Easy as they were, they would give me an advantage against the beasts that I would be ying. Just like that two days passed, in both physical and mental exercise. At the end of each day I would try my denial of reality, however it never worked, no matter how I tried I could not trick the world. It was frustrating, all the work that I had done to develop this skill was done in all because the world had a superior will. I would not let that frustration cloud me though, instead I channeled it into regaining my physical capabilities, for each failure that I experienced I tried that much harder. ¡­ The sun rose and with a final kick of my leg I felt that I was back to my true strength, the pressure of the realm no longer bothering me. I was ready to enterbat, to evolve in any way that I could. Exiting the burrow that I had called home for thest two days, I said goodbye. There was no chance that I would return to the tree. I would be too busy inbat, I had already decided I would not rest until I evolved. Even if I died I knew that I would just be revived, and despite my distaste of relying on this, I still held it as ast resort option. Shaking the thought of that out of my head I transform into my fox form, dashing on the roots of the nts searching for my first prey. ¡­ It didn''t take long, in fact it was within the first minutes of searching that I found my first prey. It was the same species of bug that I had encountered on my first day here but now I was ready. With a kick off the ground I was off, my body barreling towards the bug. My ws were out, I had not used them in a while so they were dulled from the short period that I hadn''t used them. However they were still as sharp as when I had still been using them, my evolution had sharpened them, but they were still not as sharp as they would have been if I had maintained them Chapter 108 Mass Evolution (3) CLANG CLANG CLANG The bug that I had attacked would not sit still, every time that I would try to attack one of its weak points it would move slightly so that I would hit its hard carapace instead. Even when I tried to use illusions to confuse it on my location, its superior senses were able to pick up where I was. Looking around I saw nothing but trees around us but I knew that wouldn''t be the same for long. Bugs are known for being hive minded, meaning that at any point hundreds of others could appear and force me to retreat. Gritting my teeth, I didn''t really have many options. My ws could not pierce its carapace, I could not maneuver around the bug to get at its weak points. It seemed like I was out of options. The only other option I had was fox fire, but that was one of my own weak points, something that I had never excelled at. Whenever I had used foxfire it was weaker than even those under me. The fire that would usually burn trees as a baby came out as weak as a lighter, sure it could burn a couple twigs but I was not able to advance it much past that. But still it was my only option left that I had, if my illusions and ws did not work then I would have to try something different. While jumping around to dodge the bugs'' attacks I reached my hand out and focused. To create my foxfire was as hard as it was for the other kitsunes to attempt to trick me with their illusions, sure maybe by a stroke of luck and lots of skill they could do it but it would take immense effort. It was the same for me but with foxfire. The bugs'' attacks rained down upon me even faster, as if it could sense thetent fire that I was trying to summon. My eyes narrowed at that, if my weak fire could cause panic to this bug, how weak was it to fire. A spark, I felt a spark light up in my hand and the bug recoiled back in fear. ''Well, we''re going to find out.'' I thought to myself, seeing the weak foxfire that I had summoned in my hand. Foxfire had a unique property, at least for me, it was sticky. Meaning that since I was immune to my own foxfire I could coat it on my ws. That was exactly what I did, the foxfire sticking to my ws. I lunged at the big, who was now intently staring at me, its body shivering with fear at the sight of fire. It was weird that these bugs were so weak to fire but I didn''t have time to think of that properly, my ws were able to easily pierce the chitinous armor that protected the bug . GAOO A cry of pain was heard but other than that nothing happened. It seemed like the bug could feel pain from its shell being attacked but no other damage was felt by it. BOOM While I was thinking of how I would pierce even further into the bug to try and kill it, it burst into mes.It seemed like I was proven wrong as the whole reason that it was most likely screeching was that its body was up in mes. Immediately I jumped back, however fireproof I was, it was only to my own fire not whatever had ignited in this bug. ¡­ Once the fire had died down I slowly approached it, making sure to dodge the flickering mes that came up every so often. Eventually I reached the body, my head only reaching up to a quarter of its body''s size. I reached with my fingers to the body and it came out clean, like the blood had slipped off of my hand. Looking down at the blood it was not red like I would expect, it was ck. I wanted to test a theory of mine, gathering the blood in my hands, I ignited some foxfire. The blood in my hands burst into mes, burning my hand. My eyes widened as I realized what had happened, the blood of the bugs was mmable, extremely so. It seemed like the bug had known this and that was why it was so cautious of the fire that I had lit in it. "I was right" I muttered out loud as I thought about how I would utilize this to my advantage. It was likely that it was only the bugs that had this so it was best to reserve my foxfire for when I was fighting the bugs. For the other creatures that I would inevitably fight I would need to find some weapon or at the very least make myself one. Looking at the ws of the bug I had an idea, I had seen how the ws of the bug had allowed it to scale the trees by poking holes in it. If I could fashion it into a weapon then it would be sufficiently sharp after some reinforcement. ¡­ The ws of the bug were impeded into its legs, to get to it I needed to shave off its foot and then pull it out from where ity. I went to work on that, pulling the small ws out. Well smallpared to the bug, to me they were the size of a small dagger. The only thing was that it was only the tip that was sharp. The rest was super durable but had no edge to it. The best way to utilize this was to make a sort of rapier or something out of it, a shing weapon like a sword or something simr would not work. I could even make a bow, these ws would be great for arrowheads and the wood and tendons of the bugs could make up the actual bow. The only problem with that though was that I was not trained in using a bow. However I didn''t get long to decide what I was going to do as soon after I had dug out a sufficient amount of ws for whatever purpose I was going to use them for, more and more bugs were starting to lumber around me. I could see them in the distance and no doubt they saw me, next to the dead body of theirrade. SCREEE The keening sound of their roar consumed my ears as they rushed at me, their limbs barrelling on the ground as they grew closer to me. Chapter 109 Mass Evolution (4) Now that I knew their weakness I no longer felt that I would have to flee at their charge. A smile on my face, I dashed towards them, although with how fast they were going I did not go at my fastest speed, I wanted to make sure that I made it to them when they had reached the middle from where I was to them. This would preserve my strength but also allow me to keep that initial momentum built from my dash. My ws were devoid of fox fire, I would have to remedy that. With a flex of my will, fox fire appeared in both my hands. The ws that hid in my fingers were extended, the fox fire in my hands coating them. BOOOM The sound of their feet impacting the ground echoed in my ear persistently. Their footfalls synchronized made it so that I could hear nothing but them. The sounds of the forest were silent inparison to the horde of bugs barreling toward me. It was in moments that we collided, the first few reaching me, I could hear them screeching, their mouths spitting out some sort of liquid that I dodged, I had no idea what it could do, so caution overtook me. The first few in front of me were dispatched as quickly as I could. I jumped on top of their head, piercing their carapace with my ws, coated in foxfire, then moved to the next. It was in moments that I had pierced the armor of the five that had reached me. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG Behind me their shells exploded in a cacophony of fire and noise. However that didn''t deter the rest of them, it seemed that it actually encouraged them. Their charge that had stalled at the sight of me reaching them resumed with more vigor, the ones in the front exposing their chests as they charged recklessly. It was weird that they allowed me ess to their chest but I would not look a gift horse in the face. With as much speed as I could muster without prematurely tiring myself out I dashed toward the ones with their chests bared. PIERCE With a movement of my hand the bug was pierced, my body moving to retreat. However that wasn''t what happened, instead of being able to retreat safely the bug had fell, blocking my retreat. ''I see'' I thought to myself, It seemed like their n was to blow me up instead of actually attacking me. Unfortunately that wouldn''t work for them, with a flex of my will the aether around me obeyed and I was teleported to outside the bugs explosion. BOOM Behind me the one that had tried to take me with it had exploded, dead. I was more cautious for the rest of them making sure to weave above them and then sh at their carapace. ¡­ I dodged out of the way of a w threatening to skewer me, though it only took one hit to kill them with how explosive their blood was, there still was hundreds of them and dodging and weaving between the deadly ws that threatened to skewer me was not easy. Luckily I had experience in being outnumbered. My previous evolution had me fighting thousands at once. I was no stranger to being outnumbered, the only problem was that those worms were not able to kill me in one hit and I was able to conjure weapons that would kill them en masse. That was not the case for these bugs, yes I could kill them in one hit but to kill them by the hundreds would take greater control of my foxfire. To be honest the other kitsunes would have had an easier time killing these, their control over foxfire allowed some of them to summon firestorms while others focused on smaller maniptions, every one of them would have been more lethal to these bugs than I could ever hope to be. That didn''t mean that I didn''t try, the evolutionary ne made it much easier to develop skills and I could already feel the progress in my fox mes. It took much less effort to summon them and the potency of their properties was much higher. This little bit of practice had trumped all of the effort that I had put forth into my fox fires throughout my life. It was an intoxicating feeling, to know that I would be able to advance at things that I had thought myself helpless at. I couldn''t help but smile, through all the bloodshed that was happening around me, through all the oil like blood that fell on me as their bodies continually exploded around me, I couldn''t help but smile. ¡­ Sat atop a tree I looked around me, at the vast forest, at howrge the trees were, at the progress that I had gained during that one fight. It felt like it had trumped all of the previous evolutions that I had gone through. Although I couldn''t see it, I could feel it. The illusionary eighth tail, the road to a nine tailed kitsune was open to me. Although it was only my eighth it was a momentous aplishment. I was one step closer and I could feel the once cloudy road to the legendary nine tailed kitsune opening to me. Although we Kitsunes could grow tails with age, those tails, not gained through strength and aplishment, were not as powerful as tails gained through strife. There were plenty of nine tailed kitsunes, those that had ascended the ninth tier but none of them had earned it. They were as strong as an eighth tailed kitsune who had gained one of their tails frombat. For me I had gained every tail in strife, from pushing myself to the limit. I had been told that I would need to age to gain any more, to go past the fifth tail but here I am. The eighth tail forming behind me. A smile on my face, I broke my mncholic mood and thought of who had allowed this, My lord. My Darwin. From the moment that he had first evolved me and allowed me to gain my first unique skill, I knew that this was truly my Lord. At first I had expected to keep a professional distance from him emotionally, but the opportunities he had given me, the physicalfort, those had broken down my walls. A blooming feeling echoed in my heart. I could no longer deny it, I was in love. Chapter 110 Mass Evolution (5) As the sun fell on the world I now inhabited I closed my eyes, intending to sleep the night away. Or at least part of it, it seemed that the days of this world were at the very least twice as long as normal days, I had learned that while I was recovering my strength. The days and nights of this world were about double in time, meaning that a consistent sleep schedule was almost impossible. That didn''t mean that I didn''t get sleep, only that I was sleeping at random time, whenever I got tired I would sleep, that was my only schedule. However before I could fall asleep a roar echoed out through the forest, it sounded the same as the bugs that I had killed but it had a strange keening noise to it that caught my attention. Looking down from the branch that I was resting on I saw what looked like the bugs that I had killed except it was many times smaller, almost my height just a bit taller. However it seemed much stronger, the aether around it was twisting just by being in the presence of this bug. Around the bug I could see hundreds of therger ones inspecting the corpses. They would feel it with their antennas then if it passed some criteria that I couldn''t puzzle out it would be taken on their back and brought to somece. It seemed that therger bug was the one to orchestrate this. Therger ones following its everymand. I wanted to fight it, not for no reason. No, I wanted to fight it because it was stronger than me. The challenge that the bug would pose to me would hopefully be enough to allow me to grow my eighth tail. However I didn''t just rush recklessly, instead I waited, it seemed that most of therger bugs were around as manpower. That meant that eventually most of them would be gone and when there are only a couple left would be when I strike. If I waited until they were all gone the smaller bug most likely would go with them so that wasn''t an option. ¡­ It took less time than I would have thought, the bugs were almost done with whatever objective that they hade here for. Most of therger bugs were gone by now leaving the smaller one with an entourage of only 3 of therger bugs. It seems like this was where they left as the corpses that they had already inspected and rejected were the only ones left. Before they could leave though, I leapt off of my perch, my ws coated in foxfire. BOOM The bug that I hadnded on was pierced by my ws and was dead by the time that I had made it to the next. BOOM BOOM The next two were swiftly taken down in short order, leaving me staring at the smaller bug. GAOOOO The bug screeched at me, all the while charging. The aether in the air was turbid as it charged at me. I felt heavier, my legs not reacting as fast as I thought they could. It was then that I realized that I had been caught, invisible strings held my legs, although individually they were not much. There were thousands of strings holding onto my legs, each one of them invisible. The only reason I knew that they were there was the tugging sensation that I got from moving my legs. However they weren''t there for long as soon after I conjured my foxfire and had it spread on my legs burning the restraints. The strings that were holding me lit up in mes, part of them disintegrating as the mes grew closer and closer to the bug charging at me. Before the strings could reach the bug they were cut from wherever they connected to, falling to the ground. While I was concentrating on this, the bug had gotten closer, close enough that I could stare straight into its eyes. CLANG My ws, coated with foxfire that could pierce therger bugs, were deflected. The carapace of the bug was hard enough and resistant to fire enough that it was able to deflect my attack. "Guh" I quietly hissed as a dexterous w made it passed my defenses and pierced my abdomen. Blood dripped down the bug''s w before it was quickly swallowed by the bug''s w, any sign of my blood disappearing. I hastily retreated, holding my wound as my natural healing worked to stop the bleeding. It seemed that I hadn''t retreated enough though as the bug charged at me with speed that it did not have previously. BOOM BOOM BOOM Its heavy footfalls as it broke the ground it dashed over while running to me echoed in my ears. It seemed that my blood, whatever it did to it, allowed it to gain strength. I grit my teeth, making sure that my wound was healed, and dashed toward it. Before I reached it though I jumped up, dodging the piercing attack that it had aimed at me. Although it was stronger than me it was only barely able to keep up with my speed. The reason for that was most likely how heavy it was, I could only guess that the carapace that protected it weighed several tons judging by the footsteps of it. I used this to my advantage, knowing that I could outmaneuver it, I constantly attacked at the same spot on its carapace, making sure to enhance the foxfire as much as I could. Ackluster foxfire like the one that I had used against itsrades would not work. That was why I devoted more than half of my attention to stoking the me, making it hotter and hotter, never stopping. Not even when it threatened to break through my natural defense to foxfire, I kept on stoking it. It was working, I could see tiny cracks on the armor of the bug. CRACK The sound of its armor breaking rang in my ears, a smile blooming on my face as I could finally burn the insides of this bug. With one final attack I poured all of the foxfire that I was umting into the body of the bug. Chapter 111 Mass Evolution (6) With a sh of light I was back in front of Darwin, the eight tails behind me swishing back and forth in excitement. All pretenses of professionalism were put to the side as I smiled, "Darwin, my Lord, I love you" I had promised to myself that after I returned I would say that, and I kept true to that promise, the words that once felt so heavy to even think about in my head fell off of my tongue with no problems. Darwin''s eyes opened a tiny bit but before he could exim his shock I rushed at him, nearly teleporting to his position. With a tiny flex of my will I was straddling him, my legs wrapped around his torso as I rained kisses down on his chest. However our positions were soon reversed as Darwin flipped me over and stole my lips. I could have resisted but why would I. I wanted him to take control, to make me his. "Ahem"A coughing noise was heard in the room as we were separated in an instant. Looking at us with a re was Melia, a blush forming on her face as she looked at Darwin''s lips. I returned her re, sending an instinctual bit of foxfire at her, however it was dispelled soon after. My eyes narrowed as I still could not hurt Melia, not while we were inside here. However, as if to add insult to injury, Darwin who was sitting next to me was teleported into Melia''sp where she started to pet his head, all the while smirking at me. ¡­ "Melia, Tama, stop this," I calmlymanded. Melia who was holding me tight let go thoroughly chastised while Tama who was ring at said girl instantly stopped, her ears sagging down while her tails did the same. "You can do thister, for now I need to evolve some things. Follow me" With thatmand I was off, leaving the house and heading for the research hall where I knew I would find Delta. So far I had not evolved Delta nor had I evolved any of her inventions or weapons that she had made. It was my n to do that and then let Tama and Delta hunt down the Gaul while Melia stayed here for defense. While my heavy hitters in Tama and Delta would be gone I would still have Astraea with her immense speed and Melia with her great control over the territory to fend off any attacks thate. ¡­ I reached the research building and without hesitation entered. What greeted me was dozens of Delta''s assistants working on constructing ammunition for the guns that the others wielded. Walking further in I found Rhea working on another blueprint, beside her Delta was helping, pointing out all of the ws in the blueprint. However, all of their conversation was about things that I could not understand so I ignored it in favor of approaching them. It would seem that only Delta had sensed us as she had looked up at me for a second then got right back to her work. Rhea on the other hand was too engrossed in her work to notice me. "Delta, I would like to evolve you, if that is fine." I both ask and dere to Delta. Without looking up from her work Delta responds. "That is fine, I doubt Aoif would reject your request to evolve me and that is all that matters." It was only now that Rhea looked up from her work, looking at me as if I had just appeared from nowhere, which I guess is fair seeing as how she had not noticed my presence. I ignored her for now though instead I focused on Delta. "Alright, is there anything you need to prepare? It is most likely that you will be going throughbat." A simple shake of her head was all the answer that I was given. "Alright" With that I mentallymanded ''Evolve'' and evolved her. ¡­ A world of tools, of weapons, of research. That is what I saw after the nothingness had receded. When Darwin had said that he would evolve me I had expected to be sent somewhere that would facilitate my evolution. From what had been described by Tama and by Alif, they both had been sent to ces where they needed to survive, to develop. However, that was not the truth for me. Instead I was sent to a ce of research. To a ce of infinite weapons. No matter how far I looked, all I could see was weapons. Of course they were all technological, I would have thought less of this ce if it had shown me primitive weapons. A slight smile appeared on my face as I thought of all the possibilities m, just looking at some of these guns was giving me ideas. Most of them were like mine, a simple weapon that shot bullets at high speeds but I could tell that was not all. Some of them looked like they were from some far flung future with how, from what I could guess, good they would function in space. Walking around I touched some of the weapons and to my surprise they weren''t corporal. My hand just fell through them. However when I thought of how I wanted to disassemble them, to find out their inner workings the one I had touched scattered into different parts. ''I could work with this'' I thought to myself. ¡­ It was after much trying and disassembling of my own gun that I had gotten it to work. The guns that I was shown worked purely from force, they were purely technological. However my gun was a mix of aether maniption and technology allowing it to be much better than if it was purely mechanical. But the gun that I was studying, the inner workings of it were so advanced that it made the gun that I held seem like a stick inparison. To remedy this gap o had started to research the gun, making adjustments to my own, every fix that I implemented seeming to make it even more efficient. Where before the gun that I held could only shoot when I formed a bullet out of aether now I could feed it any material and it would transmute it into a bullet. Of course this wasn''t how the original guns worked but it was my solution. The original one made use of some technology that I could not decipher to transmute the atoms of one material into another. Effectively doing what I did but without aether to facilitate it. However my gun still did not shoot with the force that my projections had shown the gun that I was researching could, something I would need to remedy. No matter the time that it took. Chapter 112 Mass Evolution (7) Two years, that is the time that my sensors had told me had passed while I was researching. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. All I had been doing was researching, building prototypes, then researching again. It was a familiar routine but to lose track of time by that much was almost an impossibility. My eyes narrowed as I calcted the possibility of my senses not reminding me of the time, it was almost a zero percent chance. Looking around I surveyed my surroundings, despite the years that had passed the dirt upon my feet, the grass that grew from it, nothing had changed. To my eyes it was as if only a day had passed, not even that. Analyzing the grass and ground, I saw that it had not changed at all from the initial scan that I had done years ago. It was like time had never passed. However I could not deny the truth, if all of my senses said that it was two years then two years it was. It did not matter if it was more than two, if it was ten, a hundred, the time dtion of this realmpared to the realm I was in was in the thousands, years passing by in mere seconds of real time. The only reason that I was even surprised was because of the thought of how mortal I had felt. For so long I had relied on the inherent enhancements done by my creator not only to tell time, but forbat, for research, for crafting, to think that they may have failed was something that had never been considered. However when I looked down at my gun, I knew my time was not wasted, even with all the worry it brought I could not help but feel pride at my aplishment. A thought and the trigger was pulled, a great impact forcing my shoulder back and an explosion in the distance. The power of my personal gun had been multiplied hundreds of times during the time that I had stayed in here but that was not the only thing that had changed. During my search for more and more blueprints, integrating the best parts into my own, I had found prosthetics. None as great as mine but each of them had things they did great at. One of them had better stability of the arm then mine, which when integrated into my own allowed me to perform more precise modifications up to the maniption of the very material. This was what allowed me to integrate the modifications into my pistol. I had yet to actually start messing with the rifle that I had at my side. None of the modifications that I had made to my pistol were done to my rifle. I wanted to know what I was doing before I started to mess with my beloved rifle. But now that I had these upgrades I could more urately modify it. Looking around I found a rifle blueprint that I thought would go nice. The first thing that I did was look through the blueprint, finding anything that it had done differently to decide on what I wanted to modify in my rifle. Although the material needs were a problem, they weren''t as much as I would have expected, the bullet generator that I had taken from one of the gun''s blueprints allowed me to use the dirt below me to generate any material I needed as long as I knew the chemical makeup of it. Memory was no problem to me, the hard drive that was my brain allowed for me to record anything that I learned, forgetting nothing. Picking up the dirt from the ground I transmuted it into raw metal. While I could have transmuted it directly into the metal that I wanted, to do that would deprive it of the soul that would be hammered into it during the creation process. With reverence I held the rifle up and slowly disassembled it, the parts flying this way and that. Each was organized into different groups. The shell into one ce, the inner working further separated into the rough shape of what It would look like when reassembled. The first thing that I did was look at the blueprint, although I could reconstruct it in my head it was nice to have a visual reference. While I was studying the blueprint my hands were not idle. Using the ore that I had previously created, I started to manipte it ording to the blueprint. ¡­ ''Done'' I thought to myself looking at the newly constructed rifle. It had taken me a while seeing as I had to create every material from scratch but I was satisfied. Now that I had the weapon in front of me I could start with the modifications. Immediately I dismissed taking the trigger out, I knew that it could be more efficient if I had but it felt sacrilegious to do that. However the other options were still there. The powder for the bullets was of an entirely different make and though it was much more efficient, allowing the bullet to propel to mach 8almost double what mine were capable of, it sacrificed its aether conductivity. I could brute force it but it was an interesting problem that I wanted to solve, if I was able to solve it then I would most likely be able to double the force and speed of it. My first thought was the inner workings of the rifle. If I was unable to alter the bullet then maybe I could alter the rifle so that it would alter the bullet for me. ''Ah, that would work,'' I thought to myself. The powder only needed to be contained in aether resistant metal to work but what if after it had already ignited I changed theposition of the bullet and then reinforced it. My hands got to work immediately, implementing the idea. Of course I did not do this to my rifle, instead I implemented my changes onto the replica that I had made. ¡­ BOOM "SHIT" The rifle exploded in my hands sending shrapnel flying into my face and body. Luckily my reflexes were fast enough to throw the rifle away and back off before they had made their way to my body. I was lucky that I did my testing away from my still disassembled rifle, during all of my building I had neglected to reassemble my rifle deeming it unnecessary. Chapter 113 Mass Evolution (8) BOOM ''Again'' I sighed in my head, the idea I had was good but the execution was taking almost as long as it had taken for me to replicate the transmutor and configure it so that I could make almost anything. Looking at the smoking wreckage I couldn''t help but sigh again, I had attained moderate sess with my idea but for now it could only fire one shot before the second would destroy it. It would be perfect for a flintlock or something. I scoffed at the idea, using something that primitive. For now though I was not going to continue, it would do good for my head to work on some other project, maybe that would clear my head if I seeded in another area. Done nning I wandered around, leaving my rifle and the smoking mess of a rifle that I had wrecked in testing. I had no particr aim in mind, all around me were various blueprints and although they were limited to human sized, that did not mean that there weren''t some interesting designs. LIke the one in front of me now, a miniature power core. It was certainly meant to be plugged into something judging by the power cords that flowed off of it. However it wasn''t something that I was interested in, I would memorize the blueprint but I doubt that I would ever use it. Even if I never used it, the principle behind it was magnificent even if the core was wildly inefficient, not in the fact that the energy gathered from it was what was inefficient but that the size limited it to being inefficient. It was what drew me to it in the first ce. It generated antimatter then with the air around it would use the energy generated by the matter and antimatter to create more antimatter. Although it was wildly efficient, the only limiting point of it was the size, this type of energy source would be better suited forrge equipment where the core could be hundreds times bigger. Anyways, I noted the principles behind it and how it was done and moved on. The next blueprint that caught my eyes was what seemed to be some advancedputer system. This, this was what I was looking for, something that I could upgrade myself with. The advancedputer was a great find, it was only the size of a fingernail but could process calctions hundreds of times faster than what I could do with my own inbuiltputer. At least that was what the blueprint detailed, though with how urate the previous blueprints were to their final products it was likely that this was not false either. The only downside to this was that its logic programs were shit. All it could do was process calctions, it could not run anything moreplicated. It could not even run a single simple game. But that did not mean that I was not going to integrate this into my own body, only that it would be an essory, not something that was integrated into my brain but would be integrated into my armor as part of mybat prediction program. With the blueprint memorized I wandered back to where I was researching the gun that I had failed. Even now after a peaceful walk and renewed creativity I could not help but grimace at my inability to integrate something that seemed so easy. I soon shook those thoughts out of my head as I started to produce theputer, following the blueprints to the letter. Soon enough I was left with a tinyputer chip, it seemed like the blueprint lied to me, or was at least iplete as what I had expected to produce, aputer, turned out to be aputer chip. Something to add onto a creation not a full product. That did not mean that my ns were changed though, on the contrary they had be even easier. HISSS A sound came from my arm as a cooled chip flew into my hand. Comparing the two chips in my hand I ponder on how to integrate them. The only solution that came to mind was to detach the wholeputer and tinker with it enough that the chip that I had just created would fit. With another sigh that seemed to be more and moremon, I detach mybat predictionputer and disassemble it. "This is going to take a while. '''' I sigh out again, looking out at the everpresent sun in the sky. ¡­ I had expected the evolution of Delta to be no different than the ones of Tama, Aoif, or even Melia. Well Melia was a bit of an outlier but Delta''s was just like that, I watched transfixed by the focus that Delta put into her research and although I could not understand most of it, Rhea next to me could. Again Melia had set the screen up so that she could see however that included Rhea who sat enraptured by the smooth moves of Delta as she again and again took apart her gun, adjusting the settings the tiniest hit only to undo it. At some point she had even gotten a fresh notebook that by now had been filled with notes and designs. Looking over her shoulder I could see the hundreds of handwritten bits detailing the processes, what she would do, what she wanted to ask, and most importantly how she would implement it. I was never one for science but the applications that it gave me would be a good enough reason to start learning. I knew I could excel if only I put my focus to it, just as I had in learningbat. However I shook those thoughts out of my head. I did not have the luxury to learn. Right now I could only focus on improving in the things that mattered. I could only leave Delta and her subordinates to their business in the interests of time. Maybe another day when we had conquered enough that I actually had free time would I learn. With that I looked back at the screen, intent on watching Delta''s evolution to its end. Chapter 114 Mass Evolution (9) It took some time, my internal systems saying that it took a month but it had felt as if only seconds had passed. I could say that only seconds passed, however I wasn''t going to do that. Instead I was going to stick with hard logic rather than some gut feeling that was inevitably wrong. Looking down at my arm, I reattached the system that I had integrated the chip into and immediately my senses bloomed. It was like I was looking through murky ss my whole life but now it had been broken down. Equations that once took dozens of seconds now only took nanoseconds. I could calcte the optimal range and ce where I would need to be to engage inbat in moments instead of the seconds. Looking back at the rifle that I had put aside, the equations flew past my mind and were integrated into the chip which then spat back out more urate solutions. Immediately, without wasting any time I worked to integrate these into the rifle. ¡­ BANG BANG BANG BOOM Three bullets wereunched at once before the rifle exploded in my hands. Again I backpedaled to get out of the range of the explosion. I smiled, this was only the first try and already the rifle was able to shoot off three shots before it exploded. The new chip had allowed me to run through numerous more calctions before I had to gather more data. This was my first attempt at gathering data, I was not expecting it to work this well but already I was filled with more calctions, each one more precise in finding the error. Once more I surprised myself, I wasn''t expecting some technology that I had picked up on a whim to work so well. I nodded to myself affirming my pride with a praise of ''Good job'' in my head. cing one of my stickers on my arm, I smile to myself at a job well done. Soon though I get back to work, the calctions having gone as far as they could with the data that I had gathered. Again I constructed the updated blueprint and again it failed. However I was seeing progress after this try too, which was better than the spontaneous sesses that I had. I preferred the methodical progression that I had now. Before when I was researching it was a process of failing and seeing what worked and I was fine with that, it didn''t always mean that I was going to progress but it was steady. But now that I could simte all of the factors with the right data I could cut out 90 percent of the process speeding up my research. With those thoughts in the back of my head I started the process of data gathering and calctions. ¡­ BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG I smiled, cing a sticker on the gun, I had seeded. That was the fifth test, and so far the rifle had held up. The metal holding the insides may have been weathered but that was only because I had chosen the lowest quality metal on purpose. The reason for that being that if it worked with low quality materials then the high quality materials I would use for my actual rifle would give it extra durability and reliability. Other than that the mechanisms inside had not been damaged at all, the functions that they had were created for working just fine. Looking down at my personal rifle, the calctions and blueprints for an upgraded form running through my head, I pick it up. With a reverence that I reserved for only my own personal equipment I start to dissasmble it. Piece by piece, the rifle started to dissemble itself under my deft fingers. Parts were being taken out and ced in neat piles ording to what I was going to take out entirely and what I would upgrade with new pieces. ¡­ I gazed at my new rifle, the upgraded parts had allowed it to be even more deadly than it previously was. Aiming at a random distance, for there were no objects to target in the distance, I pulled the trigger. BOOM The bullet flies, the rate at which it elerates allowing for it to be fast enough to evade my regr sensors. However when I turned to mybat sensors I was able to urately find the bullet, it had already traveled over 4 miles in the second that I had changed from when I had initially shot it. "Hm" I hum outloud feeling a weird sensation overtake my body. ''Wait, I''ve felt this'' I thought to myself corrting the feeling to when I had first arrived. "NO, NO, NO" I desperately shouted, I did not want to go. Despite the great advancements that I had made, I could make so much more if only I had been given more time. But whatever was pulling me out cared not for my pleading as soon after my sensors was filled with a void. Not nothing, a void. Interspaced between the nothings of the void were patches of some sort of energy though I could not pick up on what it was. As soon as I sensed that I was gone, it was as if hundreds of hours had passed and none at all. It was weird. Immediately after I could, I consulted my internal clock but it had as much of a clue as I did. "Tsk" I click my tongue. Looking at Darwin, who had barely moved from when I had left, I should know as I had cataloged his position as part of my experiment, I moved towards him. However before I could talk to him my babbling disciple had rushed to me with speed that was uncharacteristic of her and shoved a notebook in my face. It looked like she wanted to say something but the excitement was not allowing her to, my guess was that whatever Rhea wanted to say was written in this notebook. Chapter 115 Mass Evolution (10) When Delta reappeared before me I could see the disappointment in her eyes and it was all pointed towards me. However before I could ask what was going on, Rhea dashed towards Delta, a smile on her face as she gave her notebook to her. It seemed that whatever Delta wanted to talk about to me was more important than her student as instead of addressing her Delta pocketed the notebook and walked to me. Rhea behind Delta, looked like a kicked puppy, her excitement gone as she followed Delta over to me. "Evolve me again" Delta demanded, her eyes intensely staring into my own. I wanted to ask many things, like what had made her so excited to evolve, what she had seen when evolving, what she had done, but those questions could be asked another time. "O-" Before I could agree and try and evolve Delta again, Rhea cut me off. "Ca- Can you evolve me too?" With puppy dog eyes Rhea was holding onto Delta''s waist for what would seem like reassurance. Thinking of it, I had not dual evolved anything since I had evolved both Aoif and I. It would be a good experience to dual evolve them and have them note down what had happened. Since the two were obviously going to get some technological evolution it would be good to know what happened for future reference. Even better if, due to the technological nature of their evolution, they could get videos or at least some pictures. "Can I?" Rhea asked again, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Yeah¡­ Delta," I turn to Delta after addressing Rhea, "If you are fine with it I would like to test out another facet of my talent, it would allow me to evolve both of you, if you are fine with that?" For a second Delta contemted my offer before giving me a nod. "Good, can you bring back recordings, or at least pictures if you are able to, I would like to know more about my talent and to do that I need data" The only answer that I got was a nod. Though Delta dide closer, something in hand. Something was stuck to my shirt, looking down it was a sticker. "Good job," Delta said in a deadpan voice, giving me a thumbs up. "Ready?" Looking at both Delta and Rhea they both give me a nod of confirmation. ''Evolve'' This time I selected both for dual evolution and instantly they were both ovee by motes of light both disappearing. It was weird, the times that I had dual evolved with Aoif there was a screen that had popped up asking me of what terrain I would like to evolve in but with Rhea and Delta there was none. Deciding that this mystery could be solvedter, I looked to the screen that had popped up to my side, motioning for Melia who had stepped back during the conversation, to erge the screen. ¡­ Darkness overtook me immediately after I had nodded my head in affirmation. Next to me I could feel a presence, it wasn''t a physical sensation, I knew that. However I still had my prosthetic run its sensors, checking for any presence that it could. A tiny clicking noise echoed in my ears as my prosthetic started to check for anything around it. Soon enough though it did find something. To my surprise it was Delta, but before I could try and reach out to her, to see if she could do anything about this darkness, I was sent sprawling onto the ground. I spit out the dirt that had gotten into my mouth from the fall and looked around. Next to me was Delta who seemed to also be taking in her surroundings, but more than that was the massive dirt hill that we were on. All around us were trees, each one of them being bigger than a world itself. Looking further down I could see the vast void of space. How we were breathing I did not know but I at least knew, if instinctually, that to seed in this evolution we would need to cross over to one of those worlds. It was hard to describe the feeling but it was as if someone was whispering in my ear objectives, what I had to do. "Delta, do you feel that too" A nod of her head was all the answer I got. ¡­ Again the darkness overtook me, and again I ran my scanners. Next to me was Rhea. That was not a surprise seeing as how Darwin had called this a dual evolution. Though what that entailed however was up for grabs. Soon though my scanner and sensors pinged back more information. Information other than that Rhea was at my side. Looking at the Data I could see more clearly what this darkness was. From my best guesses this darkness is a localized wormhole or at least something equivalent. What Darwin''s talent actually did was take hold of us and send us through a wormhole to some predetermined realm. The how, I did not know. There was even more though, it seemed that this took immense energy and I was able to pinpoint the source. Mentally tapping on the Data, I track the energy. My eyes opened in surprise as I saw the end of where the energy came from. I had expected there to be some internal battery that the talent burned to work but not an entire world. Well world was the best describer that I had of it. It was more like a world sized container that held so much energy in it that it didn''t matter that there was no life there. Usually worlds gather their energy from the beings inhabiting it but this world was so saturated in aether that it did not need to replenish its energy. From what I could tell, to evolve me a tier 1 existence now that I had undergone my first evolution it took only a fragment of a fragment of energy. To put that into perspective, I could fill millions of those fragments with only half of my aether reserves. It would likely take hundreds of trillions of evolutions on the scale of mine to even put a dent into that reserve of his. Chapter 116 Mass Evolution (11) The darkness receded and once again I was deposited into some realm. However it wasn''t what I expected, the vast desert of dirt that held countless blueprints was not what I saw. Some part of me had hoped that the ce I was sent to would be the same, that illogical part of me said that I would be deposited in the same ce with an apprentice to share in my discoveries. That would be bliss, to forever discover, create, and to be able to share that with someone that was close to an equal. A small smile showed on my face as I imagined it. However, that was not what I saw. The hope that had been burrowed was shot, rational thought returning to me as I finally took in my surroundings. The ground I was on seemed to be the only ground for hundreds of thousands of miles, there wasn''t anything useful to make out on thend that we stood on. The real prize was the hundreds of worlds that seemed to orbit our position. Some were deste, their surface devoid of any life, though the mountains and deep caverns I saw would make for an appealing location to gather new resources that I may not have known of. Others were different, so full of life that I could feel their presence from here. Trees as tall as mountains, oceans hundred of thousands of miles deep. Others were mixes of the two, some were lush with resources but barely any life could be seen. While others had much life but not many resources. Though this was all from a cursory scan, reality can often differ from simtions but I was confident that my own were urate enough that the margin of error would be minimized. ''What'' Out of nowhere, while I was waiting the milliseconds that my calctions would take, I heard something. No, it wasn''t that I heard something, it was more like I had felt as if a voice had told me something. It was a weirdbination of both senses. Enough that it distracted me from tracing the source of the disturbance. I could only focus on what it had to say, whatever it was. This presence, voice, whatever wanted me to reach one of thoses, purely by technological means anything else was free game. Of course that was not what was said or felt, but it was the closest approximation that I could have gotten. "Delta, do you feel that too?" My apprentice suddenly says, breaking me out of my analysis. Not that I was going to me her, that logic was just about to go into circles, it was good to have someone to break me out of those cycles. "How are we going to¡­" My apprentice says, trailing off as she stares down at the sidearm held at my waist. ''That is a good idea'' I thought, pulling the pistol out of its holster and with deft fingers took the matter generator out of it. Holding it up I look Rhea, my apprentice, in the eyes holding up the matter generator to her sight. "It''s easy, we just innovate" ¡­ Looking at the smile of my mentor and the matter generator in her hands, it dawned upon me. We were going to be stuck here for a while. If that was so, why did I feel so excited. Was it the endless time that we had to aplish our objective, was it the endless amount of resources that the generator could afford us, or was it the simple fact that I was spending my time with my mentor? I smiled looking away from Delta. ''Or was it just abination of them all'' Closing my eyes I shook the thoughts out of my head, though I could not shake the smile, not that I wanted to. "We''ll need a bigger one if we are to build anything in a timely manner" I quickly analyze out loud. ns on what we were to do with our time already appearing in my head. "Yes, but before that you need to learn how to make this, and the principle behind it. We have been given so much time, it is only wise that we use it efficiently" Delta appeared before me, her words breaking me out of my thoughts. I blushed, thinking about how I had rushed through instead of actually thinking. My first thoughts were to use this time to innovate but what would be the use if Delta was so far ahead of me that any thoughts of mine were already thought of and discarded by her. It only made sense to use this time to bring me to her level. ¡­ It was good that my apprentice had understood. I would have thought lesser of her if she had rushed into innovation without thinking of shoring up her basics. However that was not what happened, just like always Rhea had taken my advice. I put a sticker on her head, "Good job" I praised her. Rhea had not rushed, and although she had been caught up in her thoughts, Rhea had taken measures to rectify her mistake and to learn from it. Even now, still embarrassed by her mistake, she was typing away on her prosthetic. Sending reminders after reminders as her thoughts spun. "Sit" Imanded again. This type of discussion was better done sitting down, with at least somefort. We had all the time in the world and I intended to use it to bring her to my level, it would be nice to have a peer after all. ¡­ "First of all, this" I said, looking straight into her eyes while holding out the notebook that she had filled. "Ah, that. It had all of my observations, questions, and what I would have done were I in your situation. All of it was recorded in there." Rhea says pointing to the notebook. I nod, quickly flipping through the book. There were many good things that she had pointed out, some I hadn''t even thought about. Though that could be saved for ater date, the more pressing matter was to correct the misconceptions that had been written down. Chapter 117 Mass Evolution (12) ording to my sensors, it had been approximately three months since I had started to teach Rhea. Of course the meals that I had to make for her were good indicators of time but I preferred the hard data that my sensors gave me. I had started a timer immediately after we had reoriented ourselves meaning there was maybe an hour or two margin of error but not enough that I would mess up how much time had passed. Moving on from that though, Rhea had made remarkable progress in the time that I had been teaching her. She had gone from a barely educated apprentice to one I would be proud of. So much so that from what my innate aether sensing abilities showed me, no matter their disuse, she had advanced to tier 7. Not from the knowledge, no, Rhea had advanced because of the enhancements that we had worked on together. Though it wasn''t fair to say that they were done by both of us, her enhancements were done mostly by herself with her asking questions when she needed help. Other than that Rhea had not asked anything outside of her lessons. I couldn''t teach her all day so I gave Rhea time to work on her own projects, that was why she was able to upgrade herself. Even if she was only able to use a limited amount of resources, the matter generator not being able to generate more than a cubic foot of material a day, she still used them efficiently. Though that one cubic foot was split unevenly, while I would like to focus all of my attention on letting Rhea explore and innovate her own upgrades we still had needs. At least Rhea did, I had no need for food nor did I need any water but I did need electricity, or energy of any kind. Either way most of the resources were used to keep me functional. Weirdly enough though when I had evolved the previous time there was no need for me to keep up with my monthly needs but now, in this realm of ours, I needed to. Focusing my attention back on Rhea I looked at her work which she was so proudly showing me. It was her arm or at least what was previously her arm. The upgrades were obvious. Where before the arm could be told apart from sight, now I had to use different senses to tell that it wasn''t actually flesh. But what was most impressive were the functions that she had integrated into them, before she had added all of her enhancements, the prosthetic that Rhea was so proud of and rightfully so only had a rudimentary calction and battle prediction system, a stabilizing mechanism, and enhanced strength. But by using the principles that I had taught her in the lessons that I was giving, it had gained many more functions. The one that she was showing me at the moment was a function to try and convert any mass to any material based on what she had learned. Of course I had already known, it was obvious what she was building when I listened to the innumerable questions she had about the matter generator that we were relying on. Though the only fault with it was that it could only convert things into water, one of the simplest things that it could make. Still it was a great show of her progress and I would not chide her for not creating something in three months, that I had taken whole years to do. "Good job" With that I ced a sticker onto the prosthetic. ''Huh, what''s this'' I should have noticed it earlier but I had been caught up in my own research and with only Rhea''s questions to go by I could not have predicted this. Maybe if I had paid more attention then it would have been clear to me. What I had seen was the slight wince in her nerves as I touched the prosthetic, no, it could not be called a prosthetic anymore. It should be called a proper limb. Rhea was able to copy my own arm and make it so that her nerves were connecting to the arm, giving her feeling in the arm. Something that she previously did not have. The arm before could have processed the damage that had been done and had some level of touch but not something so sensitive that it could have sensed my touch. Another sticker came out of my stock and onto her head. pat pat I pat her head, showing her how proud I was of her. ¡­ pat pat ''Huh'' I thought in my head as my head was patted by the usually stoic Delta. For some reason she was showing, was that pride. In me? I couldn''t help the grin that spread across my face at the thought that Delta was proud of me. More than just the fact that I had made this prosthetic an arm I was so happy because my mentor praised me. Touching my head I could feel the sticker that she had ced there. And looking down I saw one ced on my arm too. I had never been given this many stickers. I knew it was weird to desire the stickers given by Delta but she rarely gave them out, the only times that I had ever gotten one was when I finished my first brain surgery perfectly. She had given it to me right in the finger that had performed thest cut and it was euphoric. "Come" Deltamanded me, breaking me out of my reminiscing as I followed her to wherever she wanted to bring me. ¡­ Thend that we had been given was notrge, maybe a few miles across, but it was a sphere making it impossible for me to see what Delta was up to while I was taking my free time. Delta had never let me see what she was doing, saying that I would see when I was ready and apparently now was the time. Chapter 118 Mass Evolution (13) On the other side of the likend that we had been ced on was the workshop that I had set up. It had taken the whole three months that I had spent teaching Rhea to construct, and now was as good of a time to show it to her as ever. Initially I was nning to research space travel on my own using the free time that Rhea spent resting but that was not possible. Darwin had used the term dual evolution when he said that he would evolve us implying that this was a team operation. I would never deny the help of my apprentice but I had always thought of her ideas as an afterthought, something that was most likely wrong. However with the amount of time spent teaching her an implicit trust had grown between us and although I had always intended for her to help me, I had only intended her to help with the testing, withing up with ideas. The thought of doing this on my own, now, was not something that I would seriously consider. Not even for sentimental reasons but for the feeling of trust andfort that I had grown to feel from her. It was so much that ideas flowed easier in her presence. ¡­ "Woah" with wide eyes Rhea eximed, seemingly not aware that she had said anything. Still staring wide eyed at the facilities that had been created. It was a utilitarian design, meaning that anything non-essential was gone. Thefort of a bed, of a house, those were not needed. Hard metal floors led to the entrance, the walkway to the dock that I had created was paved by metal. It was not for any reason other than that we would be testing things here and a clean ce where we could test things in a vacuum with no other variables would help immensely. "Is this¡­ A dock?" Rhea questions as I lead her to themand room, where we would be living for the foreseeable time. "Yes, to travel the stars we need a dock" To be able to create something that would allow us to sail the stars and explore the unknowns. That was more important than anything else. ¡­ We had arrived at themand center, the windows overlooking the insanelyrgeunching bay. Though there were no ships built in the dock, all the facilities that would help in the creation of one were installed. Anything that I could think of that might help with building a star worthy ship was built. "Is that?" Rhea asked, looking at a certain piece of technology, one that I was especially proud of. "Yeah it is" I reply to Rhea confirming her thoughts. It was arger matter generator, instead of the cubic foot of material a day that it could make, this one, if it worked ording to my calctions, could produce a whole ton of materials a day. That was provided that we had the right resources to make them. Anything that we throw into it would work but there was only a finite amount that we could go through before the like ball of dirt we stood on ran out. That was exactly the reason why we needed to make it to one of thoses, not only because of the objective that we had been given but to make use of the resources that they would present us as long as we were able to make it there. Before we could even think of using thoses'' resources, we would need to use the dirt ball under our feet to make do. It would notst forever, by my best estimates we would have about three more years of continual use before the living area bes too small for us. However we could extend that by a further two years by reusing the waste that we will undoubtedly make. "Delta?" Rhea asks, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Yes?" "How do we start? I''ve never seen any blueprints for a vehicle capable of flightlet alone something capable of space travel" There was a tiny hint of worry in her eyes but that was not needed, with ourbined intelligence we would be able to do this, even if we had to work up from ground vehicles to space travel. "That''s the beauty of this," I respond, a smirk on my face and tone, "We get to innovate the whole process" ¡­ The start was rough, with no data nor blueprints to go off of we had to start with ideas and although I had more than enough ideas to improve upon things, my creativity wascking when it came to building something from scratch. Even the arm that I was so proud of was the culmination of many ideas that would improve or work around restrictions but to start. To start on something that we both had never encountered or even thought of before, it was a daunting task. For now though we were stuck, we had all the resources that we could ever hope for but nothing to build. Though that wasn''t entirely true, we had tried a couple of ideas but they had not worked. There was one obvious feature that wecked, aether. It was the glue that held together most of our inventions but the voice/feeling had told us to use mechanical means only, no aether and it upheld that. When we had tried to integrate aether into the inventions it had not worked, exploding into a million pieces. No matter the reinforcement they would just explode. I grit my teeth looking for something to do to take out my frustration on theck of progress. I looked down at Delta''s rifle. ''This will work'' Picking it up, I idly noticed how Delta''s gaze fell on me though nothing came of it. Even though Delta kept her rifle as her most prized possession, the time that we had spent here together had grown an implicit trust. Before where I would not even be able to touch it without harsh reprimand now I was allowed to fire it. Chapter 119 Mass Evolution (14) BOOM BOOM The recoil that resulted from the shots helped to clear my head. Where before it was all murky as I tried numerous solutions, vying for the one that may work, now my head was absolutely clear. Again my arm tried to adjust my aim subtly, but I was not one to let it do that. If it was duringbat then yes, but not now. Right now I wanted to feel the gun against my hands as I aimed it at imaginary targets. BOOM Another shot rang out as I pulled the trigger. The imaginary target that I had created in my mind was missed but that didn''t matter. I adjusted my aim, ignoring all the protests of my arm. I had been taking everything into ount while aiming. The air, the spin of the dirt ball we had been living on, the curvature, the distance, everything was taken into ount. All that was left was to pull the trigger. BOOM ''Bullseye'' I thought to myself, proud of my aplishment. Without the help of thebat systems that I had installed I had made a shot that was virtually impossible to the past me. The time that I had put into learning this was only a fraction of the morning. Though I did waste several hundred casings just to indulge in this. It was in that moment of celebration that a thought urred to me. ''Recoil, that was how we would do it.'' My eyes widened at the idea, my hand already running the idea through several simtors that Delta had given me ess to. ''It could work'' ¡­ "Delta!" A shout of excitement was what brought me out of my work. Looking to the source of the disruption I see the disheveled appearance of Rhea. Her hair matted with sweat, her breath heavy, there was no doubt that she had run all the way here from wherever she had set up to shoot my rifle. A stream of data flew into my systems as simtion after simtion ran. "That could work¡­" I thought out loud. With the impable control over my systems there was no way that I would unintentionally do that. No, it was more to the benefit of my apprentice. The girl was practically beaming despite her sweat soaked form, the praise that I had given was subtle, to anyone else it would just be a confirmation but to Rhea it was important. To know that her idea had amounted to something, somethingpletely original. I could tell how much it was grating on her that she could not create something original without any blueprints. Instead of letting those thoughts consume my thought processes, I instead did something more productive. With a wave of my hand, I motioned for Rhea to follow me. ¡­ Back in themand room, I brought out bunches of paper. "Design" I told Rhea, handing her a pen and pencil and a range of other tools. Immediately she got to work, the ideas flowing through her mind. I could see the intense concentration that was on her face. Drawings were made, specs were written as numerous ideas flew into the paper only to get rejected by either me, who had run the numbers, or her who had rejected the idea outright. "This, this will work!" Rhea said, holding up a piece of paper to me. Looking at what was written down it seemed the main function of this was to just prove that we could fly, not to carry anything but to have sustained flight. The design was simple, a capsule approximately the size of a room would be strapped to tworge pirs that would ignite and constantly release a rain of fire that would propel it up. "Let''s get to work" I said, deeming the design worthy enough to test. The capsule was the easiest part of the whole thing, taking only half an hour to build. Thebined strength or more urately my strength was enough to construct it. Rhea had tried to help but with only tier 7 strength she would have been more of a burden than anything. After that was done though came the hard part. We had to devise how we were going to propel it upwards. We knew how we were going to do it, the force that the fire would push onto the capsule would propel it up but the only problem was how we were going to do that. Initially we had tried gunpowder as a control to see how many pounds of force it could move but it turns out that when extrapted to the size of the capsule that the gunpowder would weigh too much to be able to do anything. That didn''t mean that we didn''t test anything, the way that we were going to propel it out of the atmosphere was still theoretical and we needed hard proof that it would work. To do that we created a miniature model, filling the two capsules around the main one with gunpowder. With a remote detonation the gunpowder all ignited, a rush of mes popping out the end. It had only lifted off the ground slightly but this had given us the data that we needed to refine the process. The first thing that we did was have it sectioned out, it was not a permanent solution but we needed to be able to control how much was being ignited at one time. After we did that we tested it again, this time lighting one part of the gunpowder on both sides and in milliseconds when that started to wane ignited the next. It seemed to work the capsule floating for a couple more seconds than the initial one had. The next thing that we did was narrow the exit space so that it would exit with more force. BOOM A small explosion rang out as the capsule was not able to hold the pressure of the gunpowder and exploded. Although we had failed it was good to know that we needed stronger materials in order to generate more thrust. The next thing that we did was make the materials stronger, to see how it would affect the vessel. The materials that we used were heavier, so we predicted that it would just stay the same, hovering the same amount of feet in the air for the same amount of time. We were correct, the only thing that it did was allow it to stay in the air for a millisecond longer. yawn~ My mouth involuntarily opened the exhaustion that I had been suppressing while experimentinging back to me. Looking out the window I noticed that it was dark, and realizing that Iid down on the floor and slept. Chapter 120 Mass Evolution (15) I woke to the sensation of a warm something hugging my form. I moved my arm and felt a soft nket holding it down. Flicking my eyes open, I blinked the sleep out of them, or at least as much as I could get looked around only to see that I was tucked into what seemed like a mattress and nket sitting in the corner of the room I had used for yesterday''s experiments. Further down I saw Delta, her eyes closed leaning against the wall. Though immediately after I had looked at her the green eye that wasn''t covered by her eyepatch had opened staring at me with a nk expression. Delta''s hand raised, pointing to the table where some nutritional slop was set out. I rose from the bed, the nket falling off of my form, and blearily walked to where Delta had pointed. With the utensil that was already ced out I scooped it into my mouth, swallowing without tasting it. The slop was nutritious,sting the whole day with the added bonus that I didn''t feel any hunger but the taste was not doing it any favors. It tasted like rotten fruit with the texture to match, that was the exact reason that I had just swallowed it. Even if I could not escape the texture of it, I sure as hell was going to escape the taste. Though even with swallowing it there was still this weird aftertaste that I went to rins from my mouth with some¡­ ''Oh'' I thought to myself, ''there''s no water'' I could only let the aftertaste dissipate on its own. Soon enough though my body had digested the food, the slop was made specifically by Delta to be digested by the body within minimal time. And with the food settling in my stomach my energy, that was almost nonexistent in the mornings was replenished, the aches in my body that came from the waking of my body were finally gone. yawn~ With that final yawn I was awake. Looking at the table where my experiments had been done I found a set of equations that I would have loved to delve into, however I was not able to do that, there were still things to be done before I could start the day. The rest of the things could be done in the bathroom, a shower and hygiene that was all that was left to do. With that I left the room, heading to the only bathroom in this section of the buiding. Delta was considerate enough to have a bathroom installed in each wing of the dock that she had built meaning that there were three in total. One in the main building, one in the dock and one in the research side. The one I was going to was in the research block. Once I got there it was a boring process that barely took five minutes. With that fine I speed walked back, my excitement almost unbearable. Opening the door I found Delta waiting for me, however I went straight to the table intending on researching the equations, though before I could do that a voice broke me out of my little fugue. "Ready" I nodded my head in reply, not bothering to do more as Delta approached the table. ¡­ When I found my apprentice, it was to her passed out form on the ground. Next to her was the sole table of the room, filled with hundreds of papers further filled with equations and observations. Though before I could check and organize the papers a groan brought my eyes back to her. ''I could spare some resources'' I thought to myself as I saw the ufortable scrunching of her eyes as she searched for warmth and the pitiful groans her mouth let out while. Her arms and legs unconsciously wrapped around her body, vying for the little warmth that they may give. With a snap of my finger I raised the temperature of the room and although it seemed to alleviate some of the difort she felt, Rhea was still tossing and turning this way and that. ''This will do for now'' With that thought I left the room, heading for the matter generator. It didn''t take long, not even a minute, the generator was just down the hall and out into the cold night. After I had arrived I input the setting for a bed and in moments it was done. With the bed being done I then input the settings needed for a fluffy nket. When that was done I lifted them both and walked back to the room. The cool air that had enveloped me while I was outside was reced by stagnant air that warmed my body. Not that I needed it, all I did was note the change and continue on, reaching the room in seconds. I ced the bed into the corner then ced Rhea there tucking her into the nket. With that I was done, I walked to the middle of the room and saw the numerous equations that had been written, rewritten and rewritten once more. It seems that while I was busy that Rhea had been testing the viability of her idea. With a flick of my wrist a pen appeared in my hands, new equations being written down based on the mmable liquid that I had made after numerous testings. When I was done writing it down, I ced a nutrient paste and utensil on the table for when Rhea woke and walked to the corner and closed my eyes, my back leaning to the wall as I let time pass. ¡­ I opened my eyes again to the sight of Rhea waking up, with a slight point of my finger I pointed her to the direction of the food that I had put out for her. After she was done eating she must have seen the equations that I had done earlier as her expression was sour. Not because I improved upon her work but because my apprentice wasn''t able to immediately dive into them, instead she had to go shower and freshen up. Again I closed my eyes waiting for her toe back and I didn''t have to wait long as 10 minutes after she had left Rhea was back. Immediately upon entering the room my apprentice ran to the table where the equations were etched in paper. "Ready?" I asked calling out to her and breaking Rhea from the fugue that she had almost set herself in. A nod and a nce set at me. "Yeah" with that excited exmation we got to work. ¡­ The equations that were written down were much different than my own. For starters they were assuming a different fuel source, one that was liquid and the other was that it would work perfectly unlike my own where there were some margins of error. "Where did you get this?" I ask pointing at the part of the equation where the fuel was defined. "Testing, the fuel is finalized" Delta replies sinctly before going back to watching me. Though I didn''t mind that, my mind wandered to the possibilities. I took the blueprint and headed for the matter generator absentmindedly noting that Delta had followed behind me. Chapter 121 Mass Evolution (16) It took no more than a minute to reach the generator but those seconds were agonizing as hundreds of ideas flew through my head. Each of them having minor differences and each of them resulting in a new result. My feet fell and rose from the ground as I walked towards the matter generator, the calctions running through my head as models were built and discarded to further sections of my memory, although the ones that I had discarded were likely not to work, I still noted them down to build. Even in failure we could learn something. The data of the failure would allow us to know what had worked and not. Furthermore the calctions wereplicated enough that I would need a piece of paper to properly do them, I could still sort of solve them in my head with the chip that I had installed doing the numbers. But that was all it could do, it did not have any memory, it could only crunch numbers and even then it could not go past ten to the hundredth no better than a standard calctor. The only advantage to it being that it had room to be upgraded. When I first had initially created the chip, I was not going to install it but Delta had urged me to do so. Not for any other reason but that it would ustom my body to foreign objects upying the space. Of course that problem could be circumvented by certain measures but the body''s innate hatred of all foreign things was something that would take significant space to get around, space that could be used for other things. Going back to the calctions I was only maybe half sure that any of them were right, the calctions were done but without paper or something that I could write it down on I wasn''t able to double check to make sure that my numbers were right. The hissing of the door opening brought me from my thoughts and finally I was looking at the matter generator. Behind me Delta entered, her light footsteps almost silent, if it weren''t for the hissing of the door as it opened once again to amodate Delta I wouldn''t have even known that she was there. Speaking of the doors, I wanted to study them. The mechanisms that allowed them to know when a person was in front of them and when and how to open were fascinating. Was it the heat we gave off, was it weight and how were the doors opened. What mechanisms were used. I broke those thoughts from my head as I saw Delta move towards the generator, theputer that controls the generator being yed with. Her fingers flew across the keyboard like some masterful musician, one key after the next being typed without dy. With a final click of the keyboard Delta stopped and waited for the generator to run. Within moments a liquid came out in a ss container,pletely sealed. I walked up to the container and grabbed it, turning it around this way and that as I inspected it. The liquid was entirely clear, There was not even a distortion in the liquid as I looked through it, though that was not the most eye catching point, no, that was the fact that it was bubbling from the oxygen that had been created when the generator had made the container. It was extremely reactive and I could not wait to test it. However to even get this into the container that I wanted, I would need a vacuum like container to our this into the rocket that I was going to test it with. "Shit" I muttered under my breath, I had not perfected the rocket. Even with this liquid it would be imperfect. With a click of my tongue I put the liquid down and headed back to the room. Different designs were already floating around my head but all of them were just variations, I wanted to test a whole different engine. It all came back to recoil, I knew from watching Delta that she had noted down a design that would give us effectively unlimited energy but how would I take advantage of that. ''Particles'' I thought to myself, my eyes widening, what if we used that electrical energy to elerate particles. There would be no need for fuel, if we could densely pack particles and use the electricity and the electric field that they produced tounch the particles out of the back of the ship then that would give us enough thrust to move no matter how small an individual particles thrust was. While I was going through the theory crafting my hands were not idle. Dozens of model rockets, each with a slightly different design were being built. Some had almost the same method of expulsion just different materials and other had wildly different methods of expulsion and the same materials. It was a mix and match to gather even more data, but before I could even start testing them I had to write my idea down, before it slipped through my mind during testing. I know that I would remember it but putting it down on paper reassured me. ¡­ Once the idea was down on paper I finally decided to find Delta, who was working on her own design. However it seemed like it wasn''t working judging by the numerous explosions that I had heard and all of the shrapnel that had littered the room that she was experimenting in. When I had entered I was surprised by the destruction that the room had undergone, the walls being littered with all sorts of debris, there was even some dirt on Delta''s dress that had been thrown on her, most likely from the explosions. With nk eyes Delta stared at me, her eyes boring holes into my own. Finally she broke her own silence. "Your models ready?" She asked a tilt of her head, the only other indication that she had even said anything. "Yeah" I excitedly answered, practically dragging her to the room. Chapter 122 Mass Evolution (17) BOOM Another failure, this time though it was because of the material, I had tried to create apound metal that could take more force and also be lighter but I had only seeded in making it lighter and weaker, which was worse than just using crude steel. At least with crude steel it would at least fly a bit before the pressure destroyed it from the inside. Looking at all the destroyed failures I held my head in my hand. "Tsk" I clicked my tongue while doing so, none of them had worked, everything that I had done to try and make this seed had ended in failure. When I had tried to separate it into different processes I had relied on gravity, gravity that we would not have in space and even though it worked it would not work when we were exploring space. I sighed, bringing my head from out of my arms, there was nothing to do but try again. If I was discouraged by such a measly failure then I would get nowhere. It was then that I looked to Delta, who had been watching, with each and every experiment I could feel the weight of her gaze growing more and more impassive, and even though I knew that she did not want to discourage me, I could still see the disappointment in her eyes. When I had dragged Delta from what she was doing, she too had been experiencing failures but at least with hers she was making progress. Progress on the idea that I had described to her, even with my faith in Delta I had thought it would take time to start seeing progress made on the particle engine but in the time that I was struggling she had made significant progress, of course most ended in failure but at least she was making progress. Though it was insanely difficult she had made more progress on that than I had on my project, at this point I was contemting giving uppletely and just working on self improvement while Delta figured out our way over to thoses. When I thought of all of that progress, of all the better things that Delta could have been doing instead of entertaining the failure that is me, the immense anger I felt at failing in my own task turned into shame and embarrassment. That piercing green eye looking on at me with veiled disappointment fueled the shame, fueled the embarrassment. Enough that my brain actually started to work. When my brains finally decided to reboot and work again I desperately searched for a solution, for even an improvement but nothing came despite the immense focus I put into my thoughts. Whenever I thought of a solution it all came back to different processes, if I could split them up and have only a certain amount of fuel be ignited then I could maybe solve this problem. ''But how¡­ how am I going to solve this?'' I kept on thinking to myself, again and again I searched for a solution but nothing came. It was only when Delta went to leave, her feet moving towards the door that something came to mind. Right when Delta was about to exit the door I came up with a concrete solution, something that might even help with future innovations. "Wait!" I shouted, wanting oh so desperately to show Delta what I hade up with. As Delta was about to take thatst step out of the door, she stopped hearing me, a almost satisfied smile on her face as she looked at me. "Found your solution?" She asked, the smile on her face finally making sense, the veiled disappointment that I had noticed. It was all a trick, one to make me desperate, to pull out the ideas that she knew I had hidden in my mind. "Yeah¡­ yeah I have" I respond, my voice shaky as I look at her walking towards me. A pat on my head and a sticker on my forehead was all that she did before truly leaving. "You can do this, I believe in you" With those final words she left the room, leaving me stunned. ¡­ It took me some time but finally I was ready to begin with my idea, the first thing that I would need was a chamber for the fuel to be held and pumped through. To do that I wanted topress it so that it would be shot out into where I needed it. The fuel that Delta had made was extremely reactive, so much so that even touching oxygen caused it to explode, it was exactly what I needed. The next part was another chamber that would instead of having fuel, have oxygen. Again this would bepressed and when the time was right both of these would be sent to another chamber where they wouldbine into an explosion. The gasses created by the explosion would then be led out of the back where the thrust would be generated. Once that was all drawn on a piece of paper, the multitude of ideas beingbined, I started to actually build it. I took some of the scrap metal that was lying to the side of the table and made a cylinder that waspletely airtight. I then made a piston of sorts that would be the exact size so that when pushed into the fuel source wouldpress it with no gaps for the liquid to go anywhere. Once that was done I made a hole in the cylinder, on the end where the fuel would be. After that had been made I created a hose that would fit onto the hole, on the end of the hose was a seal that would when released allow the fuel to be pumped to the chamber. Once that was done I took water and filled the cylinder with it in order to test the device. I was not going to use the fuel as I was only given a limited amount by Delta and I would prefer not to bother her because I made an idiotic mistake. Oh, and it could also explode but the other reason was more important. ¡­ 3, 2, 1 and go. So far so good the piston that had been put inside the chamber was doing its job well. The water was beingpressed andpressed. BOOOM Out of nowhere the water had pierced the metal turning it into scrap. Hurriedly I dodged out of the way making sure to not get hit. Even though it had failed, I still smiled. I had made progress, sure the first attempt had failed but still, progress Chapter 123 Mass Evolution (18) It had been a few days since my apprentices initial failure, the numerous prototypes that were sitting around all in various states of disarray were a testament to how much progress she had made. Before all of the models that Rhea had made all failed, none of them were even improving. They were all just different variations but now, whatever idea that she had came up with when I had pressured her was truly growing. Each and every failure that had been made on the previous prototypes was addressed and fixed and if they weren''t she would try any solution that came to mind. It was differentpared to when my apprentice had just been throwing random ideas and hoping one would stick. Now she was making educated guesses, and with each failure, with each sess, more data was gathered which allowed even more urate guesses to be made. Looking down at the failures it seemed that she was on the verge of sess, there was only one more problem that I could identify until it would start to work properly, the materials. All this time Rhea was using subpar materials and fixing the mistakes that hade from the design. But now that it had been fixed all that was left was to switch the materials for something more durable. Though even that was a problem, the materials had to be light as the thrust generated by this, when extrapted to full size, would need to be as light as possible otherwise it would be going even slower than the initial estimate. "guh¡­" A slight groan broke me from my thoughts as Rhea, sleeping, turned over on the mattress, the nket falling off of her. I walked over to her and picked up the nkets tucking her in. Though when I had tucked Rhea in I was not expecting her to immediately bunch the nkets and grab them like some hug pillow. A small smirk yed on my lips as I took a photo of Rhea doing that, I would have put a sticker on her but I did not want to wake her. After I was done with that I exited the room where Rhea was sleeping and went to my own experiment room. I thought back to earlier when I was running experiments to find out if it was even possible, to even know if it was possible I had toe up with a solution that would use the idea and even then I would have to experiment with that idea. What I hade up with is that using electricity I would charge a material with an opposite charge which would then be powerful enough to repel an ion. (AN: an ion is an atom with a charge) That ion would then be elerated with more charges that would then ultimately propel it out of the back. How much thrust that would give was still unknown but the amount was most likely so tiny that it might do nothing. However with how small this would have to be I could densely back billions, even trillions into one engine allowing a truly ludicrous amount of thrust. Say that a hundred of them could lift a pound then a billion of them could lift 10 million pounds or over 5000 tons. With how light I wanted the ship to weigh in the end that would allow us to elerate to ludicrous amounts of speed. Though that was assuming a lot, it was still up in the air if it would even work let alone lift that much. Though to even start innovating this I had started to research how to use charge to elerate something through a tube. That was a lot more challenging than I would have thought. To even begin with doing that I had had to go to the matter generator and create the anti-matter reactor, which had taken almost half of the day to build. I had to go off of blueprints that I had only seen once and memorized. Even though the blueprint was in my mind it still was a challenge to build, the inherent principles of how it converted energy were understandable and easily built but the actual core, the part that generated energy, that was a challenge. Multiple times I had part of my skin yed as the anti-matter that had not been contained well got out and touched me. Luckily there was not much of it otherwise I would have been damaged more. Eventually I was able to build it but that had already taken up so much time. The next thing that I had to do was create the tube that I was going to be testing. I didn''t know if I wanted something that had high, neutral, or low conductivity, so instead of choosing one I made three tubes each with a material that I would ce in one of the categories. With those done I needed something that could create a strong negative and positive charge. Those were easy being done within moments. With all of theponents being built I brought them to the room that I was going to experiment in. Assembling them together, the basic idea was that the one with the opposite charge would sit at the end of the tube, where I wanted the projectile to shoot out of and the one with the same charge would be ced around the whole tube so that it is both attracted and repelled to the end of the tube. At just the right time the opposite one would turn into the same charge which would give it a final boost out of the tube. With the prototype done I was ready to test it. cing in a material of the right charge in the right ce I started up the process. BOOOOM "Shit" I yelled out, the shrapnel narrowly missing me as I dodged out of the way. I went to inspect the mess and saw a giant hole in the wall. All of my other tubes were destroyed but I would call this a sess. When I had analyzed it, it had seemed as if the force of the material leaving the tube was so high that it had destroyed both the tube and the surrounding ones with the shrapnel that the tube had sent after exploding. Chapter 124 Mass Evolution (19) The days passed by as if they were a dream, hundreds of prototypes had been made and remade. Looking at the model before me I thought that I had finally got it right, the fuel pump, the airpressor, the thrust, it was all done. The only thing left to do was test it, to find out how far it could take us, if this was a viable way of space travel or if it would ultimately end in a failure. I turned my head away, my feet carrying me to the matter generator where the final prototype would be made. If this worked then I would be saying goodbye to the dock that I hade to call home over these past few months. It had taken me no time at all to reach the matter generator but in my head it felt like hours, like days, where my mind had gone back to reminiscing about all the failures, all the shouts of frustration and sess. About the joy that I had felt researching this. When I had first started the idea, it felt hopeless like anything that I did was going to turn into a failure but then in a moment of pure inspiration headed by Delta''s actions, I had solved the problem. After that it was smooth sailing, the failures leading into more and more discovery which all led up to this final moment where I would construct the final product. ¡­ I tightened thest bolt, the ship being built. I had added some design choices to it, instead of going for pure aerodynamics Ipletely ignored, taking more and more liberties until the final product was before my eyes. A sleek ship, with two wings that each held four engines, a body that could house Delta and I for as long as we needed, and at the very back was two more engines. I had done all of the calctions and this waspletely overkill. With the weight of the ship that I had built it would have only needed one engine at half force to be able to escape orbit and continue elerating but I wanted it to go fast, I wanted to reach speed that would kill a lesser human. ording to my calctions with all of the engines that it held, it would be able to go at the very least one tenth the speed of light, more than enough to get to thoses within a day if not an hour. I was proud of this, of all of the work that I had gone through to make sure this would work. While the engines were the most difficult part, what I hadn''t expected was for the actual materials to take so much time and effort to make. The ship needed to be able to take the force that going that fast would have on it. If I had just made it out of steel. "heh" Iughed at the very thought, if I had made it out of that then it wouldn''t have even been able to stand one of the engines. That was where Delta hade in though, apparently once she had seen my sess and had run the numbers on her own, she had opted to drop her project for now and help out. While the engine had been left to me, the actual ship and materials were designed and made by her. Of course she didn''t know of the changes that I had made, Delta just couldn''t appreciate how cool the design I had made would be and instead opted for the most aerodynamic ship which would have been just a giant cylinder. I jumped off of where I was standing and pressed a button on the bottom of the ship, entering millions of strings of numbers. The only reason that the code was that long was because both Delta and I had the processing capabilities to memorize them. While Delta was able to memorize thempletely because of her mental upgrades I had to store them in the muscle memory of my arm. Even though I had all of this time to upgrade myself I had chosen to leave that forter as I wanted to finish my design as soon as possible but now that I was actually thinking of it it may have been a good idea, to upgrade myself would have allowed me toplete it earlier or it might have taken dozens of days for even a slight increase. Just thinking about it caused a dilemma but I didn''t dwell on it much more, I was more excited to test out the ship than I was to upgrade myself. So with a hiss of air the bottom of the ship opened revealing a luxurious lounge. I had gone all out to make sure that the hull would be asfortable as possible, even if we were only going to be in there for a day at most I wanted to be sitting in luxury. All of the days where I was running around not caring forfort would be over, the hull of the ship carrying everything that I would need. Delta was preupied weaponizing the discoveries that we had made while producing the ship which left me all by myself. I giggled a bit, with Delta away I would be able to test this out first, I would be able to take it for a joyride while Delta was stuck on the ground. With swift movements I headed towards the cockpit, moving past the luxury beds and couches and even further through the kitchen. After I had gone through the housing section, I had to climb adder that would lead to the matter generator that had been installed into the middle where it could generate fuel and oxygen. The only problem with this was that we had to keep a storage of all the waste materials and dirt that we could fit on the ship withoutpromising the weight of the ship. Though that wasn''t too much of a problem seeing as I had added a couple extra engines. Either way our excrement and other waste would be sent to the tank which would then be recycled into running the ship. Even if we ran out there were asteroids andets that we could harvest from, however unlikely that it was. Shaking those thoughts out of my head, I climb thestdder into the cockpit and strap myself in. Chapter 125 Mass Evolution (20) Although there weren''t many buttons in the cockpit there were a great many things that I needed to connect myself to before I could even think of starting. My arm, the one that I had created, needed to be connected to the chair. An untold amount of wires wrapped around the arm, various diagnostics happening before it let go and I could feel my vision expand, the ship entering my awareness. With just a thought the engines were flipped on, the tform under me lifting up and up before the jet was pointed to the sky. The bindings, holding the jet to the tform were released and with a roar of the engines I was off. Instantly I could feel the pressure being forced onto my body. It was like I was beingpressed by hundreds of thousands of pounds of force. Luckily though we had ounted for this, as soon the pressure was equalized in the cockpit and I could barely feel the force of the jet moving anymore. The only way I could feel the jet now was through the numbers that my arm was feeding me. With both hands I took control of the steering stick, ps on the wings allowing me to turn the wings to the left and right. By the time that I was able to pilot it, the jet was already going over 1 percent the speed of light and I had circled around the little ball of dirt. This was enough for a test run though and I was ready tond. Pulling a switch the all but two of the engines were turned off, the jet bleeding speed as I slowed down and down. Eventually it had slowed enough that I was able tond it back in its ce on thending pad. The engines were rotated and put on theirnding setting where it used just enough fuel to barely lift the jet allowing it to slowly descend. Within a minute the jet wasnded, the mps of thending pad holding it down, ready for anotherunch whenever we decided that to be. I checked the fuel supply for just that run and was surprised. The reserves that were supposed to get us to the barelysted this short 10 minute test run. I don''t know if it was because I had them at full st or if it wasn''t as fuel efficient as I had hoped for it to be but we would need to make some modifications. Of course I could have just refueled with the matter generator but that only had enough in reserve to refuel 6 or so time enough for maybe ¡­ I had exited the jet and was expecting the base to be the same but for some reason there were subtle differences. For starters the messes that I had made while building the jet were gone and when I entered the experiment room that I had been using for my sleep all of the paper and other utilities that I had used were gone. A hissing sound was heard behind me and I found Delta waiting by the door, a stern expression on her face as she looked intently at me. "5 months" "What?" I questioned, I had no idea what Delta was talking about, I was only in the air for 10 minutes, my sensors had shown that. "Time dtion, for you it was 10 minutes, for me it was 5 months" Delta states again as if reading my mind. My eyes opened in shock, for a second I could not say anything. The shock of knowing that Delta had spent that much time here while I was only in the air for 10 minutes was¡­ was¡­ it was, I don''t know how to describe theplex emotions that I felt. A piece of paper was thrown at my head, blinding me for a second. The shock that I felt was lessened with the impact that the paper had given to me after being thrown. I tore it off of my face being careful to not damage it. On the paper was a set of equations. "When you left, I racked my mind for answers and that is what I came up with, the faster you go the more time passes for the one that is still" That¡­ that meant that if I was to even walk, then Delta was experiencing more time than me, however small it was but with how fast I was goingpared to Delta, it was no wonder that she had experienced 5 months of time. Quickly scanning the equation, I input my speed and Delta''s and find that it was exactly as she said, 5 months should have passed. ¡­ When Rhea, my apprentice, had disappeared, I had no idea what had happened to her. All I heard was the roar of the engines as she elerated out of the docks and within moments even that was gone. I had a giant idea that maybe she had died, but no, that would not make sense. If she had died the evolution would have either dialed or we would be booted out of here. However she had just disappeared. I racked my brain for solutions but nothing wasing up. It was only when I looked at the mirror that was held in Rhea''s room that I questioned myself. ''If Rhea was being carried at such a high speed would there not be time before I would even see a reflection of her?'' That very question set off a series of other questions like how would that work for instance. Though that question was answered simply, if Rhea was going at the speed of light, then it would take a whole second for me to see where she was a second ago. It would mean that to me a whole second could pass but I would only see the past second of Rhea''s moves. ¡­ AN: I have no idea how to do that math so don''t me me if it is wrong, I couldn''t find anything to help calcte how much time would have passed for 10 minutes at 1% the speed of light. Nor do I really know how rtivity works so take whatever I say with a grain of salt. Chapter 126 Mass Evolution (21) Countless calctions were run in my head, equations and proofs being run and run even further. Idly I tapped my fingers on my waist, humming to some unknown rhythm as more and more equations kept on filling my head. ''No, no not that'' An equation that could have exined the disappearance of Rhea passed through my head but when I simted it, it did not hold up. Cracks appeared in the equation as I pushed it further and further before itpletely cracked, no longer being able to describe reality. "Another" I spit out, with every equation that failed I grew closer and closer to my goal, the equations allowing me to delve deeper and deeper into the secrets of this universe. However there always seemed to be this missing piece that I could never grasp. This time I looked at it from a different angle, instead of thinking of it like a mirror I thought of it as a reflection. If my reflection was moving away from me at the speed of light then would I ever see my reflection, or would I see my past. ''Past, the past'' I thought to myself trying again and again to put this into numbers but it. Just. Won''t. Work! With a growl I threw the piece of metal that I was holding a great explosion ringing out as it impacted the wall, dust was thrown into my face as the explosion settled. ''There must be something that I am missing'' I thought to myself, but no ideas came to mind. If it was not speed then what was it, every single time that I tried to contain it in a theory revolving around speed, it just fizzled out like there was some missing puzzle piece. ''Wait, Revolving¡­'' The way that I had thought of gravity was that they pulled but what if that wasn''t true, what if instead the gravity pushed on the fabric of reality. My eyes opened as I hurried my pace, my course changing to another room, this one filled with paper and other objects. The doors opened and I hurriedly walked through them, grabbing a piece of paper I write down everything I know about gravity, about the force. Slowly as I wrote everything out I came to a disturbing conclusion, I was wrong. Gravity didn''t work like a mechanical force, instead it was like a weight on reality pulling it down so that things fall towards it but how does this rte to time dtion. How does it rte to Rhea''s situation, it didn''t. A sigh echoed from my mouth as I realized all of that work was for naught. I wanted to find out what had happened to Rhea not upend my world view. However it did do some good, the distraction clearing my head. With a clear head I tackled the problem again and found the solution almost instantly. BANG I banged my head on the wall, it was not like me to make such a human mistake, to let emotions cloud my rationale. With a sigh I finally confirmed that the theory was right and input all the variables that were relevant to Rhea''s situation and found the exact time that it was going to take before I would even see a hint of her. Of course there were some times that I might be able to track her but those would all be past situations that she had already passed by and what good was checking in on the past when I knew that she could take care of herself, especially with the safety features I had installed while watching her work in that design of hers. It was amusing to think that she thought she could have hidden such a difference in design from me. A small smile yed on my face as I reminisced on the times that I had snuck into the dock while she didn''t know I was there and just watched her work. It was not a wless disy of dexterity like mine but it was beautiful in its own way, the way that she slowly stumbled around finding solutions and fixing the failures. While watching her I would peruse the numbers that she had run toplete the work and fix the things I thought she needed to fix, though I said nothing. This was her project even if she wanted to hide it from me. Her having her own project that she had so much passion on was a good thing, though because of that there were inevitable failures in the design that I subtly tried to help her with, integrating them into my lessons that I had started back up. Just thinking of those times made me think of how hard these few months were going to be, I could at least takefort in the fact that I had done all I could to help her, maybe if I had stopped my apprentice, maybe if I had kept her to my design this may not have happened but I couldn''t think of what ifs. There were all kinds of what ifs that worked their way into my head but I shook those out of my head as the mechanical door opened and shut my feet carrying me to the room that I had been using for the development of my gauss weapon. Looking in I stared at the failures, every time that I had attempted to make one it would result in the destruction of the whole weapon. Some of them had failed because of too much charge, too little, or even just bad materials but it had all culminated in the prototype that I had my eyes on now. What my eyes had eventuallynded on was a chunky gun like object with coils running down the barrel. Other than that it was a standard gun if a bit ugly. However it worked and that was all that mattered for now. I could make it prettyter but for now I wanted to test it. A sweep of my hand and the gun was on my side, the ammo in my pockets as I walked outside. ¡­ BOOM A sound as if thunder had boomed right next to my ears rang out the recoil pushing my shoulder back and leaving a bruise. Although I could ignore the sound as I had been expecting that I could not ignore the recoil. A slight smile formed as I looked at the bruise, the recoil was great enough to pierce my defenses and bruise me, I wondered what it would do to an enemy. Chapter 127 Mass Evolution (22) A rumbling came from the sky, trails of fire were blocking the sight of thes. Rhea was back, my apprentice had finally appeared again. The jet that had disappeared 5 months ago let itsnding gears down as the tform raised up, ready to catch the jet as it fell from the sky. However I was not able to greet her, the gauss cannon in my hands still needed to be set up, if I neglected it then all the work that I had done to make it would disappear as it was exposed to the elements. I had majorly improved on the design, the one I currently held in my hands was sleek, looking more like a hunting rifle than the gauss cannon that it was. The only problem with the design was that the gathering of energy would destroy it unless it was shot at the exact moment which was right now¡­ BOOM The brace that I had made for it absorbed most of the impact, and although I could still hear the bang of the gun as it discharged the round it was faint as the sound of the jetnding covered the boom of thunder like noise it carried when shot. Finally ready I headed towards the dock, however when I got there a good amount of time had already passed meaning that Rhea was most likely in the room that she had been using. I changed course from the dock to the room, my footsteps were light allowing me to sneak up to the door without making any noise but it was all pretty much for naught as the sound of the sliding door opening alerted my apprentice to my arrival. "5 months" I stated firmly, my eyes locking on to her own. "What?" My apprentice questioned, a puzzled look on her face. "Time dtion, for you it was 10 minutes, for me it was 5 months" I simply state, my deadpanhaving more effect than I had thought. Rhea''s eyes opened wide as she took in the reality of what I had said. Throwing a piece of paper that I had picked up on the way over to Rhea, I lean against the wall waiting for her to read and understand the equation. "When you left, I racked my mind for answers and that is what I came up with, the faster you go the more time passes for the one that is still" I added, watching her understand the equation. ¡­ "Come, we are leaving" Imanded, waving my hand towards the jet. "Huh, but it''s not ready yet?" Rhea asks, most likely a handful of problems that she had alreadye up with from the short ride that she had taken. "Doesn''t matter we arepleting this mission now" With that I got up from where I was leaning on the wall and walked towards the jet, a reluctant apprentice following me. After we had reached the hangar that held the jet I snapped my fingers allowing the sound to be heard throughout the room, the noise detectors that I had set up activated, raising the jet upwards, towards the sky. Of course this couldn''t be done without aether, the noise detectors, the hangar, the dock that the jet was held in, they were all made using aether. It seemed that whatever was testing us was more focused on us soaring in the sky technologically that it had neglected to fail the other inventions that would help. It was the whole reason that the matter generator even worked, of course the one on the jet was purely technological but because of that it was severely restricted only being able to make food and fuel, nothing else. Once the jet was raised adder fell from the bottom allowing me to climb up and into the hull, behind me Rhea had followed, her form slowly ascending with me. Though it seemed that she was a bit reluctant to get on for some reason, that wasn''t going to stop this. I wanted to get this over with, no matter how much fun I had building these things. They weren''t real, they were just things that would be discarded immediately after we finished evolving. Once I had confirmed that Rhea was in the hull I had her strap down to one of the chairs, ready for takeoff as I climbed up into the cockpit. ¡­ Mechanical wires were deployed, feeling up my imnts and allowing me to fully interface with the jet. A series of mental buttons and checklists were run through as I started up all of the engines. 3..2..1 Thending gears were up, all the restraints that were holding us down to the ground were left behind as the stars rabidly grew closer. However I wasn''t going for the closest one, no, that would be too easy. Instead I was aiming for the farthest one that my vision allowed me to see. It was the same in how we were able to use aether to construct support buildings, I had used aether to allow me to see far off into the distance without the need to wait for the light to reach me. This had allowed for me to see thest, one that was light years away and would take approximately 2 years to traverse to. While the jet only had enough thrust to elerate it to 10% of light speed, that was only when it had to constantly maintain the speed. Now that we were in space there was no need for it to fight the air. Now it could constantly elerate allowing for us to elerate faster and faster until we were going so fast that light couldn''t reach us. Though that might be a problem in the future it was not one now, the current problem was resources. During our journey we would need to stop and gather resources from asteroids but to do that we would need to get out. ''How would we do that?'' Chapter 128 Mass Evolution (23) A series of mental checks were made as I confirmed the course the jet was to take. There was nothingplicated about it, just a series of instructions but that was not all that was uploaded to it, an algorithm made personally by myself was uploaded along with a nascent intelligence to monitor and learn. The intelligence would learn from both myself whenever I connected myself to the jet and by the jet itself. While it would mostly learn from me, I wanted to introduce outside stimuli and the jet was perfect for that. If it could quantify and understand the data that was being sent from the sensors of the jet and by the autopilot itself then it would go a long way into developing its own consciousness. With the intelligence uploaded and a suitable amount of instructions sent I rose from my seat, the mental wires connecting me to the jet were snapped, the autopilot taking over as it went through the calctions and prepared to adjust course whenever we went off course. ng ng Soft footfalls echoed out in the jet as I climbed down thedders towards the living area where I knew I would find Rhea. ¡­ The roaring of the jet finally stopped as features I did not know of activated, absentmindedly I noted that Delta must have been aware of my change in designs because these features, I had never actually thought of them nor had I had any involvement in the building and implementation of them. I was soon broken from those thoughts as soft footfalls echoed through the quiet hul, a figure descending from thedder that connected the living quarters to the engine room. A smirk on her face, Delta descended, staring intently into my eyes while walking further towards me. "Good news is we''ll make it to the farthest, bad news is we''re going to the farthest" Delta stated, a yful smile recing the smirk as she brought her face close to mine. Shock was most likely wildly apparent on my face. Although the jet could make it on the fuel that we had it would onlyst for a month, after that we would not be able to elerate nor decelerate. Then there was the problem that the food would run out, sure Delta could survive but me, I could not survive without those essentials. "Don''t worry, we just need to create something that can pick outets or asteroids while going at our speed." "That- how is that possible, we are going at near light speed!" I replied, gesturing wildly to the jet around us. "We have a month to figure that out" a wild smile was upon her face now, I was stunned. It was the most emotion that I had ever seen on her face, it was- it was as if she had wanted this, but what was this. ''Was this a challenge, was it just exciting, what was this?'' ¡­ My eyes cracked open, my arms stretching as my stomach growled in hunger. Slowly I rose out of bed, my eyes still bleary as I looked for water. The surrounding tables near the bed that I hadid myself to rest inst night¡­st night. Could it really be calledst night, there was no measure of time in space, we could use the system we used in the realm but that wouldn''t exactly be urate. It would have been a day on the realm but would it have been for us. I shook my head, the mental rust that had umted while sleeping was shook off by the small problem that was found in my head, though still I had not found water and my thirst only grew by the minute. I could have sworn that I had put some dispensary for water and food into the living quarters so that I would not have to climb all the way up and program the matter generator to give me water or food. Finally I just sighed, the thirst overtaking me as I climbed out of bed and into the engine room where the matter generator sat. With the click of a few buttons the generator spit out a ss of water and a nutrient paste, enough to get me through the day. With a gulp I downed the water, my parched throat drinking in the water. "Hah" With a sigh of relief I looked to the paste before quickly scarfing it down and although I washed it down with another ss of water the sickly aftertaste still clung to my mouth. ng ng The sound of feet hitting metal found its way into my ears. Turning to the source I saw Deltaing down from the cockpit where she had secluded herself after dropping that bomb onto me yesterday. "Ready?" She questioned, looking at the empty sses of water and food that I had eaten. I just nodded my head in response, following her down to the living quarters where blueprints had beenid out despite theck of noise that I had noticed. Not that I was surprised by that, the only reason I could even sense Delta most of the time was because she deliberately made noise or announced her presence in some sort of way. If she really wanted to hide from me there would be no way for me to sense her, something that I wanted to work on but had gone to the wayside in favor of working on the jet that we sat in. "We are going to be upgrading you" Delta ordered, her tone allowing for no questions to be asked. Though I asked one anyway, I knew that Delta meant no harm to me. "Why?" It was a simple question but I wanted, no, needed to know. There were so many other things that we could do in favor of upgrading my body. "Many reasons, chief among them being that you are not up to my standards and can not help with the creation of many things" Chapter 129 Mass Evolution (24) The days passed by in a blur, information and creation, those were the only two things that I knew of as the days passed by. Delta had deemed it prudent that my digestive system be reworked immediately, not even allowing me to design it instead opting to copy her own unto me. It worked but it left me bitter that I could not dictate my own upgrades, however I knew the necessity of Delta''s decision. If she had not done that then I would have starved to death in theing weeks. With the addition of the new digestive tract though, I was able to extract 100 percent of the nutrients in the nutrient paste whereas with my human one I would only have been able to extract maybe 5 percent if I was lucky. Not that the paste was designed poorly, just that the human digestive tract was not able to digest it even when Delta had specifically designed it so that I would get the most nutrients. But now that I had the enhanced tract the nutrient paststed me a whole two weeks before I needed to eat it again, however that only amounted to a year and a third of food which wasn''t enough if this was to be a two year journey. Delta was able to stave off her hunger for decades with the help of aether but I didn''t have that luxury, my own not being potent enough to be able to do that. The digestive tract wasn''t the only upgrade though, my imnt and other arm had been majorly upgraded. First came the arm which was pretty much an exact copy of my other except that it had been upgraded slightly by the knowledge that Delta had beaten into my head. Of course the other arm wasn''t spared that treatment either so in the end they were both the same. The real upgrade came in the form of the imnt, together I with the help of Delta was able to majorly upgrade both the processing power and memory of the chip. Though that came at the cost of it inducing a powerful headache as I got used to the increase in both memory and speed of the brain. There was also the fact that the upgrade allowed Delta to directly upload data to my brain, which majorly sped up my own training. By the end of the month I was able to upgrade myself fully into the realm of tier 5''s. ¡­ It had been a productive month, with the fear that Rhea might actually die if I were to not upgrade her to a manner in which she wouldn''t need air nor food and water to survive or at least find a solution to the resource problem. Even if I knew that I could most likely find a way within the time it was still a great motivator, to be able to feel that fear, it brought me to new heights. New ideas were brought to mind one after the other but I implemented none of them, only noting them down in the recesses of my mind, my whole being more focused on educating and allowing my apprentice to upgrade herself than selfish ideas. Though I did have to intervene and give her the temte for my digestive track, however that did not mean I coddled her. No, it just meant that I pushed her harder, not even helping with the adaptation and creation of it. It took a while, a whole week gone before she had finally seeded. When I had finally seen the final product that she had proudly presented to me I was happier than I had ever been, maybe it was the realm or maybe it was my apprentice but these days I was showing more emotion, more interest in the world other than the protection of Aoif and the innovation of technology. ¡­ Days and nights passed by as we grew closer and closer to the that I had set course to. The nascent intelligence that I had created had not developed as I had intended, however that was a good thing, whether it was a failure or not, it was still good data. Although it had not developed into a full consciousness that did not mean that I erased it, no, instead I gave it the job of keeping the jet. To fully pilot it to the best of its ability would be its new purpose. It seemed happy, or at least as happy as a nascent intelligence could be given its current intelligence. I shook those thoughts out of my head, focusing on my apprentice that sat under me. This would be thest upgrade that she made to herself and I would be the one to do the surgery. Even if I wanted to have Rhea do it, I could not, for this to work her brain needed to be fully shut off. Rhea would need to be effectively brain dead for the duration of the surgery. It unnerved me a bit at how close Rhea would be to dying here but all the necessary precautions had been made, no matter how it went whether it was a sess or failure, she would survive. I would make sure of it. ¡­ Slowly my hands started to move, her hair being cut off as I shaved it down to allow me ess to her brain. Once that had been done I cut a line going from her forehead to the back of her head, opening it up with swift movements. Next to me were the imnts that she had spent thisst year designing. I had personally looked over them and given them the thumbs up but even now I was nervous. If there was any failure in this it would take me exerting myself to the fullest to even have a chance to save her. I took a deep breath, preparing myself. And with that I began the hard part of the surgery, my hands stable and the new imnt in my hand. Chapter 130 Mass Evolution (25) Darkness, that was all I could see as my body went through many checks, the new systems being integrated into my consciousness. Light, the orange hair and shining green eye of my teacher appeared in my vision. A finger reached up to her hair as she pulled a strand of hair out of her eyes sight. "Guh¡­" A stabbing pain echoed throughout my skull, my senses going haywire for a second as they recalibrated ording to the information packet that had been sent directly into my imnt. My vision fell, reced by data, it felt almost physical as if I could pluck at the strings of reality and change them ording to my will. My hand reached up, the chaotic data that was Delta appearing at the tips of my fingers. "Gah¡­" Another groan of pain fell through my lips as my fingers twitched as if they were shocked by thousands of volts of electricity. ''Pain¡­ stop¡­ please'' The words were barely through my head before the strange vision that I had found myself viewing had dissipated a normal view reappearing. The stabbing pain gone, reced by a feeling of numbness. "heh¡­" Augh echoed from my mouth, I could only guess that some drug had been injected into my veins as my vision turned ck. ¡­ Again my vision returned to me and again the pain appeared, though this instance was slightly less painful. Next to me I could see the blurry orange hair of Delta standing over me worryingly, a green eye staring into mine. Another bout of pain, this time heavier than the others, appeared not in my head but on my body. It was as if thousands of tons were sitting upon me, my limbs would not move no matter how hard I willed them to. My arms though, they were still giving out data and so, even though my vision was blurry, I could assess my situation. From the data that my arms had given me it seemed like a case of paralysis, the signals from my brain were reaching them and they could respond back but the signals were jumbled, tensing the wrong muscles at the wrong times. "Sleep" I heard from above me, a hand sweeping the now long hair that fell into my face out of the way. I couldn''t nod, nor could I say anything in confirmation. The only sound that came from my mouth was a grunt that I hoped Delta had taken as affirmation. With great difficulty I closed my eyes, the constant stream of information being cut off as I ended all the current processes allowing for my body to fall into a deep sleep. ¡­ Looking down at the sleeping form of my apprentice I could not help but think of this as my fault. Despite the efforts that I had put in to make the surgery go as smoothly as possible it still backfired. The imnt was sessfully added but it had unintended consequences. Chief among them was the paralysis that seemed to be lessening as time passed on, though just by seeing how a mere touch by me had indisposed her I had decided to observe and see what her condition would be in a couple days time. However we were running out of raw materials fast, the living quarters had already been almostpletely gutted in favor of extracting the resources that had been used to make them. Gutting the living quarters had allowed for Rhea to continue living for another few months, if we really pushed it we may be able to make it to the before we ran out of supplies but that was up for grabs. Looking out of the window, I took the eyepatch off of my eye and hurled a ether into it, not caring for the waste. My other eye closed, the difference in vision that came with my eye being enhanced was dealt with. ¡­ A huge, most likely hundreds if not thousands of timesrger than was possible however even though that was an impossibility, what was even more impossible was the feeling I felt em enacting from it. Even from my perch, zooming in from the jet hundreds of light days away, it still felt like I was watched. An aura of malevolence tempered by a ray of light pierced the ship and my defenses pushing me down to one knee. I grit my teeth, my aether flying recklessly out of my body, resisting the pressure of the''s aura. ¡­ Again I woke, but this time my vision was not as blurry as it had been the previous times. Twisting my neck, I could finally move it a bit. The fingers of my hands twitched as the muscles in my legs failed me again. "Tch" I clicked my tongue unconsciously, still not being able to lift myself from the bed that I had been stuck in for who knows how long. [5 days] Not helpful, arm. Using the measly power in my neck I red down at my arm that seemed to have gained some sarcasm. I looked away from the arm and up to Delta and what I saw surprised me. Sweat poured down Delta''s forehead as a kaleidoscope of colors flew from her bodybatting some invisible enemy. I twitched my leg muscles again, desperately wanting to get up but it was of no use, the signals that were sent from my brain to the legs were useless. They had gotten lost in their way. "Guh" I grit my teeth, enduring the pain that activating that strange vision caused me. Immediately my once clear vision was blurred, Reced with data. Wisps of data seemed to whip around Delta,shing out whenever they wanted to with no pattern. I saw a cloud of data enduring the onught the wisps of data inflicted upon her. I tried to reach out my hand but no such feeling came. Looking down I could see errors, errors in the data of my arm, of my whole body. Gritting my teeth expecting more pain I start to change the data, the process being purely instinctual. Slowly, one by one, the errors were processed and fixed. Feeling was regained in my arms, then my legs, Then my whole body. I stood my legs bringing me to the wisps that were attacking my teacher. Chapter 131 Mass Evolution (26) Darkness, it was the only thing I could see. My whole vision filled with a void of nothingness. It was the same nothingness that I had viewed upon my first arrival to that evolutionary realm. With my new sensors I tried and tried to look anywhere, to find anything that could signal where I am or at the very least how this had happened. However, even though I went through an exhaustive process of using all of my senses I found nothing, nowhere around me could I find a trace of anything. I was truly in a void. ¡­ I looked behind me, Rhea was gone. There was no sh of light, no sensation that would have told me that my apprentice was gone. It was only by my instinct that I had noticed her disappearance. "Guh" A low grunt escaped from my mouth as the took my moment of distraction to speed up their attack. Blood leaked from numerous cuts, however they were soon patched up. Fresh skin reced the damaged as I focused my full attention on the. My eyes narrowed as I red further into it trying to find the exact reason why I was feeling so much pressure. For now I could disregard the disappearance of my apprentice, the had my full attention. ''Further'' I thought to myself, enhancing my vision with as much aether as the eye could take. ¡­ ROAR My roar echoed out as I applied my pressure into the being that had dared to challenge my sovereignty, I could tell its intentions at first nce. It wanted my, it wanted my resources. Whatever it was, this being that dared to challenge me was strong. A toothy smile split my face as I stretched my wings, mountains crumbling as my legs stretched. Below me the core of the was covered by an endless amount of dirt that I had created. "Come, I''m waiting" I roared into the night sky. ¡­ I looked away, it was of no use to even nce at the creature that used the as a territory. It had challenged me, it could wait the few days that it would take to get there. In the meantime while I waited I needed to configure my weapons, it would be a shame if this creature did not feel my full power. Days passed as I configured and created new mods for my weapons, the creature that I was going to fight was massive, there was no doubt that I would need to be as destructive as possible. It was why I had hastily created what I would call a true bomb. Something that would disintegrate anything it came into contact with. An antimatter bomb, using the core''s blueprint that I had memorized, I weaponized the theory of antimatter. If it could disintegrate my armor then it would no doubt be able to kill that overgrown lizard. ¡­ Sitting on the top of the jet while it was in orbit of the I looked down. It was a luxurious, filled with vegetationand life. Some of the creatures seemed to naturally emit some aura that seemed vaguely threatening but that was not what I looked at. No, what I was looking at was the massive creature that covered more than a wholend mass by its own size. Not to mention the wings that looked as if they could wrap around the world. I smirked as I looked down at the face of the creature. A huge cannon was set over my shoulders, I had not been able to make a cannon shoot antimatter but I went for the next best thing, a rod of god. Using the immense gravity of the I would send down some of the heaviest, sharpest, and biggest pirs that I could make with the resources at hand. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM Four pirs, four wounds, its wings were crippled. The joints holding them together were severed. ROOAAAAAAAR A roar of pain echoed in the sky, I could hear it even from where I stood, in the upper orbit of the. As those were the only pirs that I had the resources to make, they were the only things I could send down without the fear of retaliation. But now that I had nothing that I could send from this altitude I jumped, the wind whipping in my ear as it attempted to pierce the protective armor and skin of my body. I raised the eyepatch and ced it into my pocket, a green eye with a cross in it stared down. BANG BANG BANG Hundreds of shots fired out as I fell to the ground. A swipe to my body was missed as I used the recoil of my gun to redirect my body down to the ground faster. BOOOOOM A huge dust cloud rose into the sky as my body fell to the ground, however I didn''t let that affect my vision as immediately uponnding I ran to the nearest part of the body that I could find and with a pull of the trigger annihted it with aether enhanced bullets. Blood sprayed out, painting my figure red as I rushed towards its head, shooting at everything that came after me. ¡­ "PUNY BUG!" I roared out as thousands of magic circles appeared in the sky, each taking an insignificant amount of aether to create. Upon creating them I immediately released their effects, as thousands of elemental arrows of all kinds lit up the sky. ROOAAR I roared again as none had hit my target, she was surprisingly agile and although I could see all that came into the range of my body there was no way for me to pinpoint her. Of course I could see her but to pinpoint her exact location and send a spell there to annihte her was impossible. My eyes narrowed into a re as I activated another spell, this one was not one of offense but of transformation. It would allow me to condense my body into a form more suitable for battle, one that would be approximately 5 times the size of my current enemy instead of the continental size of my body now. Of course my wings would be forfeit if I did that but I could grow another pair, these ones right now are just a nuisance. A massive pir of light consumed me as my body condensed into a more dense one, fit for battle. Chapter 132 Mass Evolution (End) I pulled the trigger again, hundreds of bullets flying at my opponent. Blood sprayed out as the bullets pierced the thick hide of the creature I fought. There was no roar of anger, no words of admonishment, the only thing I felt was the gathering of a truly massive amount of aether. The surrounding nts and life that had not been killed already, withered, their bodies turning into gray corpses as the energy gathered was sent to the creature. A huge pir of light appeared just as quickly as the energy was gathered, consuming the creature. I did not know what it did but I was in the midst of its range, with quick steps I tried to leap out of the pir of light though I was not quick enough as the pir of light reached its peak. ¡­ I was blinded for a second, panic overtook me as all of my senses, not just my sight were robbed from me, I truly was blind for that one second. However soon after I regained my calm as my vision returned. I looked upon the creature and what I saw brought a smirk to my face. The creature that was once the size of continents now only measured up to the size of 30 feet, a much easier target. Before the creature could even begin to start to attack me I charged, the grenades at my sides being thrown at him. BANG BANG BANG Explosions rang out as cuts appeared on the creature, it seemed that his mass had been condensed into that form as the grenades that could once reach blood were only able to provide scratches. A small frown appeared on my face as I brought out the gauss cannon, with a pull of the trigger I aimed for the head of the creature. BOOOOM The sound of the sound barrier being broken rang through my ear as a heavily charged piece of metal drilled its way to the creature, however it didn''t hit true. The projectile was dodged, the creature quickly advancing with surprising dexterity. I quickly backtracked, my feet carrying me further and further as I face towards the creature sending hundreds of bullets his way as I retreat. A red glow appears around the creature, blocking the bullets and allowing it to advance with greater speed. I narrowed my eyes, making sure to keep an eye on him and the surroundings at all times, I would not be able to retreat fast enough to keep up the barrage of bullets. Knowing that I advanced instead of retreating, surprising the creature as his barreling wasn''t able to be stopped so easily. I jumped and flipped over the creature''s body, making sure to drop one of the antimatter bombs that I had made onto his body. Landing behind him I detonated the bomb. Instantly a whole arm was taken, the bomb threatening to take more before the creature could even react, however he decisively took action, preemptively cutting the whole arm off and retreating away from the st zone. However while the creature was doing this I was not idle, firing more and more shots out of my gauss cannon. BOOOM BOOOM Holes appeared on the creature''s body as more and more shots found their target. ROOOAAARRR The creature seemed to have had enough, ethereal wings growing behind it to block my following shots. "Guh" A rock was thrownnding directly to the right of me, throwing shrapnel into my body. I had not noticed the rock had even been thrown, the ethereal wings not just blocking my shots but also my senses. So engrossed in firing more and more shots was I that I had not noticed the false data that the wings were feeding me, luckily I was able to dodge in time, the rock not having the same protections against my senses as the creature did. "Shit" I eximed, not caring if the creature had heard me or not, the rock was not ordinary, just as all the life on this was, I could feel it. The rock was filled with as much aether as the average tier 5 creature. That in itself exploding on me would have done damage to me but enhanced by the aether of the creature I was fighting, turned it almost deadly to me. Looking at the stock of weapons in me, I only had 3 more antimatter grenades. I would need to make them count. With one in hand I charged fourth, ballets riddling the wings that shielded the creature. Boulders were thrown at me and subsequently dodged as I drew closer and closer to the creature. Eventually I reached the ethereal wings of the creature and leaped, vaulting over the wings and instead of jumping behind him like I had done before, Inded on his head. A swift application of duct tape and the bomb was taped down to the creature''s forehead. Jumping up off of his head I detonate the bomb. ¡­ Again I saw darkness, but his time I could tell I could move. TapTap My feet echoed through some sort of metal chamber as I walked down the path. bang My head was mmed into a wall and before I could even think to react I saw light. My eyes that had ustomed to that void of darkness were bombarded with senses. Next to me I saw Rhea, who had disappeared before I had started my fight with that creature. Honestly he was a bit underwhelming, I thought when I went to fight him I thought him to be a formidable opponent but with the antimatter bombs even his thick hide was not able to fight the destructive force of the bomb that I had strapped to his head. It was a bit disappointing but I could feel the strength that I had gained from defeating him, it seemed like that was the final trial because said strength was enough to crush him with just a finger. Chapter 133 Assault (2) "I''ming, I don''t care what you think of it" She finished. "Hah" I sighed, my eyes slightly narrowing as I stared at her. "Follow me" Imanded, giving into my apprentice''s desire. Although I was intending for this to be a solo mission to test my prowess, I guess that I could allow Rhea to gain somebat experience. "If it gets too dangerous I am bringing you out of the fight" I sternly warn, looking straight into her eyes. A smile bloomed on her face as she nodded, the words seeming to go in one ear and out the other as she seemingly only registered that I was willing to bring her. I walked out of the research hall, passing all of the other workers that were mad producing simple guns. I nced between them, there were some that I thought I saw some talent in but most of them were ordinary, only here because they were good at following instructions. Finally I reached outside where I could test my new senses that I had been suppressing while I talked with Darwin. "Hah" I released a breath I did not know I was holding as my aether spread throughout the air. Instantly my sensors were filled with data, the aether in the air gathering it and sending it back to me to process. I found that I only needed to process the data as the spreading gif my aether was so efficient that I had covered the whole continent in seconds. "Rhea, try and feel my aether" Imanded my apprentice who stood next to me seemingly mesmerized by the thick particles of aether that emanated off of me before dissipating into the wind. Nodding her head Rhea agreed but her attention was still on my form. flick I flicked her head, a small grunt of pain and protest echoing out of her mouth as her focus was broken. "Try and sense the aether not around me." Imanded her again and this time she had actually done what I had told her to do. Her eyes closed as her brows scrunched in concentration. "Nothing, I can''t feel anything other than the usual aether" A smile was brought to my lips as I confirmed my theory, it seemed like the aether that I let out to scan the continent was so thin that you could not sense it even when so close to me. Finally I looked at the data, interpreting it and found the whereabouts of the Gauls that had attacked us. Once again I took a breath and with it the aether that I had sent out was withdrawn, the aura around me settling down. "I found them" A nod and we were off, no more words were needed to be said between us. ¡­ I looked through the scope of the rifle that I was holding, hundreds of Gaul were sitting around the camp that they had set up. I could not see their leader, only the lesser Gaul. Taking a breath, I lined up my shot. Everything was taken into ount, the wind, the environment, the air, even the rotation of the realm we were on. Another breath. BANG The bullet rang out, as loud as any other and a head pooped like a watermelon. Blood spraying everywhere. Again I lined up another shot. BANG Another dead, however by the time that I had sent the second shot l, going through all the calctions, they had found my spot. The sound of their feet pounding against the ground as they charged at me, enraged at the killing of theirrades, rang in my ears. I retreated from my spot, making sure that I made as little noise as possible. Delta behind me was hiding in some tree or something, most likely looking for the leader or she had already found him and had left. Either one of those were possibilities as I was not able to sense Delta at all, her integrated technology was able to spoof my own sensors meaning that I could only find her when she wanted to be found. Coming back from my thoughts I found that the Gauls had made it a significant way up and we''re approaching my hiding spot. With deft fingers, I disassembled the rifle I was using and put it away, bringing out a simple pistol of my own make. BANG BANG BANG ? I fired three shots, surprising them as they likely thought that I was going to continue hiding. While they were surprised I burst out of my hiding spot a burst of bullets echoing my own arrival. ¡­ BANG BANG BANG BANG Iemptied the rest of my magazine into thest enemies, a horde of bodies behind me as I sat down. Sighing I took a deep breath, throughout the whole fight I had seen no Gaul that was stronger than tier 7 and with the advantage of my mobility and firepower I was easily able to take them down. Though that did not mean that I wasn''t tired, no, it had taken a lot of concentration giving me a mild migraine other than that I aches in my legs, the constant running had taken a toll on my unenhanced legs. "Delta?" I called out hoping that she was somewhere around her. "Yeah?" She asked appearing in front of me. "Why wasn''t the¡­ the" "The leader?" "Yeah the leader, why wasn''t he here?" "Forward camp" was the only answer I got, though it was enough. The camp that I had assaulted was only a forward operating camp, meaning that there wouldn''t be anyone high ranked here, just enough for the camp to be run. "Follow," I was broken out of my thoughts by Delta who, again, hadmanded me to follow her. I got up from the ground that I sat on, my legs protesting however they had no say in this, with grit teeth I pushed on, running beside Delta despite my legs protest. Chapter 134 Assault (1) A great sh of light, a crushing presence, those were the first things that I could feel as Delta and Rhea appeared from their evolution. "Are you ok?" Rhea worriedly asked Delta, checking her body for any wounds and finding none which wasn''t weird, it seemed like every time I evolved something that they would be repaired. Absentmindedly I noticed the slight bang of something impacting the warehouse of the research hall. However my attention was soon brought back to Delta, she had closed her fist, looking at it intently. Power burst from her body as the gravity of the room increased. It took me reinforcing my whole body just to resist the power that she had released. Though just as quickly as it was released was it contained, a faint feeling of power still surrounded her but at least the gravity was returned to normal. "We were recently attacked, yes?" Delta asked, looking at me with her usual deadpan face. "Yeah, by the Gaul''s" A nod of her head and the tapping of footsteps were the only notice I was given as her form soon disappeared from the room, heading for what I could only assume to be the Gaul''s. I would not stop her though, there was no reason to. With how much strength Delta had achieved in her evolution I had no doubt that they would pose no problem. Rhea, who had sat stunned at the disy of power, recollected herself, running towards Delta. Only stopping to say a "Thank you, My Lord" before quickly passing me to follow after Delta. Melina beside me had already ced her head upon my shoulder waiting for me to make my decision. "Hah" I sigh, I had not expected for Delta to grow so powerful. I had thought that I would have to evolve many more things before we could fight back but with this progress all it would take as a couple more evolutions before we would be unstoppable in this realm. But what then, yes I have always had the desire to conquer everything, to take every realm for my own but what now. I have nothing to do, nothing to aplish, everything I would aplish would be done by my subordinates, not by my own power. I sat on the ground, the cold steel of the ground reaching my legs. I grabbed my spear from where it hung on my back and looked down on it. This spear had been with me for as long as I was fighting here, I had been intending to create a new one, one that used materials evolved to their peak but now, now I was attached to it. ''Evolve'' I thought to myself, targeting the spear and myself. I did not know if this would work. I had never tested if an object and a living being could evolve together. A light, this time of no color consumed me. My vision soon turned to ck as a void of nothingness filled my vision. ¡­ Behind me I could hear Rhea following. I stopped, leaning against the wall as I waited for her to catch up to me. The sound of almost silent footfalls fell upon my ears as my apprentice walked up to me. A weapon not of my make holstered at her side. "Stay here" Imanded, there was nouse in taking her with me. This extermination was to test my newfound abilities and strength, not to temper my apprentice in blood. "No" my eyes opened slightly at the open defiance, this had never happened. Usually Rhea was obedient, the perfect apprentice. "I''ming, I don''t care what you think of it" She finished. "Hah" I sighed, my eyes slightly narrowing as I stared at her. ¡­ "Gabriel" I broke the silence between us, my weapons were at the side of the bed along with most of my clothes as I tucked myself into the bed that was given to us. "Yes, Naomi?" She responded, her hands stopped undressing herself as she looked at me in askance. "Was this the right decision?" "Hmm¡­" Gabriel hummed, setting down her clothes as she walked over to the second bed and sat down. "What do you mean, you''ve seen their power just as I have, there was no other choice" "I¡­ I guess but did we have to, we could have fought on our own. There was no reason for us to submit so easily." A shake of her head was all the response I got, Gabriel cing the sheets on top of herself as she closed her eyes, seemingly ready to sleep. "Look at this luxury, it will just get better and better, anything that we do to surpass this would only be a token effort. There really was only one option." With those final words Gabriel fell asleep, her tail absently swishing this way and that. "I guess¡­" I said to no one in particr, my own eyes closing as I let myself fall into unconsciousness. ¡­ My back ached as my body rose from its ce on the couch. I had expected to find Darwin still cuddling me when I woke again but to my disappointment I found only a nket covering my form and a pillow that I had hugged in lieu of Darwin. With a swipe of my hands and a shrug of my will, the nket was thrown from my body and vanished into nothing. I rose from the couch, my back arching as I stretched the aches from my back. growl A low groan echoed from my stomach as hunger assaulted my body. Looking to the next room I found the kitchen, a fridge of some sort standing in the corner. I walked towards the fridge and upon reaching it looked at its contents. All that was in there was some meat and other arrangements of food that needed to be refrigerated. I took out some of the meat and ced it on the counter, turning on the stove and cing a pan upon it immediately after. Turning to the cab I find the spice cab and to my surprise it was filled, there was even olive oil that I could pan fry the meat in. However, despite the options that the spice cab gave me I did not know how to cook too well so I opted to just use salt and pepper, a tried and true method. ¡­ Sitting down, I waited for the food to rest as I stared at it, my stomach protesting at the necessary step. Though soon after it was done and I could finally dig in. It was not as good as Tama''s cooking but it was better than nothing. Chapter 135 Assault (3) ''Evolve'' Imanded, my eyes stared intently at the spear as Imanded it to evolve, activating my talent. Aoif and I, Delta and Rhea, those were the only people that I had ever dual evolved but now I was going to try it with an inanimate object. I had no expectations, as I did not have a clue whether or not it would work. With the activation of my talent I stood there waiting, waiting for something to happen. For a screen to pop up or even just a sh of light to appear and carry me into the evolutionary ne. I don''t know for how long I stood there just staring at the spear as I hoped for it to evolve but eventually I gave up, my hand reaching for the spear intending to pick it up. When my fingers touched my spear I lost consciousness, my eyelids drooping down without permission as darkness took me. I woke to a void of darkness and immediately panic threatened to take me, I desperately tried anything, to open my eyes, to reinforce my body, anything that might help me get rid of the darkness that seemed ready to consume me. Nothing worked though, despite my efforts nothing changed. I sighed, the panic that was taking over thrown to the wayside as a calmness washed over me. The fact that I had tried everything yet still failed gave a sort of calmness, if there was nothing I could do then there was nothing to panic about. It seemed like my senses had a sick sense of humor, when I had just given up, ready to ept whatever was going to happen, something appeared in my grasp or was it always there. I didn''t know which it was but I tookfort in it. It was as if the very making of the weapon called to me, the rough wood that had been hastily woven into a shaft, the metal that had been refined by countless hands yet still paled inparison to Delta''s work. I could feel all of it I could feel all of it, yet I could not. A hollowugh echoed out, or maybe it didn''t, however I ignored the part of me that wanted to study the void, to understand it in favor of justughing. It was all a cruel joke, to deprive me of all my senses then give me something I could feel, could touch only for me to feel an even sharper sense of nothingness. ¡­ A sh of light, one so bright that it had seeded in blinding me momentarily appeared in my vision. Presumingly taking me to the evolutionary realm that had been dictated by my talent. Warm dirt filled my toes as I felt the ground beneath me, the shoes that I would normally wear gone. In front of me was a tree, it was not special by any means, in fact there was nothing special about it. I looked around, trying to find anything to indicate what I should be doing but found nothing. Aside from the tree and I there was nothing in this realm but grass and dirt. My brows scrunched as I inspected it, my senses going this way and that as I tried to find some meaning in it. With deft steps I walked towards it, my hand reaching out to touch it, to feel anything different about it. When my hands reached the trunk I pushed my hand onto it, trying to feel something, anything. "Wh-" My eyes widened as I felt something happening but before I could even analyze it, or even take my hand off the tree I slumped to the ground, my body falling on the tree. ¡­ A seed, sent into the ground by a fierce storm, wind kicking and blowing dirt all over the ce. Buried the seed grew, blooming into a sapling, years passed as the seasons passed by and the sapling grewrger andrger. Eventually it grew sorge that it could no longer be called a sapling, no, it could only be called a tree. However this was not the end of its journey. The years passed by as the tree grew more and more, never stopping. Eventually a being stood before it and with a chop of its hand, a branch was cut from the tree. Then another and another. The being sat by the tree, using its leaves for shelter and its branches for wood. A kinship grew between them however one day the being stoppeding to the tree, he had grown old. When the being came for that final time, his body failing him, heid under the shade of the tree onest time and closed his eyes. The tree wept for the first time that day, its only friend having died upon it. ¡­ A branch was deposited into my hand, the tree that I had slumped over was withered, its spirit had left it and in its final moments it had given its frown this branch. That sequence of events, the man who had only a tree forpany and the tree who knew only the man. It was like I had lived that whole life, both of them. I looked down to the branch that sat in my hands, then to the tree that visibly withered in the time that I had not paid attention to it. I walked to it putting my hand to it again but this time there was no loss of sensation as it brought me on some spiritual journey, only the sharp feeling of decay. Again I looked at the branch, the endless vitality that I felt in my hand, gently I pet it. I could feel the sense of satisfaction from it almost like it was sentient but not quite. Carefully I put the branch onto my back, where my spear should have gone. With one final look at the tree, the one that had apanied me for so many years I walked on, scenery rapidly changing before me. Chapter 136 Assault (4) A forge, hundreds of faceless beings walking here and there, some stopped by me but most just kept walking. An inspecting eye, one that finallynded on my form finally came to aplete stop. A hand was reached out and with it came a piece of ore, one rough enough that you could barely see the ore within. However, I was not one to give up, it was the only opportunity that I had to prove myself, to make a weapon that would stand up to the greatest of them all. With hands that never shook and dexterous fingers I took the ore into hand, carefully cing it over the fire and controlled the fire so that only the ore would be left unmelted. Days passed by as the heat pounded over my body, the stubborn ore not taking shape. The rock around it had already melted days ago but the ore was stubborn enough that it would not heat. However I was not one to give up, despite the restless nights, the constant pounding of the headache gained from intently staring at the ore I continued on. Day after day I would sit by the fire and warm the ore up again and again, despite how the ore only seemed to change one degree even after hours of heating, I still would persevere. It all culminated on one day when the ore had reached the temperature that I wanted, that the ore needed. A smile was left on my lips as I resisted the urge to pass out, my long hair was dragged on the floor from the exhaustion that pounded my back. Usually my head was held high enough that despite the length of my hair it would not touch the ground but the exhaustion, the heat, they had all culminated into back breaking work that forced me to slouch, to lower my back. But through the pain I took the ore to the anvil, where the faceless disciples all pounded on their own work. I grabbed a stool, my height hindering me from working without one, and ced the stool next to the anvil. Stepping into the stool I ced the ore upon the anvil, a hammer in hand as I relentlessly beat upon it. Up and down, left and right, constant adjustments in the force and angle of the hammer were made as I beat it into shape. I was to make a spearhead, not for anyone else but me. Despite the absentmindedness that came upon me the whole time I beat upon it, I could not help but imagine the final shape. The way it would fit into the¡­ into the¡­ the what, what was I to fit it into. A creeping headache formed in my head as a design formed in my head. Of a spear so simple, so powerful, so beautiful. I needed to realize it, I needed to make it, something inside of me burst. Green energy was spilt out as it culminated in the hammer and arm holding it. I mmed the hammer down, the energy transferring into the heated metal and no longer was I making the spearhead. No, I was refining the ore, the energy facilitating it. With every hit the ore turned a shade of green, of red, of all the colors. I could never know what color it may turn to be but I knew I needed to keep hammering, to keep refining. Nothing else was more important. Not sleep, not test, not eating nor drinking. A trance befell me as the actions turned into instinct. I did not know of days nor of time, the only thing that was important was the motions of my arms, seemingly infinite energy allowing me to strike once more and once more again. ¡­ I could no longer hold the hammer, with a ng it fell from my hands but I did not take notice of that. No, I was more focused on the masterpiece in front of me. A perfect spear head, shaped to perfection. One might think of it as basic, with only one edge in a simple triangr shape but I knew better, it was the culmination of trillions of refining strikes. I reached my hand to it but before I could even reach my hand halfway there my consciousness faded, a deep ck taking me from this world. ¡­ I woke again, this time not to the forge of faceless men, but to a broken tree, a stone the only otherndmark. I loved my hands, my legs, anything to reach towards the stone. However blood dripped down my hands, a sharp object cutting them. I looked down to my hands and saw the spear tip that I had refined, though I knew it was not done. That rock had something to do with it, so with bleeding hands, my stomach almost hurling from the sudden loss of blood, I dragged my feet towards the rock. Upon reaching it I pulled the spear head from my hand and scraped it against the rock. To my surprise the rock did not give, despite the sharpness of the spear head it did nothing. With widened eyes I looked at the rock in a new light, it was perfect for sharpening. With deft hands I quickly prepared to sharpen it, the perfect angel was found and kept, in mere moments I was sharpening it. ¡­ A bowl of water had appeared before me at some point but I did not take notice of it as again the green energy appeared on the rock and the hand holding the spear head. I was meticulous, making sure that every single swipe along the rock was the exact same as the opposite strike, there was no need to do this as even careless sharpening wouldn''t do anything other than sharpen it but I wanted to be thorough to make the best that I was capable of. ¡­ My eyes opened and before me was the spear tip and shaft that I had been given and made. The experiencespounded onto my head and gave me a migraine. Though through the pain I held on, looking at both of them they fit perfectly together. With hands shaking from some unknown pain I put them together, a sh of light blinding me as they bound together. Chapter 137 Assault (5) When I looked down at the spear I could feel a connection to it, it was as if it was trying to talk to me, tomunicate. However I could not interpret it, not now, it felt as if our connection was still too shallow, though that did not stop me from lifting my feet from where they stood, sitting in the ground, and getting up to test the spear out. Within a second I was in the stance that I had adopted for so long, the spear was held tip to the ground as I looked straight ahead. My eyes pointing forwards I thrust out, the weight of the spear barely holding me back. If it was the spear from before I would have barely felt the weight of it but now not only was it heavy but I could feel the sensations that it felt. It was as if some spiritual bond was formed between us. Just as I could feel what the spear felt, so too could it feel my response and with that it made me adjust my stance slightly. My form was not too different but now when I thrust again, it was easier. The corrected form that the spear had given me only slightly changed from the original but it was a huge difference. I closed my eyes feeling at the air as I continued thrusting this way and that, familiarizing myself with the spear I held in my hands. Though could I continue to keep calling it the spear. No, I needed to name it. But what to name it was the question. I stopped my thrusting and sat down, the spear in my legs as I thought hard over a name for it. ''Memoria'' I thought of dering the name in my mind. It was the only name that came to mind that was appropriate for the spear, no Memoria. The reason I chose this name was because the memories that made it, of the times I sat beneath the now ckened tree and talked my worries away, of the endless work that came from making the spear tip. It was a Memoria of a spear. ¡­ A light engulfed Memoria, the spear growing and changing, from the ultra simple design to an elegant design. One that seems to scream nostalgia, from the spear tip that seemed to grow from the shaft, to the shaft that seemed to just invoke memories of the past. Memoria grew, eventually falling back to my hands where aforting presence was felt. There were no words said, no feelings sent across, only a mutual understanding. I smiled and the Memoria did the same or at least that was how I felt it to be. However it was not tost as darkness overtook my vision again. A void of nothingness filled me, though now I had Memoria at my side, ready tofort me. I smiled, despite the nothingness filling me there was nothing that could stop the bond between Memoria and I. ¡­ It was as I finished eating my meal that I felt it, Darwin was no longer in this realm. He wasn''t dead but the vision that I shared with him was gone. It only happened for a moment, but that momentsted for ages, the feeling of losing Darwin, the presence that had apanied me for so long. "Hah" I breathed out the breath I was holding. My hand went to my heart as I finally felt Darwin''s presence again. I stood up, not bothering to clean up the mess as the house could do that for me with a mentalmand. I brought myself outside where I walked to the research hall. It was weird that Darwin was there but I knew he was there, I could feel his presence. I walked further and further into the research hall, ignoring the disciples that stopped their work to look at me. Eventually I reached a door which I pulled open to reveal Darwin holding onto a spear. So mesmerized was he by the spear that he barely noticed meing up behind him. I took advantage of that, my arms reaching around his neck to pull his head into my chest. "Hmm?" Darwin questioned, looking up from that spear to me. With a silent look I conveyed my feelings and immediately he perked up, the spear seeming as if it almost followed him, holstering itself onto his back. "Ah¡­ this is Memoria" he introduced the spear and I finally took a good look at it. It was beautiful, not as beautiful as my Darwin but still it was enough to catch my eye. Though soon I stopped staring at it and instead stared at Darwin before I took his lips. My eyes closed, a small moan echoing out as I felt his tongue explore my mouth. My head was held by Darwin, his hands pulling me in as he deepened the kiss. "Hah" I breathed out, my lips parting from his, I pressed my forehead to his and hugged him. "Memoria, your spear?" I asked, whispering into his ears. "Yes, I evolved myself and the spear as a test, I wanted to know if I could evolve an inanimate object and a being" I nodded, bringing our heads apart as I sat next to him. "It worked, I presume?" I asked, looking at the spear that had holstered itself in Darwin''s back. Now that I took a good look I could see some sort of nascent soul in the spear. It was only there when I really looked but it was there. "Yes, it did work but Memoria can''t really be called an inanimate object anymore, you can see it too can''t you?" "Yeah" I responded, my head dropping into hisp, my eyes closing as I took in his presence, his scent and feeling. Everything about Darwin seemed to rx me but right now all I could feel was an ache in my loins as I looked up to him, that smile ever present on his cute face. Chapter 138 Assault (6) I zoomed in on the camp, my hand holding the rifle and aiming at the most powerful presence. Next to me was Rhea, who had done all the calctions. Although I could have done the calctions on my own, I thought it a better idea to let her do them, to give her more experience. Mere miles away from our position was an ind, structures were being built and used in mere seconds, I had no idea what they were used for. It may have been punishment, it may have had a deeper meaning but I did not care. The only thing I dared for was the leader, a tier 3 existence that seemed to take joy in the suffering of his underlings. I could honestly care less about him and his tendencies but right now they were a hostile force, someone that had invaded this realm and more importantly good target practice. I smiled, my finger tensing as Rhea read me off the calctions. There was no need to adjust them, she had done the calctions exactly right. As expected of my apprentice. BOOOM A shit echoed out, the bullet flying fast enough to pierce the head of the leader before he could even blink. The rest of the Gauls panicked m, their leader dead. They ran in different directions, some organized obviously of higher intelligence and other just mindlessly walking in directions counterproductive to whatever the organized ones were doing. The chaos onlysted for another minute, their forces finally being organized. However I wasn''t idle in that time, while they were organizing I deposited my apprentice over to them, allowing her to finish off the rest. ... "Hm" I hummed out, my eyes scanning the surroundings that I had been deposited in. All around me were Gauls not just numbering in the thousands but in the hundred of thousands. There were so many of them I wondered if I could even kill them all. I looked down to the ammunition that I had and found that to no surprise I didn''t have enough ammo. "Hah" I sighed, taking another look around, it seemed that I wasn''t even going to be able to escape. With the possibility of escape off of the table I started mybat algorithms, they may not be as good as Delta''s but it would keep me alive against them. Luckily most of them were tier 7 or 8 which while high wouldn''t be too much of a problem. One well ced bullet would kill them. With everything in ce I started, my rifle was dragged into its ready position, my finger putting pressure on the trigger as my first target was determined. A Gaul that had noticed me fell, a well ced bullet piercing its brain as it fell to the ground, dead. A roar echoed out as thousands of the Gauls finally noticed me and thebat truly began. Immediately I leaped into the sky, my legs only allowing me to jump so high, if my bodily functions had not been upgraded with my ascension to tier 6 during my evolution with Delta then I would have not have been able to jump even a couple of feet. However with my ascension to tier 6 my legs were powerful enough to bring me high into the air where I flipped myself around, the barrel of my gun emptying the magazine into the dense crowd of Gaul that deemed themselves powerful enough tobat me. I sneered at them, even with all of their numbers it would still take thousands of them before they even put a scratch onto me. Though I could not dwell on my distaste for them for long as soon I descended down into the crowd. Moments before I was due tond though I popped the pin off of a grenade I held, throwing it into the crowd. BOOOOM An explosion rang out killing off at the very least 20 or more of them. I did not dare to exert any processing power into counting my enemies, so the only estimation I had was by my sight and even then I barely paid attention to their numbers. Only the immediate threats. With a soft thud Inded on the shrapnel infestednd caused by the grenade I threw, thend around me strangely quiet, as if the Gaul were contemting how to approach me. However it didn''tst for long as a keening screech echoed through my ears, a sort of instruction was sent to the grunts as they rushed at me with reckless abandon. All higher thinking was gone from their eyes. I hated to admit it but whoever wasmanding them was smart, the greatest advantage they held over me were their numbers but by fearing me that would be lessened as they were more cautious. However with that singlemand any hesitation that the Gaul had disappeared along with their higher thinking. "Tsk" I clicked my tongue, reloading my rifle as I dodged around hundreds of Gauls that were attacking me. ws and heads were all I saw as hundreds of them shed and numbed at me, the only thing saving me from death was mybat algorithm that was constantly running the numbers for the optimal position of not only my feet but everything. Where my head, my legs, my arms, torso, even the position of my toes. Everything was taken into ount however sooner orter I was going to run out of bullets. Even now I only had about twenty or so more magazines of ammo. Enough to kill at the very least thousands of them but not the hundreds of thousands that surrounded me. click The magazine fit into ce and just as quickly was discarded as the hundred shots that fit inside of it were emptied upon the crowd. It was only then, in my desperation for a solution to my problem of ammo that I remembered, the sea of data, the constant numbers that I had essed while evolving. Even as ws surrounded me, threatening to kill me I tried to ess that realm again. Wounds racked up as I focused my attention on that realm, of that vision. Chapter 139 Assault (7) A sh to the shoulder nged off of the metal that protected it, a scratch appeared and the blunt force shifted the insides just enough that redundancies had to be deployed. In my shoulder wires and metal shifted, systems in ce fixing their broken parts as recements were deployed. Another w threatened to pierce my neck and immediately I dashed to the side, following the half filled calctions that mybat algorithms had told me to do. As I retreated I pulled my rifle up and squeezed the trigger. click "Tch" I clicked my tongue. I was out of bullets. "Shit!" I yelled not caring about my volume as again and again more and more shes threatened to hit me, some even able to do some damage to me. However that was not for long as my vision changed. The bright filled world disappeared, the light that filled my eyes being reced by data. A raised w forced its way into my vision but with a touch the data was assimted and deleted. Instantly I knew, knew the make and everything about the w that had threatened to touch me but the deletion of that data had the effect of deleting even that knowledge. A cry echoed out breaking my thoughts, the creature that had ced its w into my vision, dead, its existence erased. It was lucky that that cry had broken me from my thoughts, it had given me enough warning to focus on my surroundings. ¡­ A powerful headache boomed in my head, threatening to take my consciousness but I fought it with all my willpower. More and more pieces of data filled my vision and again and again I destroyed them. However, that only served to strengthen the headache. I looked down at the rifle I held and looked deeper and deeper into the data that made it up. Seconds passed by as mybat algorithms worked overtime to keep me out of fatal danger but that didn''t mean that I was free of damage, wounds had started to appear, blood spurting out of my unprotected areas. Though in the time that those wounds had appeared I was able to unravel the underlying data that made up my rifle. A smile appeared on my face as with a thought, a duplicate of the data appeared in my hand and then duplicated again and again appearing and attaching to my waist. I blinked and immediately my vision returned, the headache born of the data that filled my vision disappearing with it. In my hand was an exact copy of the magazine that was held in my rifle, more copies upied my waist as they hung from belts. A squeeze of the trigger and hundreds of Gauls died, their bodies creating a mountain of corpses. I leaped up, my rifle in hand as I aimed once again, the magazine that had been emptied was thrown out of the rifle with a click of the button as with swift hands another was loaded in. By the time that series of actions were made, I was already descending, my leap having reached its peak and gravity pulling me down. However still I smiled as with another squeeze of my finger the Gauls that had gathered at mynding spot were shot dead. Inded, corpses crunching under heel as they absorbed the impact of my feet. Though before I had time to even move more and more Gaul rushed at me, their ws outstretched as they advanced. Again I leaped, however this time it was different. They, the onesmanding the Gaul, seemed to predict my action and had taken appropriate measures. "Guh" I cried out, a w smashing into my back. I had only noticed it as it had impacted me, leaving me barely any room to minimize the damage that would be done to me. Still I tried, twisting my back so that the force would take just that second longer to reach me. The force of the w was enough to both break skin, leaving me bleeding, and push me towards even more Gauls. I would no doubt die if I was tond there, however I had one more trick up my sleeve. With deft fingers, I reached into my pockets where another grenade was held and quickly pulled the pin. ¡­ I prepared to intervene, although I trusted in my apprentice there was still a chance that she may die against this many opponents. Case in point the situation that she was in now. A Gaul had outsmarted her, preparing an ambush for her tactics and veiling it with dead bodies. p¨¤§ád¨¢-¨¾?¦Í¨º¦É.§ã¨®§® A w was sent to pierce her back and throw her towards the strongest of the bunch where she would then be wed to death. At first nce it seemed To work, but not all ns go as they should. I smiled as I saw my apprentices n. Rhea had reached into her pocket and pulled out a grenade, pulling the pin and throwing it into the air. That in itself wouldn''t have done anything but the snap judgment to do that, to calcte the exact ce it needed to be to force her to the ground from her free fall. I mentally pped for her, it was brilliant, especially with her capabilities right now. Not that she couldn''t do it under no stress but right now that was all her, thebat algorithms that she had made wouldn''t be able to handle those sorts of calctions. The chip had enough processing power but it wasn''t programmed for all these situations, that was what this and all future battles were for. To gather more and more data and refine herbat algorithm. BANG An explosion rang out, knocking Rhea down to the ground away from the Gauls. In just a second she shook off the explosion and got up, her rifle pointed at the crowd that had gathered. Precision shots were fired, and they fell one by one. Though I could tell how much of a toll this had put on her, not just the grenade she had tanked but the situation altogether. ''It''s about time I took her out of there'' I thought to myself, holding my own rifle up. Chapter 140 Assault (8) [Congrattions on defeating one of the realm protectors] [You have gained 1/5 ownership of this realm.] "Hmm" I hummed out, I hadn''t done anything but in front of me a system message popped up, dering that I had defeated a realm protector. ''Can I transfer the ownership'' I thought to myself, I didn''t have any ambition for this realm but it would be a good gift to Darwin if I could transfer it. [You may transfer this ownership, should you please] As if to answer my question, the system message popped up again and told me that I could transfer ownership. Looking down to myp, I will the ownership into Darwin''s hand. [Are you sure you would like to transfer ownership to Crown Darwin. Yes/No] Another message popped up and I immediately pressed yes, there was no reason for me to hesitate. ¡­ [Crown Aoif has transferred 1/5 ownership of the realm to you] [Congrattions, you now own 4/5 of the this realm] My eyes widened, pupils dting as I looked behind me. ''How¡­'' I questioned in my mind. How had Aoif gained ownership over the realm, when had she, and how had she transferred her ownership to me. They were all questions that I had in mind but they were soon answered, a voice reaching my ear. "I don''t know either, it just appeared" Aoif whispered into my ear, her lips red and seductive. However I ignored that, ignored the urge to just take them in favor of something else that I had been meaning to do. With a nod of my head I dusted the dirt that had appeared on myp while sitting and cuddling with Aofi and stood up. I looked back down and saw the questioning look that came from Aoif. "Where are you going?" Aoif asked, her head tilting as she looked at me. "I''m going to check up on Astraea, I haven''t seen what she has been doing and her speed will be useful." A nod of Aoif''s head and she was up as I was, walking towards the tree behind me, her arm ced in my own. ¡­ Pressing my hand against the tree, I will it to open my body passing through the now ethereal entrance. Behind me Aoif followed, her hand linked with mine. My vision changed, borrowing Aoif''s soul sight I found where Astraea had been hiding or more likezing. "Hah" I sigh, looking at where I had found Astraea. She was sat upon one of the beds, the sheets in disarray as she slept. Drool pooled out of her mouth as she looked stoned or high. I deactivated the soul sight I shared with Aoif and walked to the door where she was sleeping and went to wake her. A hand went to her neck as I channeled aether into my finger intending to shock her into consciousness. The hand that I had channeled aether into poked at her neck, transferring the aether from the finger and into her neck. Ahn~ a moan echoed out as she furrowed her eyebrows, her eyelids slowly moving as her ears twitched. Nnn~ another moan echoed out as I channeled more aether into her neck, this time though she woke, the sheer amount of aether I put into my hand had shocked her enough to put her into consciousness. "Wha-" she eximed, her body shooting Jo as she wiped the drool from her face. "I wanted to spar with you but you were unconscious" I simply responded, giving her a deadpan look. "Ahem¡­" she coughed into her hand, hiding her blush, "I am sorry, we can spar now?" I nodded, exiting out of the room and motioned for her to follow. ¡­ Once I was outside I pulled Memoria from her sheath on my back and took a few practice swings while I was waiting for Astraea to follow me outside. I closed my eyes, the spear and myself the only things in my consciousness as I swung around slowly. I pivot my foot, changing my grip as I spin the weapon in my hands intending to sh down. A gust of wind flew past me, fluttering my hair in the wind as my strike fell to the ground. "Ready?" A voice asked, breaking me from my concentration, it was Astraea, her clothes had been changed and there was even a weapon in her hands. On her hands were metal ws, they looked extremely sharp. ''Something to look out for'' I thought to myself as I took measure of Astraea. I nodded my head indicating that I was ready and she dashed. It wasn''t the ludicrous speed that I had seen from her previously but a speed that I could actually follow. Immediately Memoria was swung up a ng echoing throughout the yard as Astraea''s ws and my own spear collided. I backtracked, gaining distance as I didge the relentless swipes that Astraea had followed up with. The ones that I was not able to didge were either taken in non lethal areas or parried with my spear. Even then I was in the backtrack, unable to make any progress as she relentlessly attacked me, giving me no time to think nor act. The only thing that saved me from being defeated instantly was that she had gone easy on me and the instincts that I had honed in the evolutionary realm. I could see a sadistic smirk y out on her face as Astraea''s w reached toward my eye. ''Payback'' Astraea mouthed, her speed that I once could see reaching a pace that my eyes no longer could follow. Before I knew it a w had been stopped right in front of my eye. "Haaah" I breathed out, my breath short as I looked at the w that threatened to kill me. A wet feeling, of something dripping down my cheek reached me. I brought a hand towards it and found blood. Before I could wipe it away the blood was taken from me, the golden eyes of Astraea shining with a devious light as she wiped the blood from my hands and took a lick of it. A look of pleasure was seen from her face as she slowly licked the blood from my face. "Again?" She asked her finger tapping the wound. Chapter 141 Assault (9) Again I was pushed to the ground, another wound being made as Astraea took my blood in her finger andpped it up, her feline parts raising in amusement and excitement as the blood dripped down her throat. I sighed, pushing aether into the wound as it soon sealed itself and again I was able to fight once more. I picked up Memoria that had been thrown to the side from mytes take down and dashed forwards, my stance being taken almost subconsciously. A vicious stab was made at Astraea but it was dodged and weaved through. However that was just what I had wanted, I had noticed throughout our spars that Astraea would continually push her advantage whenever, that just meant that I needed to make an artificial advantage that she could take advantage of, one that I knew the in''s and outs of so that I could counterattack when she inevitably took the bait. I smirked to myself, dropping my spear as I fall to the ground with it, my hand grabbing at the spear and twisting it in a way that would not have been possible if I had not dropped it. Angled upwards the spear stabbed right where I predicted that Astraea would attack me at. Blood flew out as a wound was formed. ¡­ "Do you really need to do that?" I ask Astraea who sat beside me, her fingers drenched in my blood as she licked at it like a catpping at their own fur. When I had enacted my n I had thought that it would work but I hadn''t expected Astraea to use her full speed to not only dodge but to make a wound big enough that she could drench her hand in my blood. "I can''t help it!" She defended herself, "your blood is just too delicious, it''s practically dripping with nature aligned aether. I might get addicted to it" with that she went back to licking her hand, blood kept dripping down and down her throat as she moaned in ecstasy at the apparent taste of my blood. Soon after though the blood on her hands ran out and looking at her I saw her ears fall t to her head as she looked at me with the most pitiful gaze that she could and asked for more. With a sigh I closed my eyes and pinched my nose, however I didn''t deny it to her, instead I had a more amusing idea. I pricked my finger m, blood dripping out as I saw Astraea gather stars in her eyes as she looked to the blood that was falling to the ground. She lunged for it but before she could take my hand in hers I stopped her, my finger healing the cut. "Wha-" she pouted, looking at the healed wound. The wound appeared again, a haphazard use of aether opening the once healed cut. Instead of letting her take the blood for herself I ced my finger near her mouth. It seemed as if she had gotten the message as with a sultry smile she ced my finger in her mouth sucking the blood on my finger out as a blush appeared on her face. nnn~ a moan muffled by my finger echoed out as she looked up to me with lidded eyes. With a pop I took my finger from her mouth and took my spear into hand again. "Why~" sheined, her ears puffing up as her eyes slit like a cats. "Because" I start staring straight into her eyes, "you are drunk" I state, she wasn''t actually drunk but the effects were close enough. It seemed as if my blood had almost the same effect as alcohol but stronger on her. "Again" I say, brandishing my spear, however even if she was drunk Astraea could still help me train. The sheer difference in our power made it impossible to hit her when she was sober but now that she was exhibiting signs of being drunk, I may actually be able to get a good hit on her. "You can have more if you win, but you can''t use anymore power than I" With that I walk back, giving Astraea space while she collects herself. However it wasn''t needed as when I turned my back again, facing her, she dashed at me immediately. Within seconds ws were in my sight, poised to pierce my eyes. I was ready though, my spear was up and with a ng that echoed throughout the surroundings, Astraea''s ws were deflected. "Guh" a groan of pain was heard from Astraea as she was kicked back. My spear was too far up for me to take advantage of so I had to use my feet, with as much power as I could muster in the short time I brought my foot up and kicked her into the distance. Following up, I dash toward Astraea, spear poised to pierce her heart. "Huh" I involuntarily let out. A giggle echoed from Astraea''s mouth as soon as shended. Instantly I jumped up, my instincts screaming at me to move. Looking down I saw it, Astraea, but it was not her, with paler hair and pink eyes she looked up at me with sadistic eyes. With a raise of her hand the dirt below me was raised, spikes threatening to kill me. CLANG I spun my body, Memoria nging against one of the spikes. I used that recoil to propel myself away but it wasn''t enough. Just as I had used the spikes so had Astraea. With speed that I knew wasn''t possible for someone of my level she dashed at me. BANG The ground was cratered as Inded, Astraea returning to her normal form as she licked at the wounds that she had created. "I win" she stated simply, her body still pinning mine to the ground. Behind me Tama who had followed us watched on, a smile on her face as sheughed at my misfortune. I red back at her and Tama finally deemed it enough. "Off of him now" Tamamanded with authority. Chapter 142 Cat Fight A sh of golden light and Astraea was sent careening off of me but it wasn''t for long as soon after she was sent flying Astraea righted herself in the air, pivoting her feet in such a way that when shended she could instantly rush straight at Tama. A blur was all I saw as Astraea made her way towards Tama, various explosions and dust clouds echoing forth from the ground as the nging of metal was heard. "What" I involuntarily let out, watching as Astraea pulled out a bow from nowhere, green dust signifying its arrival. Several arrows were shot out in the time it took me to process that Astraea even had a bow but it was not enough to overwhelm Tama. The arrows that had been sent at Tama flickered for a moment before being taken out of existence. "Tch" Astraea clicked her tongue, more and more arrows appeared, however they were not instantly dispelled like the earlier ones. In fact they seemed to have more substance to them, as if Tama could not deny their existence. Though that didn''t mean that Tama was defenseless, with a sh of golden light a weapon appeared in Tama''s hand, or more urately several, as daggers filled her hands only to be thrown at the approaching tide of arrows. More and more daggers and arrows were sent at each other and although it seemed that they were equal it was clear that Tama was going to win this battle. However, by the narrowed eyes of Astraea it seemed as if she was not going to give up, even seeing how much she was being pushed back. Another sh of golden light and Astraea was teleported to my side where hundreds of daggers were poised to pierce me. A panicked expression appeared on her face as she hurried to block them, though while she was attempting that with hundreds of arrows, more daggers appeared at her back mming into her. A growl escaped her mouth as she was sent sprawling to the ground, another sh of golden light and Tama was before Astraea, a dagger held to her neck. "That''s enough" I say to Tama, who by now was drawing a bit of blood from Astraea''s neck. Sighing, Tama backed off and I approached Astraea. Dusting the dirt that had stained my clothes off, I sat up, my feet carrying me towards Astraea. I offered my hand, all the while staring into her eyes impassively. Gray eyes met golden ones as my stare was met by hers. The stare was held for a while, Astraea seeming to not give up, but that was not for long as soon after the defiant look in her eyes was gone, her hand reaching out to grab mine. With a pull of my arm I pulled Astraea to her feet, my other hand reaching to her neck as I healed it and any other damage that she had sustained during her scuffle with Tama. A blush was upon her face immediately after my hand had reached her neck, the pale skin being lit up by red, however before I could say anything or even give her a look soft footsteps interrupted me bringing my, Tama, and Astrae''s attention towards the forest. Soon enough the footsteps grew closer and I activated my shared soul sight. A sigh of relief that I did not know I held was released as Rhea and Delta returned from their expedition. When they appeared in the clearing that we were using for training was Rhea, littered in wounds and behind her was Delta, who seemed as if she was not bothered by the state that Rhea was in. I looked over the wounds, my feet dragging me closer to them all the while. At a closer look none of them were fatal or even serious but there were still lots of wounds. I ignored how Astraea seemed to follow me like a lost kitten and grew closer to Rhea. Once I had reached her my hand flew to her wounds, green aether covering them as wounded skin was reced with pink, then healthy skin. Once I was done with healing her I looked up only to notice the slight blush on Rhea''s face that had appeared at my touch. I had to look again and almost missed it because of that slight moment as immediately after my hand had retreated from her body she had retreated to the back of Delta, hiding behind her. It was only then that my eyes widened in understanding, it was all clear now, why Aoif had ownership of 1/5 of the realm. Looking up to Delta it was most likely that she had assaulted the base herself and destroyed the leader, but if the leader had 1/5 of the ownership of the realm then wouldn''t that also mean that those elves did too? If they did then I would have to rethink my ns, before I had wanted to take them down myself, with Aoif but now that I know this information would it truly be right to hesitate on using all of the resources at hand. In a matter of days I could have the whole realm under control but¡­ growl Before I could finish my thoughts my stomach growled out, hunger that I didn''t know I had announcing itself. It was only then that I bothered to look at the sky, the once bright afternoon sun being reced by the moon signifying the end of the day. I looked over and saw how Tama''s ears perked up and how her tail started to swing, I couldn''t help but shake my head. ''She really likes to cook for me doesn''t she?'' I thought to myself, watching as Tama departed from where she stood and speed walked for the house where she could cook me a meal. Me, however, I just sat down next to the tree, my body exhausted. Even with all the healing my mind was still tired. I only half noticed how Astraea had sneakily burrowed herself into myp, being careful not to disturb me. Chapter 143 Evolutionary Desire (R18) A soft smell wafted into my nose as Tama appeared before me, my half lidded eyes opening in full as I saw the food that she brought with her. Next to me, her head on myp, was Astraea. Looking down I could see her nose twitch as she too smelled the food that Tama had brought to us. "Here" I heard from my side, a te of food being ced in myp, along with some utensils. Sitting up, making sure to not disturb the food, I sat in a morefortable position. Astraea who had her head on myp moved, her body leaning against mine, as she drooled, over the food or over my blood, I didn''t know which. It was the reason that I ignored her. I picked up the utensils, quickly cutting into my food and cing it into my mouth. It only took a minute for the food topletely disappear, the te cleaned off. Next to me, Tama, who had seen that I had finished eating, took my te from me and with a sh of golden light made it disappear. ¡­ "Aoif?" I question, walking into the room that she was resting in, waking her. "Yeah?" Aoif asked, her head raising from where it rested on the pillow shey on. Instead of answering her question I walk over to her, my hands going to pick her up. I sat down next to her, the hands that had gone to pick her up carrying Aoif into myp, where I adjusted her so that her heady in my chest. "We have two options," I begin, staring off into the distance. "We can let our subordinates gather thest fifth of realm ownership or" at thatst word I look straight into her eyes, "We can do it ourselves," "Ourselves" Aoif answered, almost no thought being given to her answer. I smiled, pulling Aoif closer to me. "Ok, we don''t have the strength now though, do you want to evolve again?" I ask even though I already knew the answer. I nodded ''evolve'' ¡­ [You have advanced to tier/level 4/9] [You have advanced to tier/level 3/9] Before I could evolve us once more I was stopped by Aoif as she ced her hand over mine. A lidded look on her face as she turned her head onto mine, lips locking. nnn~ she moaned into my mouth, her tongue battling with mine as her hands explored down, under my shirt and over my chest. My hands weren''t idle either, both of my hands going under her shirt and onto her breast''s where I fondled them for a minute, pressing and pulling them this way and that. I gauged Aoif''s reactions to this by the way her emotions were sent out. When I felt strong bursts of list I knew I was doing something right and continued to do just that. What seemed to get her going the most was when I pulled at her nipples, pinching them and pulling them towards me. lust~ lust~ It was sent clearly to me, her emotions mixing with my own to create a wild cocktail of lust. Eventually one of my hands reached down, teasing at her stomach with bursts of aether as I stimte her nerves. Our lips delegated and I could hear gasps of pleasure as her hands hold more tightly to my body and her own shudders at my touch. Eventually my hand reached all the way down, gently pressing against her pantries as a wet spot formed. "Ahnnnn~" Aoif moaned out, an orgasm teased out of her by my ministrations. I slid her pantries aside, a finger going in and out of her pussy as I hooked my finger. I watched closely to her emotions trying to find the best ces to tease and which ces to push. A gush of liquid squirted in my hand as another orgasm was teased out of her. By this point when I looked up to Aoif again I saw her whole face lidded with desire. "Please¡­" she begged, "take me" I nodded, taking my own clothes off , all the while Aoif was undressing herself, giving me a show as she slowly took off her shirt, then her bra, her breast''s baring themselves to me. Next came her pants and panties. After that she looked straight at me while I undressed myself. As quickly as possible my pants and underwear came off, my dick showing itself as it pointed towards the sky, extremely aroused by the show that Aoif had put on. With swift steps I walked closer and closer to Aoif, my hands reaching around her body as I ground my tool against her bare bottom. I grasp Aoif''s head and turn it towards me, pulling her into a passionate kiss. Nnn~ Nnnn~ Nnnnnnn~ More and more were muffled by my mouth as I ground my tool more and more onto her. Eventually she couldn''t take it anymore and came on my tool, liquid coating it. However it seemed as if Aoif had enough of the teasing, as with one of her hands she reached down, stroking at my dick as she aimed it towards her pussy and mmed back. "Ahhhhnnnnn~" a huge moan that couldn''t be contained by my own lips echoed through the room as I plunged deep into her depths. I went in and out with long thrusts, only stopping when I almost pulled out only to m back in. The pleasure was overwhelming, so much that I almost couldn''t stop myself from cunning but I did, with an iron will I stopped myself. I made sure that I couldst for as long as I could, only thinking about giving Aoif more and more pleasure. I looked up from my staring and saw Aoif, she was as beautiful as she was erotic at that moment. With both hands holding onto the wall, her hair matted with sweat as she looked back to me, her tongue licking her lips as she stared at my own mouth. Moans kept on echoing from her mouth as she came again and again. I couldn''t contain myself anymore and came into her, my tool bottoming out in her and flooding her womb with cum. A smile grew in her face as she held her stomach, her body copsing onto the floor. Chapter 144 An Awkward Meal Before Aoif could fall to the floor I caught her in my arms, cing her into the bed as I slowly kissed her body. "Thank you¡­" she mumbled out, her eyes tired from the evolutions that we had gone through then the vigorous exercise that we had done immediately after. I opened the covers of the bed that we had been using and ced her on top of it. I walked over to the bathroom adjacent to the bedroom and grabbed a towel. I quickly walked back to Aoif where I had left her and wiped her body with the towel then ced myself next to her, cuddling her to my side as I pulled the nket over both of us as both my eyes closed. ''Guess I was more tired than I thought'' was thest thought in my mind before everything turned ck, my consciousness fading. ¡­ "Dar-" I opened the door calling for Darwin but soon interrupted myself, seeing his current state and the scent that permeated through the room. On the bed was Darwin, cuddling Aoif into his chest as he softly slept. I quietly closed the door making sure that I made no noise. A feeling bloomed in my chest, jealousy, however I ignored it trying my best to focus on something else. Sighing to myself I move away from the room, my feet carrying me to some random ce as thoughts flew through my mind. By the time that I had reached downstairs I had realized my hunger, it had been a while since I had eaten anything. ¡­ I woke to the sound of food being cooked, next to me lied Gabriel, her tail wrapped around her as the nket covered half of her body. Though that wasn''t for long as she noticed my movements, her own eyes opening as she yawned, a hand reaching to her face as it covered her mouth. Gettin tip, I put on my clothes not caring that Gabriel saw anything, instead I just focused on getting dressed. The food that I heard reminded me that I needed to eat. Though even if it hadn''t, the grumbling of my stomach would have. Pulling the shirt over my head, I was finally ready. I opened the door and quickly walked downstairs. I followed the scent and soon found myself in the kitchen where¡­ "Is that¡­ a kitsune" I thought to myself, looking at the figure that was cooking. Sure we had seen her in fox form but I couldn''t remember if she had ever transformed, it was all blurry in my head. However instead of trying to remember if I had seen her or not I just sat down, announcing my presence. "Do you want food too?" She asked, barely looking back to acknowledge me. "Yes, if you don''t mind" A nod of her head was all the answer I got as she turned back to cooking whatever it was that she had started. Soon, while I was watching the Kitsune Gabriel came back down, dressed in the same clothes that we arrived in. "Tama" she greeted and I suddenly remembered, ''she was named Tama, that''s right. How could I forget'' "Guh" I groaned to myself. How could I have forgotten the one who helped to save us. ¡­ With a quick pep in my step, I grabbed at my clothing, idly making sure that they matched and started to put the ones I had chosen on. After some time of picking and choosing I had finally finished with thest piece of clothing, my feet carrying me out of the room as thest piece of clothing was put on my body. I walked downstairs, following the scent of food. With my nose to the air I found where it had led me, to the kitchen. It was there that I found one of my saviors, one of the two that had saved both Naomi and I from death. "Tama" I greeted, idly I noticed Naomi who had her head set on the counter, a dead look in her eyes. I sat down next to her, my head raised so as to look back up to Tama. "Gabriel, yes?" "Yeah," I responded, "I am Gabriel, Gabriel Ann" "Curious" Tama stated, "Darwin and Aoif never mentioned theirst names" "Ah, tha-" I said without thinking, my mouth opening before my mind could think of the consequences, how would Tama react to the information. "Continue" Tamamanded, cing tes in front of us as she stared into my eyes. "Last names are for nobility, if one doesn''t have sufficient money or power, political that is, they are not allowed ast name." I quietly informed Tama. "So¡­ Darwin isn''t noble, isn''t nobility." A harsh re was sprung upon me at the information. "No¡­ no, I''m sure he is, it may just be that hisst name is¡­ is¡­" I couldn''t think of anything, the pressure weighing down on me restricted my thoughts. "I''m sorry, I don''t know if he is nobility or not, however I can guess that Darwin isn''t, those of high ss usually know all of the others, I would have heard of a son named Darwin" The pressure lingered for a moment before being recalled. I sighed in relief, rational thoughting back to me. ''Shut'' I looked back up to Tama, I had just admitted that her lord wasn''t of nobility and judging by her previous reaction she may actually kill me. However before I could say anything more, to try and dig myself out of the hole I made she left. The food that she had made for herself was taken with her. "Hah" I let out another sigh of relief, my arms and head copsing on the table. It was only then that I actually saw the food that Tama had made, some unidentifiable meat made into a hamburger of sorts and drenched in some sauce. It looked sort of like salisbury steak or some sort of Japanese hamburg, either way I was too hungry and scared to even care. Chapter 145 A Good Morning (Slightly R18) In my arms I felt as Aoif''s body squirmed, a light push and my arms were pulled from where they rested on Aoif to the side, I didn''t resist just curiously staring at what Aoif was trying to do. A turn of her body and she was spooning me in her arms, her eyelids wide open as she stared into my own eyes. Purple eyes met my own as Aoif stared intently at me, as if to contemte something however it seemed that whatever she was thinking she found an answer to as a smile bloomed on her face. Hands reached out pulling at my pants and pulling down to the side, enough so that my tool could be felt by the other exploring hand. Soft hands met my tool, stroking up and down as mischievous eyes stared into mine. My shaft slowly hardened, growingrger andrger in Aoif''s hands. Soon enough though it wasn''t enough and with one final mischievous smirk she went under the covers, her hands going from my shaft to my legs as she pulled my legs apart exposing the tool beneath them. A warm wet cavern engulfed my shaft as Aoif started to suck on it like it was some sort of lollipop. Up and down she went, her tongue swishing this way and that licking all around it. Soon though I couldn''t hold it any longer and my hands reached down, holding her head in my own hands I pulled her forward. Enough that her lips met with my body, the shaft reaching all the way into her throat. "Guh" With a grunt I came in her throat, the cum sshing down her throat and into her stomach. cough cough As Aoif pulled herself from where she sucked at my tool she coughed, the unexpected deepthroat idently hurting her. "You ok?" I asked my eyes staring at her in concern. "Yeah" Aoif answered, a sultry smile on her lips as she mock swallowed. I was tempted to just pin her down and fuck her into oblivion but other things had to be done today. I grabbed at the nket that covered both of us and ripped it off, a shiver ran down my spine as cold air assaulted my body. Though I ignored that, my body naturally adjusted to the temperature as my feet fell on the ground, guiding me towards the door. I opened the door, my mind absentmindedly noting that Aoif had put on some clothes and followed me towards the bathroom that sat adjacent to the bedroom that we had slept in. ''Ah¡­ that reminds me'' I think to myself, I hadn''t done it since I was distracted by Aoif but I could evolve the house to tier 3 now that I myself had. growl My stomach interrupted my thoughts, reminding me of my hunger, my own eyes narrowing as I realized how hungry I was. Though I couldn''t do anything about it right now as I had to care for my hygiene before anything. Grumbling, I opened the door to the bathroom, Aoif following behind me as I closed the door, turning on the shower as I went to go and brush my teeth. ¡­ The shower turned off, the steam that had consumed the bathroom fading as the temperature evened out. I wiped a towel over my body, wiping off the water that clung to me. Next to me Aoif did the same however she was doing it in such a deliberate way as to seduce me into spending more time with her. "Not now, we just got out of the shower" I say to Aoif, a pout appearing on her lips as she finished drying herself, a slight gust of warm wind appearing to dry her hair out. I finished putting my clothes on and sat on the chair that was apparently in the bathroom, waiting for Aoif to finish clothing herself before I opened the door. I would ask myself why a chair was in the bathroom but unfortunately I didn''t have time for that as Aoif finished and opened the door for me, a gust of cool airpared to the bathroom assaulting my body. I shivered for a moment before my temperature regted itself. Sighing I got up, the hunger in my stomach still ying with me. ¡­ "Good morning, Tama," I greeted, walking into the kitchen. Tama who was currently cooking something for breakfast looked over her shoulder, her eight tails swishing this way and that as she waved us good morning. With azy swing of my body, I sat at the counter, my eyeszily following Tama''s own form as Aoif sat next to me, her head leaning against my shoulder as she, too, waited for her food. Though while I was watching Tama, she closed her eyes, even breaths falling on me, indicating that she had fallen asleep. However, that didn''tst long as two tes were put in front of me, one for Aoif and one for me. Aoif, whose head sat on my shoulder, perked up, utensils practically appearing in her hands as she devoured her meal. A small smile yed on my lips as I watched her, it was cute how elegantly she could eat and still finish so much faster than me. With a wipe of the napkin that I found sitting next to us, I finished my breakfast. Next to Aoif sat up, her own breakfast having been finished a whole 10 minutes earlier. While I had savored the food, Aoif had instead devoured it. "Tama" I addressed, my eyes looking straight at her own, "We''re going to attack those elves again" "Again, are you sure?" She replied, worry in her tone. "Yeah, I could have you or delta do this for me but it just¡­ it just doesn''t feel right" I add on, exining my reasoning. A nod of her head was all the answer I needed, my feet pulling me up as I walked towards the exit, my hand touching the wall. Chapter 146 Sneaky Sneaky With a touch to the wall of the house it turned permeable as my hand fell through it, my body following through seconds after. Light hit my body as the morning shine broke through the trees and pierced my eyes. Behind me I felt Tama''s presence but a quick nce behind me showed nothing, it was most likely that Tama was following me invisible, her presence masked by the very realm itself. Though that didn''t stop her presence from reaching my mind. It was instinctual, for some reason I knew where she was at all times. Ignoring Tama, I look to my right where Aoif hadmandeered my hand, taking it in her own, a smile ying on her lips. It was infectious, I couldn''t help the same smile that appeared on mine as I felt the warmth of Aoif''s hand. To get to the elves camp it would take at least a day of running at full speed, something that I did not want to do at all, not only because of the distance but because of how much time away that would mean. Two whole days that I could be using to evolve things, or to upgrade the buildings around. My eyes widened as my feet stopped, turning around and quickly walking back to the house. I ced my hand upon it and instead of trying to enter it Imanded it to evolve. ¡­ A green light shed twice, signifying the two evolutions that I hadmanded it through. The tree that had once towered above everything in the vicinity now seemed as if it pierced the very realm. ''Info'' Imanded in my head bringing up the information that the system had on the house before me. [Crowns house] [Tier/Level: 3/9(can be evolved)] [A nature aligned territory house that wards off hostiles with its great presence.] "Hm¡­" I hum to myself, the description in front of me had not changed from thest time that I had evolved it, even though the presence that it exerted was much more potent than anything that the previous tree had. Even now, the tree exerted this indescribable pressure that I was sure would have killed me if I wasn''t the owner of it. Despite the grand change that had happened to the house I didn''t dwell on it nor did I check the inside, instead I turned my back to it, heading in the direction of the research hall. A warm hand grabbed onto my own following by my side. ¡­ With a push of my hands the door opened revealing the inside of the research hall and the disciples that were working on their own projects. I barely took notice of them, instead opting to walk past them working my way towards the warehouse to ''borrow'' something. Technically it was Delta and Rhea''s but Rhea was my own subordinate and I''m sure that Delta wouldn''t mind if I took their spaceship for a joyride. With Aoif at my side we reached the research hall and with a push of the doors they opened to reveal the jet that I wanted to take. With Aoif still holding to my hand, I walked towards the jet, my hand reaching out to touch it trying to find anything that would allow for me to open it and climb inside. "Darwin?" I heard behind me, a sneaky presence that I hadn''t bothered to notice appeared next to me, whispering into my ear. It wasn''t Aoif I noted, feeling her hand holding into mine, equally startled at the presence. "Yes?" I asked, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. "Why are you touching my jet?" I finally turned my head to the side, my eyes reaching her own as she looked questioningly to me. "Ahem¡­" I coughed into my fist, trying to buy time for an exnation but nothing came, my mind nking for any exnation. Finally I just sighed and told her the truth, that I hade to take the jet to the elves camp and fight them with Aoif. With a sigh of her own she looked at me like I was stupid, "Do you know how to pilot it without causing time dtion?" Rhea began, "nevermind that do you even know how to pilot it?" Her eyes bore holes into my own, a chastising look on her face. Sheepishly I smiled, shaking my head, embarrassed. Next to me a sigh was heard, Aoif shaking her head in amusement, taking joy in the embarrassment that I felt. In the fact that I had been caught borrowing red handed. "I can take you," Rhea smiled at me, her hand resting on some button on the bottom of the jet. A hissing sound echoed out as some sort ofdder popped down from the jet allowing for us to climb into it. "Youing?" Rhea questioned, already halfway into the jet, a mischievous smile on her face as she motioned for us to join her. ¡­ I looked around, taking note of all the furniture that sat around the cabin of the jet, it all looked so advanced. As if it was hundreds, maybe even thousands of years more advanced than the current standard of technology. However I was broken out of my reverie at the technology of the ship as Rhea climbed up anotherdder, leading to some ce. I followed, my feet silent as I climbed thedder myself, behind me Aoif had opted to not follow. She sat on a sofa, some sort of harness on her. I just shrugged and continued to follow Rhea into the next room. ¡­ I climbed into the cockpit, behind me Darwin was curiously looking at everything, though his eyes stopped on me, those grey orbs staring at the wires tendrils that connected to my arms. Screens lit up in my vision hundreds of checks being gone through as I adjusted the output so that we would only go upwards of thousands of miles per hour. Chapter 147 Beginning Of The End The top of the warehouse opened, just as the engines turned on, my ears were deafened by the noise that reached my ears. Before the jet had actually started to move, Aoif grabbed my attention and had me strapped to a seat when I sat down next to her. The roar of the engines reached its peak as the tip was pointed upwards, angled so that it would reach the distant mountains. I looked at Memoria, who was just like me strapped into a carrier that made sure that she would not be knocked around and identally impale us. With that final check of my surroundings I took a final deep breath and braced myself for liftoff. BOOOM The sound barrier was broken immediately, the jet had reached its final speed in a matter of seconds judging by the scenery that passed by. Just two seconds after the jet had started to fly did it slow down as it hovered above the mountains. I heard as adder was climbed down, the soft ngs echoed into the cabin as Rhea appeared. "That¡­" I began, "was fast" "Yeah, the jet is super powerful, that wasn''t even a percentage of how fast this could go" with that she started to exin the mechanics behind the construction of this, however much I wanted to just doze off, I didn''t, I saw the look in Rhea''s eyes as she exined, her hands wildly reaching this way and that as her speech reached its crescendo. Even though I didn''t understand much of what she was saying, I still nodded along,mitting everything she said to memory. I could tell by the passion, just how much she loved this jet. ¡­ "You can exit there," Rhea said, her finger pointed to thedder that we had entered the jet from. I nodded, my eyes still sleepy from the speech sh lecture that she had given us. However I didn''t fall asleep, I didn''t want to disrespect Rhea when Darwin was giving her so much attention. It would have been petty of me to sleep while she put her heart into that lecture. Though now that it was done I looked to my side and grabbed my dagger, as my feet carried me to the exit. I climbed down thedder as I followed Darwin. A kick to the exit and it opened, my grip on thedder tightened as the pressure attempted to stabilize and drag me out. Though when I looked down I already saw Darwin falling into the camp, his hair kicking in the wind as he fell further and further. I sighed, my own grip loosening as I dropped down, idly noting how the hatch that we fell out of closed itself. ¡­ An almost impregnable barrier, it covered the whole of the mountain. Various traps and souls could be seen as they patrolled around the mountain, weapons in hand. Some had bows, some had spears, others were heavily armed, their whole body trapped in a metal cage, a sword at their side. However that was not what I was looking for, to even enter the camp we would need to pierce through the powerful barrier. A smile yed on my lips as the wind whipped my hair this way and that, I had seen something interesting. On the side of one of the men in those iron cages they call armor was a soul that connected directly to the barrier. If I could kill that soul or at least cut the connection then the barrier would fall or at least be weakened. Thinking to myself as I fell it was most likely that there was some sort of power system inside the barrier that supplied most of the energy though killing that connection would weaken it. Thatnow left me with two options, to cut the connection and weaken the barrier, or to attack the barrier directly. BOOOM My eyes narrowed, my eyelids attempting to keep the wind out of my face, Darwin while I had been falling had pierced through the barrier. I tucked my arms to the side, my body falling faster. ¡­ BANG My feet fell onthe ground, hundreds of elves'' eyes turning towards me, above me I felt as Aoif fell towards me. With a slight grunt I caught her in my arms, cing her to the side as I brandished my spear. A smile appeared on my face as I held out my hand, taunting them intoing towards me. CLANG SLASH it seemed as though one of them had taken the provocation as soon after his own spear was deflecting, my body going low as I shed upwards, Memoria ripping him in half. The ones that followed after weren''t stunned in the slightest, in fact it seemed as though they were sneering at the stupidity of theirrade. With Memoria pointed up I dashed towards them, Aoif following closely behind, her eyes glowing a faint purple as her soul vision activated. CLANG My first attack was blocked, an attacking from my side as another elf counterattacked for the one my spear was locked with. My hand left the spear, letting Memoria fall to the ground as I fell with her. The sh that was meant for me being directed towards therade that he had tried to save. Blood spilled on my form as I picked up Memoria and cut the legs off of the one that had attacked me. ¡­ I blocked another attack, my legs crouching down as I jumped over the heads of multiple elf heads,nding on one of their shoulders, my dagger piercing their soul. Another jump as the elf fell to the ground brought me to Darwin''s side, surrounded by hundreds of elves. I couldn''t help but grin, the blood that had spilled upon my body, the scent of death, the fear of death, it all added up into a joyful experience. The cherry on top being that I could share this with Darwin. Chapter 148 A Dance CLANG CLANG CLANG The sound of des shing against des echoed throughout my ear. I looked to the side as Darwin blocked dozens of attacks, the archers too cowardly to even think of causing coteral damage. When I looked towards them I saw their gritted faces as they tracked Darwin''s movement. My attention soon was drawn by the voices of fear, the cries of pain, cries of sorrow, all a melody to my dance through their ranks. With a thought my dagger was reflected, another appearing in my hand as I threw it towards one of the annoying cowards hiding in the back. I didn''t even bother to look back, knowing that even if I missed that they wouldn''t do anything about other than maybe move a bit farther. My legs tensed, the soldiers I was dancing around tending in return as with a crack of the ground I dash towards them. The armored ones had a look of fear in their eyes as I rabidly approached, my dagger held in front of me. The elf in front of me widened his eyes in surprise as I looked straight into his eyes, my dagger poised to pierce his eye. Numerous other elves desperately dashed at me, various lights appearing as they reinforced themselves even further than they already were. "Toote" I mumbled out, as the dagger fell, my palm pushing it down. Hundreds of arrows appeared in my sight as the archers finally gathered their courage, though they must have underestimated my agility as with a jump backwards I was out of range. I smiled looking on at the scene of the armored elves being struck through. The arrows did not pierce all the way through but it did pierce the metag. Judging by the absence of grunts of pain I could assume that they weren''t injured and it was only cosmetic damage. Behind me Darwin fought, his spear swinging elegantly as if he was performing in some sort of dance with them. Heads flew and limbs were severed as the dance reached a crescendo. A smile appeared on my face as I watched him, idly retreating and dodging the desperate strikes by the soldiers that I was fighting. Eventually though I couldn''t hold back my desires and with a leap I jumped over to Darwin. Feet met wood as Inded on Darwin''s spear, my dagger piercing through the head of his current enemy. With a jump I was behind Darwin, a dance starting as we flowed together. Every attack made was purposeful, as we danced together. Our bodies touched asionally as we cut heads and bathed in the rain of blood. Everything has its own end and so did our dance. As the final close range enemy was killed, thousands of arrows were brought before us. Darwin''s grip on his spear tightened, green aether flowing off of him as his arm was reinforced. Hastily I jumped behind him as a giant sh of aether was sent out obliterating the arrows that had dared to block its path. The archers were smart though, as soon as they had seen that I had retreated behind Darwin they had dropped to the ground, most of them surviving. A bloodthirsty smile appeared on my face as I nodded at Darwin, my intentions being transmitted. ¡­ I watched as Aoif dashed towards the archers and mages in the distance, my feet carrying my body as I followed her myself. "Guh" I heard Aoif grunt out as her body flew towards me, my eyes widening at the apparent minefield that they had created, dust flying around everywhere. Though it soon cleared up my vision returning to me. I didn''t care for that though, my muscles tensing as I dash towards Aoif''s body and catch her in my arm, snuggling her to my chest. "Thanks" a blood filled face spoke to me, her feelings transmitting towards me. I couldn''t help but smile, the feeling of bloodlust transmitting from her to me. Ok our previous dance I had been so entranced that I hadn''t even noticed her emotions but now that I had I couldn''t help but produce my own bloodlust as well. I let Aoif down onto the ground, immediately though, with a smile and a wink at me, she dashed forwards again. Though this time her eyes scanned the surrounding looking for disturbances. I followed closely behind her watching out for any disturbances. "Huh" I involuntarily said, my senses picking something up. Aoif who felt my confusion avoided stepping where I sensed the disturbance, creating a mirror image of her dagger and throwing it at the spot. BOOM an explosion echoed out, the shrapnel narrowly missing us. It was as if they were waiting for us to cross some threshold as arrows different from what they had been using rained down on us. Aside from the normal enhancement that I had seen the arrows being used with, they had something different about them. A strange glint of the metal as they flew towards us. I wasn''t going to take the risk and try to block nor deflect them. With a leap I grabbed Aoif and jumped out of her way of the new arrows. BOOOM An explosion rang out as the areas that the arrowsnded in were decimated, dirt flying everywhere and limiting my vision. Though I wasn''t blind for long as almost instinctively I activated my shared vision with Aoif and caught sight of their souls. Looking around I could see all sorts of bright souls however there were some that were brighter than the others despite being of the same tier. "Notice that¡­" I mumble to Aoif next to me. "Yeah" she responded, her head nodding to me. "Must be the mages, most likely why the arrows exploded too" I exin my thoughts to Aoif. "Makes sense, want me to take them out" Although it was phrased as a question, the emotions I felt radiating off of Aoif showed me that she wasn''t asking, no, she wanted to do this. "Yeah, I''ll support you" A nod of her head and Aoif was gone from my side, using the dust cloud to cover her movements as she grew closer and closer to the mages. My eyes narrowed as I noticed something, faint shes of light were appearing here and there in the cloud of dust. Suspicious, I sped up, catching up to Aoif just in time to intercept an arrow that was aiming at her. BOOOM An explosion rang out in my ears, the force ripping Memoria from my hand and leaving wounds all over. ¡­ My vision turned red, the sight of Darwin taking a hit meant for me enraged me. However I couldn''t act in this rage right now, I needed to get Darwin to safety. Though when I looked down to find and grab Darwin I saw a light green cloud of energy covering him, the shrapnel pushed out and the wounds healed. I sighed a sigh of relief, giving Darwin a quick nce, my eyes signaling my intentions. With that I dashed off, my body low to the ground as I dodged past countless arrows however there were some that were directed towards Darwin. The arrows arced, reaching the ground. BOOOM I looked back, a sigh of relief escaping my mouth as I saw Darwin in apletely different ce, his spear piercing elves as he leaped around. With that worry out of my mind I focused entirely on the enemies in front of me. Chapter 149 Interlude: Mole King "Tsk" I clicked my tongue, the mole that stood under me prostrating as he dug out a small hole out of anxiety. "An undead, hunting my moles" I muttered out loud, remembering the moles that had worked so hard to create this underground kingdom, of the innovations and challenges that came from living underground. [your-] I swiped the notification away, annoyed. This little notification had been popping up like every now and then over thest few days. That damned undead was hunting me like crazy like we were just meat bags ripe for the taking. "Hah" I sighed out loud, looking over the hundreds of subjects that had gathered around me. "Stay here, I''ll take care of it" I say to the room, an uproarious amount of chattering popping up. "But-" "No" I cut them off, it was my duty as their king to protect them, I had failed, many of them dying. However that wouldn''t be for long, the crazy undead that wanted to kill all my subjects would get his reckoning. With determination in my eyes, I grabbed the gun that had been carried with me for all this time and a dagger made of some of the more valuable metals that we found. ¡­ A rusty sword that I found lying around was pierced into the giant mole that inhabited this underground area. Life force flew into me, my tongue licking my lips as the delicious meal was devoured. BANG A gunshot rang out, my neck pierced by the bullet. Immediately the wound healed, excess life force flowing into it. "Tsk" I clicked my tongue while turning my head to look at whoever had shot me. ''that entire meal was worthless now.'' I thought to myself, the life force that I had eaten from the mole being used to heal the fatal wound. Even worse was the sickly gray energy that showed my healing, any mildly intelligent person could connect the dots. BANG BANG More shots rang out, though this time I dodged, the rusty sword in my hand lowered so as to point at the ground. I closed the distance, the human that had dared attack me, backpedaling. CLANG CRACK The rusty sword that I held was cracked, a shield protecting the human that I had tried to sh at. "Heh¡­ heh¡­ hehehehe" I started tough, my voice echoing in the cavern, sickly gray energy flowing out of me as it started to coalesce into projectiles of energy. p¦Á§ád¦Á §«?¦Í¨º|,§ã¨°§® BANG BANG BANG More shots rang out but they didn''t reach me, the corrupted life force that I had learned to control blocking the bullets. "You!" The human yelled at me, the bullets stopping as he pounded his gun at me. "Yes~" I sing out. "Why¡­ why have you invaded my territory?" The human asks, his voice strangely authorative. "Hm¡­ why¡­ why because i need to eat" I answer, my eyes widening, as an actually truthful exnation rang from my mouth. "What have you done!" I yell at the human bullets of energy flying at him. "Fall" hemands and the bullets off life force that I had sent after him fell, the energy draining into the surroundings. I could feel a weight atop me, as if trying to force me to the ground. The energy that I had surrounded myself with resisting his effect. Looking up I''m sure we had the same thought. ''Whoever runs out of energy first loses'' ¡­ BANG BANG BANG My finger tensed, the bullets flying out in bursts of fire. "Reload" I mumbled, the gun reloading its ammo as a small part of my energy was taken from me. It was an ability that I think even the system didn''t recognize as a talent. Ever since I had been able to sense that energy, it had been suffocating my vocal chords. Enough that it actually hurt, though when I talked it left my mouth, single word statements being forced into reality. Though there were big limitations, I couldn''t just say die and have them die instantly, no, it would be too convenient. It took up too much energy, sure I could do it eventually but just as how my energy would grow so too would others resistances. I pushed those thoughts out of my head, focusing my whole attention on the fight in front of me. It seemed the only reason that the undead before me could regenerate was because of that sickly energy that he was emanating. I grimaced to myself, just the feeling of it felt endless but I knew it wasn''t. He could be affected by mymands unlike some of the higher tiered creatures meaning that I could stall him out. Judging by the colossal amount of energy that the undead had consumed when healing it would only be a matter of time before it ran out. I tensed my trigger finger shots firing out. "Fall" I yelled out making sure that the energy would fall to the ground allowing my shots to urately pierce the undeads throat again and again. I smiled despite the immense exertion that I resulted from those shots. ''It''s doable'' I thought to myself, preparing for my next set of shots. ¡­ "Hah" I panted out, my breath heavy against the wall as I shot thest bullet in the clip that I had. BANG The undead dodged "shit" I mumbled out, reaching for the dagger at my side. I waspletely out of energy but so too was the undead. Thatst shot was myst chance at an easy victory, now though, now it would be difficult. I was not one for closebat hence the gun but the undead undoubtedly was judging by the speed at which it advanced at me. I ducked down, my dagger reaching out as the undead reached me, piercing its neck. "Fuck" it whispered out, falling on my shoulder. "Guh¡­" I groaned out,''the w reaching in me twisted into a fist. "I win" it said, my own energy flowing into it as I slowly died. Chapter 150 Interlude: A Pounding Melody "Wha-" my eyes widened, the breath being taken out of me by the w sticking out of both of my lungs and my neck. The giant moles that I had been killing for the past few days taking their revenge. The world darkened, my brain losing oxygen as I ran out of breath. With my life force gone, I was not able to live any longer. I couldn''t even self destruct as a final ''fuck you''. As my consciousness left me I couldn''t help but regret, regret that I hadn''t taken revenge, that I hadn''t lived enough, that I hadn''t¡­ ¡­ I woke to the sight of gray walls, the bedroom that I had slept in for so long in my sight again. p¦Á§ád¦Á §«?¦Í¨º|,§ã¨°§® My hand reached down, the wound that I had taken from that undead having been healed. "The king is awake!" I heard one of the more literate moles yell, the sound echoing through my ears as he ran past the door and into the hallway. grumble My stomach grumbled and I couldn''t help but drool, I didn''t know how many days had passed for my wound to not only have healed but for all of my energy to return with it. Though even if I knew that didn''t take away from the fact that I was starving, so starving that I felt I could eat three or four full course meals. That wasn''t going to happen though, the pond thaty in the caver only held enough fish to keep us fed for the next months and me eating so much of it would deplete the poption before they had a chance to breed and repopte the pond. We were working on a solution to that, diverting the excess water into another tank where we would then popte that. Multiple habitats like this would allow for sustainable food sources but for now we didn''t have nearly as much food as we would like to have. Though my thoughts were broken by the opening of the door, a smell wafted into my nose as one of the giant moles brought a te of fish into my room. Next to the bed was a small nightstand where the mole ced the food and walked to the hallway, presumably to wait on me if I needed anything. I looked at the food and the delicious smell that it permeated the room with and raised my hand, picking it up to eat. ¡­ With great effort I was able to stand up, my legs sore from the disuse that was caused by my bedrest. I ignored that though, what was more important than my pain was for me to get to the throne room so that I could raise the morale of the moles. Withborious steps I walked towards the exit of the room, "open" I quietlymanded, the door opening for me as I walked through it. From there I made smallmands here and there so as to make the journey towards the throne room easier. Eventually I found myself at the door to the throne room and with anothermand the doors were quietly opened, my feet dragging me to the chair that I sat upon. I looked around the room, to the various moles that had apanied me throughout my journey. My gaze passed them all instead focusing straightforward as I addressed them. "What has happened while I was indisposed?" "My Lord, we have gone ahead and epted some proposals that would strengthen the military force of your kingdom." One says, all the while handing me pieces of paper that detailed the proposals that were approved and disapproved. I quickly looked over them, on first and second nce none of them seemed wrong or harmful so I let it go. "There was also major progress on expanding the food supply, with the mass amount of moles that had been born in the past weeks, we found it prudent to expedite the process. We are now capable of feeding every mole three meals a day and can support up to a 20 percent increase in the poption." Another mole informed me, to which I nodded. "Adjourned" I said, a headache filling my senses as the residual pain of my battle red up. ¡­ "What are we to do, Gabriel and Naomi are gone" A worried voice said, whispering into my ear. "We wait, there is no reason that they should abandon us," I began, looking to the worried subordinate that had asked me this. "We just need to continue fighting, if we are able to hold on for a few days there should be no reason that they have not made it back from Pandora''s realm by then" BANG BANG BANG Arrows filled with fire flew towards the wooden walls as my eyes narrowed, my fingers reaching to my mouth. "Hold your ears" I told my subordinate, my fingers reaching my mouth as I whistled. Sound powerful enough to knock projectiles out of the arrow rang out, the ears of the elves that had sent them rupturing with it. The arrows that had been sent were also sent of coursending in the field that separated them from us. Sitting up, I grabbed the rudimentary flute that had been made for me and walked toward the battlefield. The whistle may have taken up a fourth of my energy reserves but it would quickly regenerate in the next hour. Though we would not have that much time, it was the whole reason that I was standing up to deflect their arrows, to make it seem as if it was useless to even think of firing them towards us. If they found that every volley of arrow was sent back to the ground they would find it useless though eventually they would figure it out and we would be bombarded before we could retaliate. It was a stalling tactic, one made out of psychological theory. I brought the flute to my mouth, a melody reaching to the elves'' ears before it became piercing, their ears rupturing from the sound. Though what surprised me was that they did not care for the damage, the elves recovered quickly and seemed to pick up their things hastily retreating to some ce. I heaved a sigh of relief but in the back of my mind I couldn''t help but wonder what had happened for them to retreat so quickly, especially when they had been assaulting our fortress for the past few days. Chapter 151 Dance Of Death With a final sh of Memoria, the head of thest elf around me was torn off. Thest remnant of fear could be seen in his eyes but I was indifferent to it, not caring at all about the death of these elves nor my part in it. No, the only thing that even remotely mattered to me was watching Aoif. When I had looked over to see how Aoif was handling enemies I was instantly entranced by her battle. By the dance of death she had created, one so brilliant that I could not bring myself to look away. It was why I was distracted even when looking into the eyes of my enemies, even when I had killed thest of them, when my feet carried me forwards for thest attack, so too was my mind focusing on the beautiful sight that was Aoif. With the head of my enemy falling to the ground, my feet started to move forward, to get closer to Aoif. Raising my head I took another nce at Aoif, my stare lingering this time. There were tens of enemies, each of them with either a staff or a bow in hand, all attacking Aoif at the same time. Even though there were hundreds of arrows and what seemed like spells rapidly fired at her none could even touch her body. Her eyes glowed a brilliant purple, all the while her feet carried her in a rhythm akin to a dance, her enemies an unwitting participant as danced around them. I watched as the dagger in her hands pierced the eye of the closest opponent. His body crumbled, the soul holding it together pierced. More arrows rained down upon her but they were weaved through without caution, a smile filled with blood looking down on the scene. The explosive arrows that they had tried to use earlier were disposed of, the close proximity to their allies not allowing them to use it. I watched as again and again she weaved passed the attacks, strikes of her dagger passing by them as they fell to the ground, either their souls were pierced or their necks were cut. I watched as thest enemy fell, as Aoif stopped her dance, the blood that drenched her body being wiped off. Unconsciously my spear was sheathed, ced on my back, perpendicr to my body. With Memoria sheathed over my back, I walked over to Aoif, my eyes scanning the surroundings watching for the reinforcements that were inevitably going toe. I had noticed earlier that one of the mages had been sent towards the camp, that could only mean one thing, that reinforcements wereing. However for now there was no need to worry as I''m the distance I could only see the thousands of souls starting to scramble. It seemed that even with all the noise that they were stubborn enough¡­ or rather the better way to put it was that they were disciplined well enough to know that rushing would get them nothing. "Aoif¡­" I called, my hand reaching for her own. "I know" she replied, her hand entwining with mine as we sat down lying in wait for the reinforcements. It would only be to our detriment to rush, for now, as we wait, we needed to rest. p¦Á§ád¦Á §«?¦Í¨º|,§ã¨°§® ¡­ "What!" I yelled, a fucking intruder, the same set of kids that had assaulted ourpound not even a couple weeks ago we''re back. They were right in our camp too, the sneaky bastards had somehow made it through the barrier without alerting anyone. The only reason that we even knew that they were here was because there were some unlucky patrols. Even then they only survived by cowardice, one of the patrolling soldiers abandoning theirrades to make haste back to the camp. I rubbed my forehead looking towards the three officers that were sitting in my office, waiting for a debriefing on their duties. However, that would have to wait for now as I had more important things to do, such as crushing those kids that dared attack us not once but twice. "You three" Imanded, pointing at the three officers that were just below me in the chain ofmand. "How is the training of your assigned soldiers going?" The one on the left started to speak first, cutting off the one in the middle. "Good, sir, they have been making good progress. They will be able to patch up any severed limbs and heal on the battlefield in a matter of days." "Good, next" Imanded, looking towards the middle one, the one that had been cut off. He grimaced, a look of both disappointment and disgust on his face. "The lot of them," he mumbled to himself before addressing me, "Not good, sir. They have barely managed basic elemental skills and still need the assistance of a staff to even ess them." Just as he grimaced, so did I. I knew that to train a mages corp would take time but for them to be that reliant on staffs when even the recruits back home were able to do moreplex magics without assistance. ''They really are the bottom of the barrel'' I looked away from the mage corps officer and towards thest, the scouting corp. "And you" "Hah" He sighed, his head falling into his hands as he rubbed his temples. "Fine, they can shoot a bow, sir, but they can''t sneak to save their lives, they are the most ipetent scouts I''ve had to train. Can''t even learn right." ''Hahh" I sighed to myself, there was nothing that could be done, we would need a substantial amount of time to train these idiots into a proper fighting force. "Grab your soldiers, they could do with a little experience."Imanded, gesturing for them to leave. "Yes, sir" They all reply, their bodies moving into a salute before they leave, out to gather their forces. My hand moved to the side of my desk, where I kept my own personal weapon, and grabbed at it. I raised myself from my sitting position and with sword in hand moved towards the intruders, intent on stalling them until my forces were gathered. Chapter 152 Suspicion Through the forest of trees that littered the mountain, I walked. My feet carried me towards the location of my adversaries, my mind focused on nothing in particr. It was once I reached the end of the trees and into a clearing that I found them. Sat on a mountain of corpses were the two kids that had invaded previously, their eyes were closed as they leaned upon the other as if in meditation. I sneered, my hand holding my sword to the side. I ced my other hand on it and so too did my eyes close as I focused a tremendous amount of energy into my weapon. "Hooh" I breathed out my energy filling every crack of the sword as my muscles tensed. With a mighty heave, I swung the de at an angle, the excess energy forming a de of ethereal energy as it reached towards the children. I saw the moments their heads reached out from the crooks of each other and perked up. Weapons were drawn, a beautiful spear being unsheathed as it was immediately swung, purplish green aether coating it as a barrier of wind was made. Wind met energy as my attack attempted to pierce through their defense. It was not to be though, as almost immediately after they met, my energy was diverted to the side. The only visible effect was the desecration of the corpses of my soldiers. The girl''s weapon was drawn, a dagger that seemed to pierce the soul just at first sight. ¡­ I watched as the man grew closer to us, his soul burning brighter than any other elf that I had seen. Even when my head was leaning on Darwin''s, my eyes never left his soul. When had started to gather aether into his sword I nudged Darwin signaling for him to do something. fort~ I felt as his soul emanated feelings offort and otherplex emotions and settled down. My head leaned further into the crook of his shoulder, his own doing the same to my own. Though that didn''tst for long as the elf reached the peak of his energy, his muscles tensed in preparation. It was at that moment that Darwin sat up, my own body following his lead. Again I watched as Darwin unsheathed his spear, purplish green aether appearing as he reinforced it to its limits while he swung it towards the energy that threatened to kill us. A barrier of wind appeared blocking the energy, no, it was more like it had redirected it. When I looked around me I saw the desecrated corpses of the elves that we had killed and couldn''t help myself from smiling when I saw the look of fury that appeared on our aggressors face. Though the smile soon turned into a frown as I saw the mass of souls that were following behind the elf. With a nudge of my arm I alerted Darwin of the impending horde of souls, to which he just sighed. Memoria, the spear I had to remind myself the name of, was brandished again though this time it was brought to a ready position. "Ready" I heard, his voice ringing out next to my ear. "Yeah" I replied, my own dagger being brandished, unlike those people that held their daggers backwards, I held it in a proper grip. Even though I had an enemy before me I couldn''t help but curse the people that thought it a good idea to hold their daggers in a reverse grip. I had tried it in a spar and all it got me was less power and a slit wrist. The way that they held it meant that when I tried to apply pressure to the weapon that I was parrying the dagger just fell from my hands, the guardpletely useless as my wrist was shed. That was a painful learning experience, it even gave me a wound that Darwin had to heal and while I was thankful for any reason to be near Darwin, it was still a lot of pain for something that people think was a good idea. Done ranting in my head I focus my attention on the battle in front of me. CLANG CLANG Darwin had reached the elf before me and though he was able to give a flurry of attacks they were all blocked, it was as if the elf had known beforehand where the attacks were going toe from. There was also the fact that therge sword that the elf used was deceitful, both of us thought that with the size of the weapon it would be a pain to maneuver which meant that we would have the advantage in agility but when I looked at the ease in which he was able to move it to block the flurry of piercing strikes Darwin sent at him this battle suddenly felt a lot more difficult. I watched as Darwin fell to the ground in a controlled fall, Memoria shing out to the elf''s knees as he dodged back. It was then that I felt a set of instructions being transmitted to me as Darwin fell back. I smiled, as my body and mind followed the instructions to the letter, wind sweeped passed my hair as I dashed forward. ¡­ ''Duck'' I thought to myself, my body moving ording to my thoughts. My body fell to the ground, my knees buckling as they crouched down to allow my body to fall though soon aftera sword flew over my head. Memoria in my hand went for a sweeping strike aimed at his knees, however it wasn''t to be as immediately after I had tensed my muscles to deliver the strike the elf had backed off as if he had predicted my movements. I narrowed my eyes, a suspicion forming in my mind as I sent instructions over to Aoif. I could feel the confirmation that Aoif sent towards me, a n formed in my mind as I watched the resulting sh. Chapter 153 Mind Games ''Neck, eyes, then neck again'' I thought to myself, the lines of attack clear in my eyes as I easily dodged the rapid attacks, watching as the girl retreated with her attacks in vain. Though it was not her fault, she was just not skilled enough to deceive my predictions. It was a talent that I carried throughout my life, a brain akin to the most powerful of calctors, able to calcte all the rtive probabilities and find the perfect way out. Of course it wasn''t omnipotent, if someone was significantly stronger and faster than me, then all the calctions in the realm would not allow me to survive but it was this innate ability that I prided myself on, an ability that allowed me to calcte the probabilities of reality. Though for now I can''t boast, I needed to finish this fight, children they may be but they were strong, strong enough that I was barely holding on with my calctions. Though they were most likely suspicious of me by now, the way that I threw off their attacks would be a dead giveaway. I did have one thing going for me and that was that I couldn''t hit them. Obviously if they figured that I could read their attacks then I could most likely read their defense and while I could it was still good enough that I couldn''t pierce through it. Though they didn''t know that which is why they were going to be cautious on why I wasn''t able to hit them, most likely thinking that I was leading them somewhere when in reality I was just stalling for time or for a perfect opportunity. One they may just give me if they fall for the trap. ¡­ "It seems you were right" I hear Aoif say, her voice close to me from her retreat. I just nod, my brain working through possible ways that we could win. "How¡­" I mutter, absentmindedly picking Aoif into my hands as I dodge away from another attack aimed at me, though when I looked around I couldn''t help but be suspicious. Even though this elf could predict our movements we were able to dodge. ''There must be a reason for that.'' I thought to myself, as my eyes scanned the surroundings. There was nothing around us except thick foliage and trees. I couldn''t see why the elf wanted us here because what else was it purposely letting us dodge its attack for but to drag us somewhere. I clicked my tongue, as my eyes looked towards Aoif. I couldn''t think of a n so the only options we had were to either blindly charge in or walk into whatever trap that this elf had nned for us. Out of the two options I chose to blindly charge at him, it was why my grip on Memoria tightened and why I had nced at Aoif, to signal my intentions. I crouched down, Memoria held tip facing downwards, as I readied to charge at the elf. Aoif behind me was ready too and at once we charged. Aoif took the lead a nging of metal as her attack was blocked by the huge sword that the elf held. However that wasn''t the real attack, no, the real attack was mine. Right when Aoif had retreated after being blocked by the sword I dashed in, my spear traveled around the sword as it fell into ce around the elfs skin. Blood poured from the wound as Memoria was pulled, however I wasn''t able to pull Memoria out fast enough. My arm was raised just in time to intercept the sword that swung towards my neck, a deep gauge appearing as the sword hit bone. "GAH" I screamed out, the pain from being hit echoing throughout my nervous system and paralyzing me in pain for a moment, a moment that was promptly used to deliver one more final strike at my unprotected head.please visit ¡­ "GAH" I heard as Darwin screamed out, the intense emotions of fear and pain being transmitted to me. My eyes turned red as I saw Darwin''s blood rush from the wound, as my feet carried me towards the elf. In a reckless haze of red I didn''t think nor even know what I was doing, I just acted. The dagger that I held was thrown from my grip, interrupting the follow up attack and leading his attention towards me. However I didn''t just stop there, no, I dashed as fast as I could towards Darwin, my hands prying Memoria from Darwin''s as it hummed in my grip, bloodthirst in its soul as it felt its own owner''s wound. It felt as if it wanted me to do something and in my mindless haze Iplied, purple energy consuming the spear as it pierced through the sword of the elf and into his heart. Memories flew into me but just as quickly as they appeared so too did they disappear, the spear eating them as if they were some sort of food. I could feel the satisfaction of the spear as its bloodlust was sated. [You have killed a holder of 1/5 ownership of the realm] [You have gained 1/5 ownership of the realm] With those notifications, I was brought from my thoughts, from my haze of violence. I brought my eyes to Darwin who was sitting down, his hand over the wound as green light filled it. I could still see the grimace on his face as what was most likely immeasurable pain assaulted him. Immediately I dropped to my knees, Memoria falling from my hands as I hugged Darwin''s back, careful not to disturb his healing. I relished in the feeling of his warmth, the scent of his body calming me down, as the adrenaline fell and my eyes drooped. Though I was not able to hold that feeling for long as soon, hundreds of elves appeared in the vicinity. I looked towards Darwin and back to my own body. We were in no condition to continue fighting. "Hah" I sighed, picking Darwin up in a princess carry, his small body fitting in my arms as I leaped into the sky, tforms of purple aether allowing me to climb the needed height to get back to the jet. Chapter 154 Healed I arrived just in time to see the death of themander. I watched as the spear the girl held inexplicably pierced through themander''s sword with such force that it continued on till his heart. I saw the widening of his eyes as he fell, as he died. All the while I was running towards him, towards the enemies that dared kill amander of the Empire, one held in high regard. However I was toote, the girl had picked up the boy and had already leaped through the barrier and past my range. Though that didn''t mean that I didn''t try to at the very least get a hit in. With the bow in my hand I stretched it as far as it could go, the arrow aimed at their heads. With a breath I released it, the arrow flew, but it was not to be as a barrier appeared and blocked the shot. They were truly out of my range now. "Tch" I clicked my tongue, anger in my eyes as I walked over to themander''s body. My hand reached towards his eyes, closing them as the rest of the units reached my position. "They''re gone, they killed themander." I said, addressing the other two officers behind me. ¡­ ng ng I felt my feet reach thedder of the jet as Darwin''s limp body was readjusted into my back so that I could climb up. With my hands freed I reached forwards my hands grappling at thedder and pulling me up, however I didn''t need to do that as soon after my hands had touched thedder some unknown mechanism had activated pulling us upwards without any need for my strength. Below is the opening that led to open air was closed as my ears popped, the air in the chamber equalizing with the air in the cabin. I opened the hatch and climbed through, my hands pulling my body into the cabin all the while making sure that Darwin was secure to me so as to not wake him from the trance that he was in. Ever since the wound had been made he was in a trance of sorts, aether rushing into his wounds and healing three. However the wound that he was healing was slow going, even though most wounds that Darwin had healed before took seconds, maybe minutes at the most he had already been healing this one for a good ten minutes. It worried me. Though I shook those thoughts out of my head in short order, priorities other than being worried about Darwin taking charge. Soon after I had entered the cabin I had found a couch, or at least something resembling it and ced him down. I had strapped Darwin in just as I had done to myself, the engines roaring as they were pointed the opposite direction of Darwin''s territory. I braced myself for the eleration and with a loud boom that hurt my ears we were off. ¡­ It had been only a few seconds but already we were back to the territory, the jet hadnded in the research hall. I didn''t bother to move at all, even when Rhea had exited the jet going back to whatever it was that she worked on. I just unbuckled myself and stared at Darwin, my eyes watched on as the wound slowly healed. As tissue and muscle were made slowly and reconnected.please visit I watched on for what seemed like hours as the wound healed itself, aether flowing in and out of Darwin as his reserves replenished themselves only to be used again to heal. Eventually though my eyes drooped, the adrenaline crash and tiredness that came from the fight and watching of Darwin coughs up to me. My arms fell at his side, my own vision turning dark as I took one final look at Darwin, of my love. ¡­ "Nnn" I groaned, as the pain in my arm tore at my nerves. Despite the frantic healing that I had engaged in during the night it was still only partially healed. When I looked to the wound I could only see muscle covering bone, skin that should have healed by now still damaged. It was the slowest healing that I had ever experienced.y eyes narrowed, my thoughts drifted back to the sword that I had fought against, of the elf wielding it. ''There must have been something special about it'' I thought to myself, to be able to block my healing that was so potent, I grit my teeth, there must have been something. A light groan echoed in my ears by my side. I looked over and saw Aoif, her sleeping form turning over as she hugged onto my uninjured side. It was weird that I had only just now noticed her. Usually I would immediately notice her presence, it was just so striking, so¡­ It was at that moment that Aoif''s eyes glittered open, widening as they took in my own eyes. "Are you okay" She said quietly, her eyes open in worry. "Yeah" I began "the sword had to be enchanted or something, for the wound tost this long" "Yeah¡­ it probably was" Aoif absentmindedly said, her arms carrying me into herp where she cradled me into her breasts. "Has the wound fully healed?" I heard Aoif ask, her voice soft as she looked down to the fresh skin that had just started to appear over the exposed muscle. "Yeah, sort of" I reply, my eyes closed in concentration as I felt for anything else that I needed to heal. I felt all over my body and aside from minor wounds and a couple stretched muscles there was nothing to heal, only the pink skin still fresh from being grown needed any more healing. Though even that only needed a light dusting of aether to heal it. I turned over, wrestling myself from Aoif''s grip to face her. I raised my head so that I was level with her and kissed her. It was nothing more than a chaste kiss but I just enjoyed it, the intimacy that seemed to heal all the pain that I felt. Chapter 155 Ownership And Relationship Our lips parted, a string of drool connected us, the chaste kiss that we started with turned into one of passion. I lifted my body so that I could get up and take a good look at Aoif. A flushed face met my own as she looked at me with lidded eyes. Though that didn''tst for long as the pain in my wound red up, my own face scrunched in pain as it was not quite healed. When I opened my eyes again I came face to face with Delta, her form towered over my own. An impassive green eye stared into me. "I heard what you did." She stated, her eyes staring into both of our own. My head lowered, embarrassed at the foolish act that we had done, especially how we had been caught. Not that I didn''t expect us to be caught, it was just that the wound that I had taken, the ease of which we could have gotten there in other manners, were all things that I could have done but didn''t, blinded by the shiny toy in front of me. Breaking me from my thoughts was a sigh, as Delta looked down on us with disappointment. "You could have just had Tama teleport you, or even me, I could have gotten you two there and you would have been safer" Delta chastised, a nd look on her face. Again my face flushed with embarrassment, the methods and safety measures we could have taken being thrown right in my face. "And Aoif," she addressed, her eye turned past me as Aoif perked up at the calling of her name. "Yes?" Aoif questioned, as her body moved from its spot to stand next to me. "I know that you love Darwin, but it is not conducive for one partner to do everything the other says. You just end up with a submissive doll" my eyes blinked in surprise, rtionship advice was thest thing I would have expected from this situation, from Delta too. But here we were, Delta whispering advice into Aoif''s ears, low enough that I couldn''t even hear it. Soon though Delta receded from her spot next to Aoif''s ears and looked toward me, her eyes serious. "And you, I know that you are young and inexperienced in rtionships just as Aoif is but do better. Don''t only think of your desires" With that she left us to dwell on her advice. I sat down, all thoughts of passion left from my mind as I went over my rtionship with Aoif. Of how much of it was all about me, all of her desires and everything was about me I didn''t even know her favorite dish or favorite color. It was jarring having these thoughts, to know how much our rtionship had progressed even though we knew barely anything about each other. Sure I knew a lot about her past from that one time but other than that I didn''t know much. [Crown Aoif''s has transferred 1/5 ownership of the realm to you] [Congrattions, you haveplete ownership of the realm. Would you like to name it?] [Congrattions to Crown Darwin for taking ownership of the first realm. Fame +1] Before I could even think to talk to Aoif, to figure out our rtionship, she had transferred ownership to me. Notifications rang out as the transfer was confirmed. "Aoif?" I questioned, I thought we were going to talk about this stuff before we did anything more. Even if we had agreed to have me as the owner of this realm that was an old agreement. I wanted to at least talk about this before anything. "Name it" Aoif interrupted, "we can talkter, this is a momentous achievement."please visit I just nodded, my mind going through various names. Though it was hard thinking of a name, each and every name that I could think of was rejected before I even gave it a second thought. I wanted something meaningful, it was to be my first realm, something that I would uplift into the highest of realms. ''Transcendence, maybe underdog'' I thought to myself beforeughing a bit. ''Underdog, a ridiculous name'' But transcendence that maybe could work, it wasn''t the greatest name but it was one that I could live with. "Hah" I sighed out, it was hard thinking of a name. I looked towards Aoif, her eyes shone in anticipation as she waited for my answer. My brain was short circuiting for a name, for something that wasn''t cheesy or terrible like underdog. I still couldn''t believe that my brain had actually considered that. ¡­ "Darwinism" I said, finally deciding on a name, a homage to my parents who had named me and after the talent that had allowed me to get this far. [Would you like to name your realm ''Darwanism''] [Note that this decision is final] ''Yes'' I thought, naming it without hesitation. [System Announcement: all crowns in the realm of Darwinism will be ejected to a currently unupied realm unless given permission to stay from the owner. Please get permission in the next 12 hours] My eyes widened in panic and my mind quicklymanded the system to give Aoif permission to stay. [Would you like to give Crown Aoif permission to remain on your realm] ''Yes'' Imanded, a sigh of relief escaping my lips as the system confirmed that she could stay. ¡­ "What!" I yelled, as my eyes read thest of the notifications. [Congrattions to Crown Darwin for taking ownership of the first realm. Fame +1] [System Announcement: all crowns in the realm of Darwinism will be ejected to a currently unupied realm unless given permission to stay from the owner. Please get permission in the next 12 hours] I went over the notifications again, Gabriel next to me reading them just as I had. A look of genuine surprise appeared on her face as the contents sank in. My legs raised from where they were sitting, as panic set in. "We need to find Darwin and Aoif" I heard from my side. Gabriel was already dressed and was only waiting on me. Chapter 156 Reactions "What!" I yelled, the surrounding Crowns around me flinching back at the enraged voice. My eyes read over the messages again, flickering back and forth from the messages to the people around me before I finally sighed as my eyes fell. "Shit" I spit out, my head that was lowered to the ground allowed me to conceal the loss of light that my eyes could not conceal. I had worked so hard, so much pain and suffering to create a haven for the Crowns around me but it would alle crumbling down because of that damnable Darwin. Because of him I would lose everything, no more importantly everyone here would lose a safe home, everyone would lose the security that I had worked so hard to create. "Everyone, I can not imagine the stress and fear that you are going through." I addressed, my eyes ncing over all therades that I had gathered. "I know that you all rallied behind me because you thought that you would be safe, that you would be able to survive with my help but I can no longer protect you. We will be ejected to a random realm so wherever you go know trust if you meet me or anyone else in this room, to be kind, to be virtuous and help each other survive." With that final statement I walked from where I had addressed them to a storage vault next to me. My hand touched thebination lock and quickly entered the code. I turned the handle, just as numerous items appeared in my vision. "I know it is not much but I want you all to pick something from here to help you survive, whether it be a weapon or something else, I really do hope that all of you can survive and meet up with each other one day." ¡­ "Ready" A hurried voice reached me from the door. "Yeah" I replied, the shirt I held being put on hastily. "Good, let''s get going," Gabriel said from the door, her hand already opening it. Her head was turned towards me, as her eyes looked on in panic as she tried to gesture for me to hurry. Iplied, my feet hitting the ground from where I was sitting to get dressed as I hurried from the door and into the hallway of the house that we had been living in for the past few days. Down the stairs and into the first floor we went, our hands reaching to the wall as we called for an exit. Instantly the wall turned permeable, our hands falling through it moments before our bodies did. Sunlight reached my eyes through the canopy of trees and blinded me for a moment but I was soon dragged out of my squinting by Gabriel tugging on my arm. I had never seen her this impatient, maybe it was the stress and anxiety that came from the iminent ejection from this realm, or maybe it was something else but either way Iplied. We rushed towards the closest subordinate, asking for where either Darwin or Aoif were. Though it seemed that they didn''t know, I couldn''t find one of the created humans that knew where they were. "Hah" I panted, out of breath from the running around that Gabriel was dragging me through. "Why don''t we just check the buildings?" I ask Gabriel. Though when I did I saw as her eyes widened, as if the thought had not urred to her.please visit "Did-" A hand was quickly ced on my mouth as when I looked at her, trying to ask, I saw her blushing red in embarrassment. "Shh" She shushed but couldn''t stifle the tinyugh that came from my mouth. ''The smartest person I know, forgot something so basic'' I thought to myself, the thought only making me giggle even more. "Shut up!" She red, an outburst of emotions flying from her mouth, "There aren''t many buildings so- so it wasn''t on my mind" She tried to reason, though clearly even she didn''t believe it. I just nodded my head, the tail threatening to shut me up with a p was enough for me to stay quiet especially when I had neither my shield nor sword. "Let''s just go to the research building first, it''s the most logical one" Gabriel said, her face still flushed in embarrassment. I couldn''t help putting one more jab out there, "You sure about that~" I said in a singsong voice, my body already tensed to dodge the swipe of the tail. A hand was raised to her forehead as she sighed, gesturing for me to follow. ¡­ I opened the door to the research hall, the smell of various oils and materials reached my nose as the dreary atmosphere surrounded me. I watched as the various apprentices looked up from their work and stared at me, my feet already carrying me towards them. Though before I could even ask them any questions I was osted by an orange haired girl with an eyepatch. "Aoif wants you both" She said, her facial expression not changing one bit as she turned around and led us further into the research hall. "Wh-" Before I could even ask her name, she stopped and turned to both of us. A door behind her opened as she gestured for us to enter. "Delta" That was all I heard before we were shoved into the door, Delta apparently, followed behind us. Though this Delta wasn''t behind us for long as we marveled at the room, at all the technological treasures that we could see around us. A hissing sound brought me out of my reverie, the jet in the middle of the room opening up to reveal adder that most likely went into the cabin of the giant jet. "Come on, Naomi" I said, gesturing for her to follow me as I climbed thedder into the chamber, the ce where either Aoif, Darwin, or both were. Chapter 157 Mechanics I watched as the hatch opened, two girls climbed into the cabin. One with golden hair and an angelic look, the other had snow like hair and a dragon''s tail to match. Once they had finally reached the cabin from where they had climbed in I gestured for them to take a seat as I turned my head over to Aoif. "Aoif?" I asked, questioning why she had had theme here. "I had Delta call for them as soon as I felt their presence in the research hall, it was obvious what they wanted anyway." Aoif shrugged and finished with her exnation snuggled her head further into the crook of my neck. "Ok" I sighed out. My attention had already gone from the warmth that Aoif radiated towards the system where I navigated the menu so as to let the two stay. They were Aoif''s subordinates, it would be cruel to boot them to a different realm when she went through so much trouble to recruit them. With a final nudge of my will and a click of a button the system had recognized them as having my permission to stay. "There," I looked up to them as my eyes stared into theirs, "You can stay in the realm, is there anything else?" "No," Gabriel said as she shook her head and with that they left, off to do whatever it was that they upied their time with. Though now that I was free of distractions I could finally take a look at what it meant to own a realm. I had been ignoring it since I had wanted to talk to Aoif but it seemed like she didn''t want to say anything untilter so there was nothing I could do. With another mental nudge the previous notifications were opened, several filling my vision as Aoif looked on curiously. [Congrattions on taking ownership of your first realm.] [With your ownershipes privileges, would you like to browse them?] ''Yes'' Imanded, more messages popping up in my vision. [You have selected yes¡­ please wait as aprehensive list is generated] I readied myself to wait but it took no more than 10 seconds before the next notification appeared, it surprised me. When I thought of a wait, I thought it would take hours or even days but I guess the system is beyond human understanding. [Thank you for your patience] [As owner of the Darwanism realm you may cklist certain entities and species from entering your realm, upgrade said realm, and expand your territory so as topletely envelop the realm. Note that certain items and powers may be able to force their way through the protections of the realm. To prevent this the upgrading of the realm is perimount.] [To upgrade your realm you must invade and conquer the adjacent twenty realms] [Realm: Darwanism] [Grade: Lowest(conquer twenty lowest grade realms to upgrade the realm to low grade)] ¡­ With that final notification the messages stopped, Aoif next to me was sharing my vision which allowed her to see what I saw. This meant that she had seen the notifications just as I had.please visit A chuckle escaped my lips at the information that I had been sted with. "It seems we''re just starting, I thought we were doing good but we haven''t even begun" Iughed out, the sheer scale of what I would need to do to reach the peak hitting me. Next to me Aoif looked at me with concern in her eyes. "I''m fine¡­ I''m fine" I cate Aoif, though her worrying eyes never stopped looking at me. "I just- it''s just I thought we were further along¡­" I rose, my feet carrying me towards the exit. "But now we can truly begin" ¡­ ''System, how do I conquer another realm?'' I asked, hoping that the system would be nice, at least for today and hand out some free answers. [With sufficient power and/or technology you may traverse realms. The owner of a realm may also travel to other realms with twopanions] ''So I can either have Delta or Tama find a way to other realms or I could bring them there to conquer the realms themselves.'' I thought to myself, my gaze wandering everywhere around the room from the ceiling over to where Aoif was sleeping next to me. "Darwin?" My thoughts and wandering gaze were interrupted by Tama who had knocked on the door and entered. "Yes?" I asked, my eyes staring straight into her golden orbs. "This may be presumptions but may I sleep with you" it was nothing more than a whisper but it seemed all but a shout. The embarrassed look on her face, the slight quivering of her lip, and the flush, it all seemed to scream how nervous Tama was. "Of course" I smiled, doing my best to alleviate the anxiety that she was feeling. A sigh of relief was heard from her as she stepped into the room, blue pajamas on her. She walked closer, her tails wagged slightly behind her as she climbed into bed. Tama''s hands reached to my neck as she got under the covers and snuggled into me. "Ah¡­ I-" she began, "I never told you this but my actual name is Tamamo no Mai, as my lord I thought it best not to give my actual name but¡­ but now that you have my trust¡­ I think that I can give it to you." There must have been some meaning behind her name and not just that it was a famous one. I furrowed my eyebrows trying to think of a reason but nothing came to me. "Why¡­?" I asked confused. "It is because names are important for us Kitsune¡­ and I wanted to give you my true name, not the one I inherited." "Inherited?" "Yes, Tama was the name I inherited, the one my parents had given to me but my true name¡­ the one that would always stick to me was Tamamo no Mai, a name with weight. If the others of my n knew of it I would be raised in a pedestal, I would never have the opportunity to live, to experience new things as I would be expected to protect the tribe. But most importantly I would have never met you" I looked back and saw the most brilliant smile that I had ever seen, it was almost radiant in how pure it was. Though there was still one question on my mind. "Why tell me this, why now?" Chapter 158 A Bedroom Talk (R18) "Why tell me this, why now?" "Because¡­ I love you" the smile that she had given me at that moment was beyond beautiful, it was so bright, so¡­ so happy that I couldn''t help but feel the same as her. "I love you too" was the only thing I could say, so stunned by that smile of hers, I was taken. I pulled my head into hers, our foreheads touched as I felt the weight of her worried upon me. I could feel Tamamo''s tails wag back and forth as they searched for my waist. When they eventually found it they pulled me in, the strength something I could still not resist. ''Soft'' I thought, the feeling of Tama''s lips upon mine. While she had pulled me into her body she had also pulled my head closer, close enough so that she could take my lips. It was nothing but a chaste kiss, but it felt so much more. The weight of her emotions, of her love was what I felt. Our lips parted just as our faces left each other. When I opened my eyes it was to the sight of a flushed Tama, no, it would be Tamamo now wouldn''t it. "Do you want me to call you Tama or Tamamo?" I couldn''t help but ask, even if it did ruin the mood. "Tama, it was my given name but in private you can call me Tamamo" I nodded as my eyes closed again. My lips went for another kiss just as chaste as thest one but this onested for longer. When I opened my eyes again it was to the sight of Tama flushed, her arms wrapped around me just as her tails were. They were trying, whether consciously or unconsciously, to pull me in more and I couldn''t help but oblige. Her hips ground against mine, her arms groping around my back all the while. I put up no resistance, she had earned this, if Tama wanted to y with my body then I was happy to oblige. "Darwin" I heard from behind me, a hand pulling at the same hands that were groping me. "What are you doing?" Aoif asked, her words whispered into my ears in a dangerous tone. Tama must have heard Aoif as before I could even try and answer Tama was gone, her body leaving in a sh of gold. I could feel the embarrassment as she left. I turned my body over all the while lifting it so that I could sit my body to the head of the bed. Aoif took this chance to straddle me, her legs locking around my waist as she put her hands around the back of my head so that she could turn it straight into her eyes. "I''ll repeat again," Aoif said, her voice still in that dangerous tone. "What were you doing?" "I¡­ I was indulging Tama, she had done so much that it was impossible for me to refuse her advances, she even told me she loved me." "And?" "And I said it back, I guess it was true, I do love her, just as I love you¡­ I- I''m sorry." I close my eyes, refusing to look into her own at the shame that I felt. In the same bed, right next to her, I had indulged in my own desires. "I don''t mind¡­" A small voice said, barely even discernible but was as loud as could be for me. "What?" I ask, my eyes widened in surprise. "I don''t mind," Aoif repeated, "I know you two have had sex before and I didn''t mind then, it''s just. You''ve never said you loved me and now you say it to her¡­ before me." Tears looked as if they were going to fall from her eyes as she said that. However she still resolutely looked into my eyes. "I- you''re right," I said, before looking at her with the most resolute look I could give her, pouring all of my emotions into the next words, "I love you, I always will." "And I too" Aoif said, her head pressing into my own. ¡­ The sun rose over my eyes, it woke me from my restful sleep. Next to me Aoif too was woken but not by the sun, she woke because I was awake. I opened my eyes only to see Aoif on top of me, her head resting on my chest as she listened to the rise and fall of my heartbeat. "Mornin''" She mumbled out, her eyes still asleep. Though soon they opened only to stare straight at me. "Good morning" I replied as my eyes returned her stare. This continued on for a while before I decided that it was time for us to get up, minutes passing by as both of us refused to blink. I tried to get up but was not able to as arms reached down and pushed my chest down. I blinked and looked to Aoif who had a mischievous smirk on her face. A hand reached down from where it was pushing me to the bed over to my tool where it slowly stroked it. Soon enough it reached full hardness and at that Aoif left her position, her body disappeared under the covers as a wet mouth was ced over my dick. A tongue started top at it and I started to grunt the pleasure taking hold of me. Up and down Aoif went, her mouth going to the tip of my dick and then to the base all the while sucking and licking at it, making sure to give me the most pleasure. I took off the covers as heat started to overtake me only to find the sight of Aoif staring straight into my eyes, her mouth covering my whole tool as she took it down her throat. I couldn''t stand it at that point and started to cum. Ropes of cum flew down her mouth as she hilted herself to the base, swallowing everything that she could. When she was done she looked up to me, her mouth being taken off my tool with a small pop and opened her mouth showing off the cum that she had saved there before she closed it and swallowed, again showing off her now clean mouth. Chapter 159 A New Realm "Aoif" I addressed, looking down at her from where she wasying on me. Her hands still fondled at my body, though after hearing me she stopped, her head tilted up from her position as she looked up to me. "Yeah?" She asked as her body wiggled itself into myp. I smiled down at her but it wasn''t just any smile, it was a bloodthirsty one. I think I was being influenced by Aoif a bit much as my smile wasn''t a regr one. I was smiling a bloodthirsty smile, one that appeared at the thought of invading another realm. "Wanna invade another realm?" I asked, my smile only widening at the voicing of my thoughts. "Already? We haven''t even consolidated this realm." There was no heat to her arguments, it seemed as if Aoif was just trying to find any counterpoints to my intentions judging by the same smile that appeared on her face. "It''ll be fine, only three of us can go anyways. If we leave either Tama or Delta behind they should be able to defend the territory in our absence. We even have Melia who can control the tree and surrounding nature." "In that case yeah, of course." Aoif''s bloodthirsty smile turned even more savage somehow at her agreement, "Let''s take Delta, we can try some of her weaponry" With that Aoif turned silent as her naked body moved from where it sat on me towards her clothes that were haphazardly thrown around the room. I too got up, grabbing clothes myself while I watched Aoif clothe herself. Once she was done we went to the bathroom that was adjacent to the room that we were sleeping in. I turned on the shower, the sound of water hitting the ground soothed me as I went to freshen up. Aoif undressed herself again, her body entering the shower as she started to wash herself. Soon after I joined in and started to help. Just as I helped soaping down her body, so did Aoif. ¡­ We got out of the shower, our bodies freshened up and new clothes were put on courtesy of Tamamo. After that we went downstairs all the while a smell wafted through the house, breakfast being made. When we entered the kitchen it was to the sight of Tamamo making breakfast, the sizzling of meat on the grill the source of the smell that we had smelled. tes were ced in front of us, the meat that Tama had been cooking ted and given to us. Utensils were ced out and soon enough the food was devoured. "Tama" I called out, "we are going to invade another realm" I dered. "Are you taking me, you can take three people, yes?" "No," I shook my head, "I wanted you to stay here and protect my realm, I don''t know if we''ll be invaded while I leave so I''m trusting you to do this" "Do you¡­ do you not want me" her eyes dropped just as her ears and tail did. Tama gave me the most pitiful look that I had ever seen from her. "No, it''s just that Aoif wanted to take Delta so that she could test her weaponry." "Ah¡­ ok" Tama still looked down but not as pitiful as she did. ¡­ I found myself in the research hall again, a green eye staring into both Aoif''s and mine "Are you sure, Aoif?" Delta said, her impassive face staring down at Aoif as we proposed our n. "Yeah" Aoif responded, a shine in her eyes as she yed with the dagger in her hand before she sheathed her dagger and looking back up with resolve and excitement in her eyes. "Ok" was all the reply that we got from Delta, a confirmation. ''System, transport us to the nearest realm'' Imanded. [Designatepanions(if any)] ''Delta and Aoif'' I designated, almost surprised that I didn''t need the permission of Delta seeing that she wasn''t a subordinate of mine and to that why didn''t I have to ask Aoif for permission. Before I could ponder over that I was interrupted by the system, messages popping up in my view. [Targets: Crown Darwin, Crown Aoif, Delta please standby as you are transported.] As the messages dissipated from my view I felt myself being consumed by some sort of energy. When I looked around me I saw that both Aoif and Delta were both being consumed by the same light. In just moments the world went dark as the research hall faded to ck. It didn''tst long though as soon after my eyes were blinded by light. ¡­ Ice, all around me was ice as the sun reflected upon it and shine its rays into my eyes. I brought my hand up to my eyes, trying to block the sun from me. Aoif next to me was doing the same but Delta wasn''t, she was scanning the surroundings for something. Most likely she was looking for the realm protectors or the owners. I tried to find them too but I wasn''t able to see anything, the only things in sight were ciers of massive scale and snow. "Hah" I sighed, my breath freezing immediately after leaving my mouth. If it weren''t for my physique as a tier 3 I would have been freezing but as a perk for being this high in tier weather didn''t much affect me. "I see nothing for miles" I heard from Delta, her voice breaking me from my thoughts. "What do you suggest we do then?" I ask, turning my head to look over to Delta. "Shelter for now, we can look for the realm protectors or owners after we get ay of the realm and a base of operations." "Ok" I heard next to me, Aoif agreeing almost instantly. Again I sighed, it was going to take forever before we found anything, I was confident in our speed but for this ce to be totally deserted of life didn''t bode well to our chances of finding anything. Chapter 160 Cavern Fire crackled as the frigid winds buffered at it, another stick was ced in the fire to make sure it did not stop burning. I ced my cold hands over the fire and sighed at the warmth. It was a great feeling going from the icy cold to the warm fire. It had already been dozens of hours since we had begun searching for the owners of this realm, however we had found nothing. No trace of civilization nor of life. It was like this winternd was the only thing this realm had to offer. After we had searched for that long we, and by we I mean Delta, had suggested that we find a shelter. Neither Aoif nor I had objected to that. It was for the simple reason that both of us still had a psychological need for sleep. It wasn''t that our bodies actually needed sleep, no, they had gone away with that need after evolving to tier 4 but our minds still thought we needed it. That was the whole reason that we even had a shelter, the sleep deprivation that woulde from the constant awareness would cripple us in battle. Even though Delta was most likely able tobat anything that we came across it didn''t mean that I wanted to leave everything to her. "Hm¡­" I hummed, my eyes nced to the side to look at Aoif who had leaned her body against mine. "Sleep" She mumbled, her arms wrapped around my body and dragging it to the ground. "Mmkay" I said, my own eyes closed too as I snuggled into Aoif. The warmth that she gave off was enough for the sleep to befortable. "Night¡­ love you" I mumbled into Aoif''s ear, my own consciousness fading at those words. ¡­ "Up" I heard from above me as a cold hand touched my neck. "Guh" I grunted out, the hand shocking me into awareness. "Food" was all that I heard before a slop of some mystery food was put in front of me. "What is this?" I ask, my hand pointed to the food that Delta had reached out to give to me. "Food" Delta repeated. "Hah" I sighed, even though I would rather not eat whatever that was, my stomach told a different tale. The hunger stopped me from even thinking about not eating so with another sigh I ate it. ''It''s actually not that bad'' I thought to myself after having swallowed it. There was actually no taste to the food. It was just tasteless with a slightly chalky texture. Nothing bad, just unpleasant to eat. Though after it had reached my stomach I was immediately full, full in hunger and in energy. "Nnn¡­" I heard next to me, Aoif had woken up while I was swallowing down the food that Delta had made. Another te of food was ced in front of Aoif and just as I had eaten it so did Aoif. Though Aoif made a face about it, the texture apparently did not agree with her. "Ready" Delta said, already at the entrance of the cavern that she had carved out. "Yeah" both Aoif and I said, as we nodded our heads. ¡­ All around us was snow, even when I kneeled down to search for vegetation through the snow I found nothing. There was no nt life here, even the wood that we had usedst night was synthesized by Delta. It had already been about 5 hours since we had departed but there was still nothing, no signs of anything. The only thing close to life we found was a dead patch of grass and that was only after so much searching. At this point I was thinking of giving up, of just going home. Even up on the mountain that we sat now, with the great vantage point that it gave us nothing was in view. "Anything" I asked, turning to Delta who was constantly scanning the surroundings. A shake of the head, no further answer as she went back searching was the only answer that I got. "What if we try looking for caverns, caves or anything underground. If life couldn''t survive above ground then maybe they could have survived underground?" Aoif next to me spoke up for the first time in the few hours that we had been searching. "Actually that might work, Delta?" I turned my head from its gaze on Aoif to Delta. "Maybe, there are an unusual amount of cave systems around the area." Delta mumbled as her eyes gazed downwards. ¡­ "Stand back" Delta said, her arm holding what seemed to be a trigger. "Wha-" I jumped back before I could even finish my sentence, instincts forcing me to the side. BOOOM A huge explosion rang out, snow and ice fell to the giant hole that Delta had created. With a jump I was by Delta''s side, Aoif next to me. Though before I could even ask why she had done that Delta had jumped into the hole, her form disappearing as she fell further and further. "Hah" I sighed, my legs tensing as I readied to jump after her. "Wait" I heard from beside me and stopped as Aoif walked to my side. "There" Aoif said, her legs wrapped around my waist as she hoisted herself into my back. "Now you can jump." Again I tended my legs, and this time I did jump. The sun that had attempted to blind is from when we appeared to now, fading into the background as I fell further and further into the hole. ¡­ BANG My feet touched the ground, a hole appearing where I had touched down. On my back Aoif got off, her feet had touched the ground just as I was recovering from the fall. I looked around me, taking in the surroundings and what I saw amazed me. It wasn''t snow and ice like I had expected. No, it was like a paradise, creatures of all walking around as they cautiously avoided the crater. Vegetation grew wildly as it consumed the walls. Most striking was the massive behemoth that seemed to be sleeping despite the amount of noise that we had made. Chapter 161 Wyvern ROOOAAAAR The behemoth that was sleeping woke. A roar echoed through the chamber as the creatures around us fled into crevices and different pathways. A talon was raised and dropped as all three of us dodged out of the way. "Do you want me to help?" Delta yelled at us, the sound of the behemoth moving blocked normal speech. "No-" I was going to say more but I was interrupted as another w was raised and fell. Memoria was unsheathed and shed at the w that fell on me. SLASH "Huh" I involuntarily let out, I had expected the behemoth to be able to at least resist my attack but the w was cleanly cut off. Even the wound was so clean that it took a moment for the blood to start rushing out. Though once it did I dodged it as the sickly green blood sizzled in the air. "Aoif!" I yelled, "want to take this on your own" "Yeah" Aoif yelled back as her hand waved me to the side. With that signal I jumped back to where Delta stood. Though before I could rx and start to watch the show Aoif appeared right next to me. "Can I use your gun" her eyes shone as she pointed towards the rifle on her waist. "Yeah" with that the rifle was unbuckled from where it was holstered to Delta and given to Aoif. "Here" A bag of ammo was given to Aoif along with instructions on how to use them. ¡­ "Yeah, Here" Delta said, handing me the rifle at her side and a bag of ammo. I holstered the ammo to my side and made sure that it would stay there. click I inserted a clip of ammo into the rifle as the safety was clicked off. Once that was done I jumped from where I stood and into the fray, the behemoth or more urately the wyvern that was iling around could not find us. I didn''t know why, maybe it was because of Delta or maybe it was just that the wyvern was blinded by the sun that shone so brightly down into the cavern that we were in. I wasn''t going toin though, it had given me enough time to get a quick introduction on how to use the rifle in my hands and on how to reload it. BANG BANG BANG A burst of three bullets were shot, the flesh that I aimed at almost disintegrated at the force of the bullets. Of course that wasn''t all that happened, the recoil of the rifle had thrown me from where I was in the air to the ground. Luckily I was prepared as I knew the rifle was going to have heavy recoil. Delta had told me so and warned me about it, though I didn''t think that it was going to be that heavy. If I was any weaker it would have blown my shoulder off by the sheer force of it firing. However I wasn''t that weak. When I looked upon the damage that had been caused by the rifle I couldn''t help but grin, a grin wide and full of bloodlust. ROOOOOAAAAR Another roar echoed from the wyverns mouth however this wasn''t one of rage, no, it was one of fear, of the fear that I would kill it. "Intelligent aren''t you" I mumbled out, my eyes locked onto the fear in its eye. From the ground I lined up another shot, even as the ground around me crumbled I still lined the shot up. BANG The shot fired out and I jumped out of the way, the ground below me crumbling into a pit of spikes. My gaze followed the bullet''s path and in just a moment it would¡­ "Tch" I clicked my tongue, the wyvern had dodged, its wing had swept to the side giving it enough momentum to swing its head out of the way. The only sign that I had even attempted to shoot at it was the enormous hole in the cavern''s wall that came from the missed bullet. Spikes of earth were sent at me as my muscles tensed, ready to dodge. With the rifle at my side, properly holstered I was ready. ''Now!'' I thought, the ground rupturing below me as I jumped towards the side, the trigger of the rifle pulled. BANG The bullet drilled into the ground as the recoiled allowed me to elerate closer to the wyvern in mere moments. I unstrapped the rifle and within moments I had it aimed at the wyverns head. "bang" I said, the trigger being pulled. BANG Brain matter sprayed everywhere as the wyverns brain was blown out, the constructs of earth that it had made scattered. [Congrattions, you have obtained 1/10 ownership of the cavernous realm] I repositioned myself in the air, my feet aimed at the ground as I fell. With a soft bang I was on the ground again. ¡­ "bang" I could hear Aoif whisper as she tensed her finger, the bullet exiting the chamber as it flew through the wyverns brains and out its chin. Moments after Aoif was again on the ground, her eyes wide in joy as she walked up to me. I smiled at the sight, despite the blood that stained her clothes and face I still walked forwards, my hand reaching for her head. pat pat My hand fell on her head patting at it as I rubbed the blood off of her face. "That was fun" I heard Aoif say, "Can I keep this" "No" Was the immediate response of Delta as a hand reached to grab it. In mere moments the rifle was taken from Aoif and holstered on the side of Delta again. When I looked down it was to the sight of Aoif pouting, her cheeks puffed up as she looked downtrodden. I couldn''t resist the temptation and reached my hand over to her body and pulled her closer to me. My hand intertwined in hers while the other went to her cheek pulling at it. I just couldn''t resist it was too cute. Chapter 162 Wyverns Body After Aoif had Delta''s rifle taken back she sat on the floor, pouting as if it was going to do anything. I couldn''t help but think it was terribly cute, the way that she was pouting. The eyes that were half closed, half ring, her cheeks that were puffed out. It was all just too cute, I couldn''t resist as I sat down next to her, instead of just watching and reveling in Aoif''s cuteness I leaned her head into mine and pet her hair. Aoif leaned into my touch and even though the pout didn''t disappear, Aoif definitely enjoyed it, her emotions fluctuating from indignance to joy to back to indifference. "I''m sure that Delta can make another for you when we get back" I whisper to her, my voice echoing in her ears as I try to cate her. At that I could feel as Aoif''s body perked up, her head raised towards Delta as she gives her puppy dog eyes. "Hah¡­ Yes, I can make you one" Delta nods as Aoif raised her head in triumph. When I looked from Delta to Aoif, I could see the huge smile that Aoif wore and couldn''t help the smile that appeared on my own face at the sight. Eventually though I had to get up, not because I didn''t want to stay but because we had things to do. Even if we could stay here for an unlimited amount of time, I didn''t want to be away from our realm for so long. That''s why I got up, to hurry things along. The first thing that I did was walk myself over to the wyvern''s body. Usually I wouldn''t loot corpses but right now I had this strangepulsion to do just that. Behind me Aoif and Delta followed though they did it at quite some distance for some reason. ''Maybe they were talking?'' I thought to myself. Though I soon shook the thought from my head as I reached the wyvern''s stomach, my hand on Memoria as I shed it open. Blood and guts flooded out however they didn''t touch me as the moment that I had shed I had jumped on top of the corpse so that I could avoid that very scenario. Delta and Aoif were the same, even though they were behind me when I sliced open the stomach they were both able to dodge the flood of blood and guts by quickly dodging to the sides. Immediately after their jump to the side both Aoif and Delta were at my side, their steps silent as theynded near me. Though even if they were that silent I knew they were there, I could feel Aoif''s presence after all. Even if I couldn''t I still had eyes and could see the moment that they had left where they were. "Are you looking for something?" Aoif asked, her head tilted as she looked over to me. "Don''t know," I replied back, "Just feel like there is something I might want in there." I pointed to the inside of the wyvern, approximately where its core should be. I looked to my side and saw Aoif nod her head before she went silent, waiting for the wyvern to void all the blood and insides with me. ¡­ "That''s a lot of blood" I said, amazed at how much blood had been voided from the stomach of this wyvern. It was enough topletely cover the whole chamber that we were in. "Yeah¡­" Aoif said as her eyes scanned the chamber with me "You still going in there?" Aoif asked, her head tilted from where it was to look at me. "Yeah, something in me is telling me that I need to do this" "Ok, I''ll wait out here. Don''t take too long" "I won''t" I replied, my body leaned over to give Aoif a quick peck on the lips before I jumped down. Blood filled my boots as I sludged through the blood and into the body. Soon the light that came from the hole that we made disappeared, my body consumed by the wyvern''s. Though that blindness did notst for long as soon after the world went dark I reinforced my eyes. The minuscule amount of light that reached into the body was taken with much more sensitivity by my eyes which allowed for a rudimentary night vision. Once I could see again I looked around and saw nothing but the innards of the wyvern. However that was just what I could see, I could feel something in the heart that I wanted. I trudged through the cavity of the wyvern, closing the distance between me and the heart. Eventually I was able to make it there, my hands reinforced. I grabbed at the heart with the intention to pierce it. CLANG "Huh" I quietly said, confusion filling me. The heart of the wyvern was not breaking. It was like trying to punch metal, even though my fist reinforced should have been enough. "Guess it can''t be helped¡­" I mumble to myself as my hand reached toward my back to unsheathe Memoria. With a quick sh the heart''s flesh was pierced, the object within falling into my hand. [Pseudo Draconic Core] ¡­ I jumped back on top of the wyvern''s body, the core in my hand. As my feetnded back on the wyvern I saw Aoif subtly move closer to me as her eyes wandered about the crystal in my hand. It was a beautiful crystal, the earth like color that it took on was so pure that it seemed as if it was actual earth, not just a crystal in the shape of it. Speaking of the shape, it was a sphere, one that looked like a dead earth, with no oceans, nor grass, just dirt. "What is that?" I heard Aoif ask as she inspected the crystal in my hand. "A pseudo draconic core apparently, I don''t know what it''s used for but it must be something good" I responded, my head raised from where it was to look up to Aoif. Chapter 163 Pathway I put the draconic core into my pocket as my other hand wiped the blood from my pants. There was so much blood but I tried my best to get as much as I could off. Once both the core was safely stored away and my hand was done wiping the blood from my pants I looked towards the pathways that the creatures had used to escape the wyverns wrath. There were dozens, maybe even hundreds of them but most of them were small, pocket sized holes, fit only for small creatures but there were some that actually looked like we could fit through them. They even looked man made at second nce, like a path abandoned to time. The way that they were arched, the faint sight of travelled ground. It all looked like something man made. "Do you see that too?" I asked Aoif, my hand raised to point towards the most obvious man made path that I could find. "Yeah" It wasn''t Aoif that responded but Delta, "Made approximately 20 years ago judging by the decay and growth of the surrounding vegetation" I nodded my head, "Should we follow the path then?" "Up to you." Was the prompt response of Delta as she shrugged her shoulders. I just nodded my head in understanding and gestured for both to follow as I jumped from my perch on the wyvern. I flew through the air andnded perfectly, the sound that I had expected from my drop not echoing as my feetnded. Though most of the ground was covered in blood I was able to dodge most of it. The ce that Inded was in one of the higher ledges that lead to the path that I had decided to follow. It was only due to the height of the ledge it was able to avoid being covered in blood. p¦Á§ád¦Á`no¦Í?1`§ão§® Next to me both Aoif and Deltanded, their eyes looking to my back as I walked forward into the unknown pathway. ¡­ Dark, the light was gone, nothing remained, not even dregs of light were able to make it into the path that we had chosen. Luckily we had Delta, she had created a shlight and was currently working with it to turn it on. "Guh" I grunted, my eyes closed momentarily as light flooded the pathway that we walked. Though when I opened my eyes I saw nothing but rocks and vegetation. For some reason I had expected the ce to have more natural beauty but I could only chuckle to myself at the unrealistic thought. There was nothing for as far as the light that Delta had made could reach but that didn''t mean the path didn''t lead to anything, the light didn''t reach far, maybe a few miles out and that was really stretching it. Though no matter how far I stretched my sight I couldn''t see an end which was good for us, it could mean that further down there was something. There might even be another cavern with another realm protector just like this one had. Though I doubted that, the protectors in our realm were far apart, hundreds, even thousands of miles away from each other. For now though we just walked in silence, miles passed by as time passed on. The only sign that we had even moved was the slowly changing terrain. ¡­ "Is that¡­" I said, my eyes opened wide as I looked on at the massive cave in the distance. It had already been more than a day since we had started walking. By the time that we had found this Aoif and I had already had to eat again, our mouths swallowing in disgust the paste that Delta had created to fill our stomachs. "Can you turn the light down to a lower setting?" I asked Delta, my head turned from where it was looking on to the city and over to Delta. She nodded, the light that was once powerful enough to look miles on was turned down to something amon shlight almost out of batteries would put out. Though that didn''t bother me as I reinforced my eyes once again and used the small bit of light I had to gaze onto the city. It was massive, walls made of what looked like a ckened stone rose miles into the sky. Lights could be seen from the gates as citizens of unnatural beauty went out and about. The only thing that differentiated them from us was the doll like joints that they all had. It was as if they were made up of pieces. It would exin their beauty if they were all dolls but that brung up the question of if they were dolls then what created them. "Delta, can you make us cloaks, enough to cover our joints and blend in" I asked, looking from the castle walls to Delta. A nod was all the response that I got before a light appeared, two cloaks created in her hands. They were in and long, just what I wanted. "Should Ie with you?" Delta asks. I nod my head, "Yeah, but are you able to disguise yourself better? You stand outpared to them" I said, my hand pointed to the peopleing and going. They all wore either cloaks or in looking clothes,pared to the pseudo maid outfit that Delta wore it would make us look like royalty or something and attention would be drawn. Attention that we didn''t want to have. "I can" Delta responds as her clothes rapidly change into a more casual style with a cloak to match ours. With that we were off at a normal pace, not one that would show us as higher tiered beings. We needed to blend in and to do that we needed to act as one of those dolls did. We even needed to enter from one of the pathways that they did, it would raise questions if we entered from this path. Chapter 164 Bazaar I walked upon the beaten path, the doll like humanoids speaking some unknownnguage that I could somehow understand. Though the only reason I knew that they were speaking a differentnguage was that the movements of their mouths did not match with what they said. When a simple sentence was said it looked as if they were saying somethingpletely different. It was like they were trying to say some random nonsense that wouldn''t ever be intelligible but came out as a simple hello and greeting. While this was weird there was an upside to this, I had expected to have to stay silent while Delta trantes as best as she could but with this ability there would be no need for that. Though the downside to this was that we would need to be careful in how we cover our mouths, if we were able to see the anomaly of speech in such a short time then there was no doubt that eventually they would be able to discover us. They might just think that we were using some sort of spell or some such but the chance of that happening was so low that I wouldn''t even count on that in a million years. ''Heh'' Iughed to myself, the thought that they would ever believe that we were using some spell to trante was ridiculous. Not to mention we didn''t even know if there were other civilizations or enough diversity that othernguages even existed for them. "Purpose" I heard from in front of me, the guard''s words breaking me from my thoughts as he looked from where he was marking another tick on his paper. I looked up and from what I observed the guard waspletely covered in armor, though it wasn''t conventional armor that I saw. The armor seemed to be made entirely of stone, carved out to fit him. It was weird, the rock wasn''t the same as the wall, I could tell, it didn''t have the same feel to it, but still they were using it for armor, maybe it was good but it just didn''t look like it would survive much or even be practical. I couldn''t even imagine how much training this guard must have gone through in order to even move in that thing, not to mention how dexterous he was despite the obvious weight of it. "Selling and buying" Beside me Delta spoke, echoing the same reasons that we had heard from others and breaking me from the observation that I had fallen into. Again the guard looked down at his paper, a tick being ced before he looked back up to us. "License?" He held a hand out, the heavy armor nged as it shifted to allow for his hand to reach out towards us. "Here" Delta spoke again, a license being ced into his hand. During the time that we had waited in line we were not idle. The information that we had gathered from eavesdropping and surveince on Delta''s part had allowed us to make a sessful forgery of the license needed. Though we didn''t have a carriage like others, that wasn''t a problem either because of this curious thing that we had found some of the wealthier ones carrying. It was a storage back that was most likely bigger on the inside than the outside. The reason we knew this was because they had brought out things that would not fit in the bag without visible distortions. A bag of the same make as those others were strung upon all of our sides, it made us look especially wealthy. "You may enter." The guard said, his sudden words breaking me from my thoughts. Beside me Aoif and Delta started to move towards the gate as the guard followed. A key on his hand unlocked the gate which allowed us entry. ¡­ I walked down the bustling streets of the city, the citizens were all going in separate directions. Some seemed to be buying things from the bazaar and others seemed to be walking to various ces. It was weird, to go from a realm where barely anyone was near each other to a ce where hundreds if not thousands of people went about their day. I looked at a stall, one that seemed to be selling some sort of fruit and walked over to it. A coin that Delta had fabricated in hand as I purchased one of them. With a crunch I bit into it, it tasted strangely like an apple. Even the texture was just like it but it had this weird taste to it that distinguished it from the apples that I would usually eat. It wasn''t bad, it just tasted¡­ primal, like it hadn''t been properly cultivated. ''Maybe that''s what happened, they might not have gically modified them like the ones back¡­ back on earth.'' While thinking of earth I had a disturbing thought. I couldn''t call it home anymore. It was eye opening, even if it was my birthce, where I had spent the majority of my life it no longer felt like home. Only a distant memory. "Did you get one for me too?" I heard Aoif ask behind me, her hand reached into my own as she pulled me closer. "Yeah" I said, handing her the second fruit that I had bought. Aoif took it with a smile, her mouth biting into it immediately while her other pulled me into her embrace as we walked further and further into the quant marketce. "Aoif" Delta addressed, appearing right next to us. "I''m going to look for some lodgings, are youing with me or staying here to look around more?" Aoif looked toward me before answering, "I''ll stay, I want to look around more with Darwin" A nod was all the answer we got before Delta held out her hand, a bag filled with the local currency in it. Aoif reached out her own hand grabbing it before she ced it in her cloak. After she had done that Aoif returned her hand into mine. "I''ll find you two in approximately two hours" Chapter 165 Hotel "I''ll find you in approximately two hours" with that final warning I left Aoif and Darwin, my feet carrying me further into the marketce as I searched for lodgings for us. All around me were these doll like people hawking their wares, nowhere in sight could I find any taverns nor any ces to rest. Instead of just wandering aimlessly through the marketce, I approached one of the people at the stalls. I picked up one of his wares and inspected it, making sure to look interested. "How much" I asked, pointing towards one of the trinkets that he was selling. "Not much, just 2 coppers" He replied his hand holding two fingers up. I nodded, cing two coppers on the stall before asking another question, "You wouldn''t happen to know a good ce to stay¡­ Money isn''t an issue" I ask, thest part added on as an afterthought. "Well¡­ If money ain''t an issue then the best ce would be the Golden Hall. Though I''ll warn you, the people there are a bit pretentious." "That is fine, where would I find it?" "Just go here¡­ and here¡­ then you''ll find it, can''t miss it, the bastards made it up of gold and this weird metal. Not something mostmon folk know about. Most think that its just made of gold but it would melt and break too easily. Trust me i''ve tried" The stallownerughed at thatst statement, a boisterous one at that too. "Thank you, I''ll take my leave then" With that final statement I left, following the directions of the stallkeep that I had just talked to. I already had a mental map built of the ce but now that I had more information I could actually start adding some detail and not just note down what I had already seen. With the mental map drawn, I started to follow the path. Within twenty minutes I was there, I could have gotten there sooner but I had to walk at a pace these humanoids considered normal. If I just suddenly started sprinting at faster than sound speeds then I would have caused all sorts of trouble. Trouble that Darwin wanted to stay out of while we were in this city. Either way it wasn''t much trouble for me to just walk, in fact it was nice. To enjoy the atmosphere of all the people that walked around and take in the sound and sights. Eventually though I did make it to the Golden Hall and the shopkeep wasn''t kidding, it was pretentious. The whole ce was coated in a golden alloy that I couldn''t quite make out at a nce but the worst part of it were the aristocrats that seemed to inhabit it. They were all kinds of noisy, quiet yelling and shouting could be heard. Of course to them it was probably in whispers but to my enhanced senses I could hear all the insults to themon people they were spouting. It was annoying. Though I ignored it as all I needed to do was get lodging for us. ding The door opened with a ding, the aristocrats taking one nce at me before disdainfully looking away. The staff on the other hand all had fake smiles, their hands gesturing me towards the receptionist. "Hello, wee to the Golden Hall" She greeted, "Are you here for a room or to reserve one for future visits." "Room, three people" I responded promptly, the smile of the receptionist straining at my words. "Would you like two rooms each with two beds or three suites?" "Two suites will be fine" "Ah, then that will be 50 gold per night per room, may I ask how many nights you n on staying, we offer discounts based on the amount of nights one will stay" "A week, any longer and I will pay for more." "Your totales out to 700 gold or 70 tinum" With a swipe of my hand I reach to my bag and pull out the 70 tinum that she needed. Of course I didn''t actually have that much however I had seen the register and the assorted coins lying in it which allowed me to generate the tinum coins without any issues. "Here" I handed her the coins that I had fished from my bag to which she gave me the keys. "Rooms 207 and 209 are yours for the rest of your stay, have a nice day" She finished. "Ok" I said taking the keys in my hands as I walked over to the stairs. ¡­ click The door opened and I found myself in a luxurious room. The curtains were of silk and the bed was also covered in silk nkets. It had a cover that looked to be made of carved wood with small tubes littering the sides. I analyzed them and they looked all decorative. I took another look around the ce and it smelled of aristocracy all pretentious but it was better than sleeping on the floor again like we had previously. I walked into the next room, a small kitchte with a small fridge and everything. The next room was a bathroom with arge shower and toilet. It was surprisingly advanced for the technology of the people here. I looked around and saw a small crystal that was providing power to all the appliances. "Good" I mumbled to myself while heading toward the door to find Aoif and Darwin. ¡­ "Ready" I heard behind me, the quiet park that Aoif and I had found being disturbed by the voice of Delta. How she found us despite the amount of distance we had ced between where we departed and where we were now I didn''t know. "Yeah" I said, standing up from where I was sitting with Aoif. I held down a hand to help Aoif up to which she took and pulled herself up. "Follow" Delta said before she started to move towards wherever our lodgings were. Chapter 166 Room And Board "Follow" Delta said as she turned her back towards us, her posture in such a way that gestured us to follow. With Aoif at my back I followed my own hand intertwined in Aoif''s. Through the park we passed by numerous trees, the life force in them sturdier than I would have thought for a tree not evolved. It was fascinating to see nature filled with such magnificent species though it quickly passed by as Delta led us onto one of the main roads. The road was almostpletely empty save for the desperate, the taste of despair was heavy in the air as they eyed any passer by. Just as they had dozens before they nced their gazes towards us but quickly averted them. One re back from Delta was enough to cow them from ever even approaching us. Though again and again this situation repeated. It did be rarer as we walked further towards the middle of the city but it was still ever present. The weird thing was that I didn''t see a single guard, just the barely luminescent shine of themps that littered the streets. I put that in the back of my mind though as we approached some golden building and it became apparent that no low life was going to approach this ce. There were actual guards stationed here, it gave me pause. To be able to station guards here but not around the city where they were clearly needed. It painted a grim picture of the management of the city. "Keys," one of the guards asked sternly as we approached. With a flick of her wrist two sets of keys were shed to the guard before he stepped aside, his eyes shing downwards as if in some sort of panic as he gestured for us to enter. Another guard quickly rushed to his counterpart, a soft whisper echoed into his ear and he visibly rxed. ding The door rang as some bell was pushed with the door. I looked around at the inside of the hotel that we were going to stay at and couldn''t help but find it excessively fancy. There were numerous butlers just standing around, waiting on numerous guests that were taking their time eating and drinking expensive foods. Each and every guest had their own butler just waiting on them, the amount of patience and discipline that they needed to be able to do that was astounding. Especially with all the insults that they were backhandedly giving. It was peasant this peasant that and if it wasn''t that it was how great they werepared to the rest. However I just ignored all of that, it was their own problems and I didn''te here to interfere, only to observe and get a good night''s rest. I followed Delta up a flight of stairs and into a grand hallway with numerous rooms all situated hundreds of feet away from each other. It was weird how they did that, despite how small the building was on the outside the inside was hundreds of times bigger. "You have any idea how they did this" I asked Delta, my hands gesturing to the space of the hotel. How it was so much bigger in the inside than the outside would tell you. "No" Delta shook her head, a pair of keys being given to us as she pointed towards our room. "Didn''t bother finding out but I can try?" "If you could do that, that would be nice" I respond to which Delta nods her head, her own pair of keys being ced into the room beside us as it clicked open. Soon after Delta disappeared into the room the door closed behind her. ¡­ I kicked my shoes off as my hand worked at pulling the covers off the bed so that I could actually get into it. Behind me Aoif did the same except for the fact that she didn''t help with pulling the covers off, instead she opted to watch in amusement while she undressed herself. Eventually I had gotten the sheets from where they were stuck and folded them so that I could actually get in. With a flop of my body I was on the sheets, Aoif''s body soon followed. Her head was curled into my chest while her hands and body cuddled my own. Softly my eyes closed, the days of walking catching up to me as I soon fell asleep. ¡­ Rays of light broke into my eyes, my blissful sleep disturbed. Next to me I could feel as Aoif woke just as I did. knock knock At the door was a knock, most likely Deltaing to grab us for breakfast seeing as she was the only one with any money. "Aoif" I whispered, my voice had disturbed her attempts to ignore the morning and sleep in. "Nn¡­ yeah" she groaned, her face grit turning to mine. "Time to get up" I said, my own body already untangling itself from her grasp. "A minute" Aoif says to which I nod. I walked to the door and with a click it was opened the opulent hallway filled with half groggy people and servants who ran to do the dutiesmanded of them. Stood in the doorway was Delta, her form smallpared to the mass of people who ran this way and that behind her. Though just a second after I had opened the door, as I was getting a hold of what the people were doing in the morning I was forced to the side, Delta had pushed her way into the room. Apparently there was something important to be talked about as usually Delta was patient, never had she been so aggressive in her approach. Even if the aggressiveness we were talking about was a slight push. With another click the door closed in front of me as I was dragged to the kitchen where Delta sat me next to the still groggy Aoif. Chapter 167 A Restaurant "I''ve found thest fragments of ownership of this realm" Was the first thing that Delta said when she sat us down. I wasn''t even able to take a bite out of the food that she had ordered for us before she dropped that bomb of information on us. "How?" Aoif asked, curious. "I scouted a bitst night" Delta began, "Found that the huge castle in the middle of the city contains the ruler." Delta said, her hand pointed to the side as she looks over to the window. It was pretty obvious that the castle had a ruler when you thought about it, but what I was curious of was how that lead to her finding thest fragments of ownership for this realm. "How does that lead to you finding thest fragments then?" I asked, curious at how a ruler could have the location of them. "Were they the owner, or do they have information?" It was a necessary distinction. If the leader of this castle was the owner then we would have to assassinate the leader but if they just had information we could stay in thisfort for a few more days while gathering the information and interacting with the subjects. I hoped for thetter for the very reason that these people most likely had things that we would want, chief among them being the apparent spells that I had seen them use. All around the city I had seen variousfort spells, even the citizens used vague spells to keep their food fresh, to waft the scent of their fresh baked goods into the air. It was all done with the only sign of it even happening, the vague wafting of aether into the air, though barely any of the residents seemed to see it as weird, just an everyday fact of life. It intrigued me, for them to be able to use their aether in such creative ways, how did they do it. Was it a specific process or was it something else, something inherent. "Information, I infiltrated and found several documents detailing different wyverns and different caverns." Delta spoke, her answer breaking me from the spiral of thoughts that I was going through in my head. "Any details on how to defeat them or if they had defeated any of them?" "None that I could find on a cursory look" Delta answered as her head shook. I nodded, my hand reaching down to grab another bite of the food in front of me. It was a sort of biscuit and some sausage and egg equivalent. Though regardless of the ssification, the food was good. Even when just absentmindedly eating it while various thoughts swirled around my head was pleasant. Eventually the room turned silent, the nking of utensils against the tes the only noise in the room. Up and down my fork went pulling food into my mouth as I gazed over to the window. The grand castle in my view. It was rough on the outside but that roughness gave it this grand feeling, as if it had withstood many years ande out stronger. If I focused harder though I could see the aether wafting off of it, the stone that made it up being constantly reinforced by some sort of pattern of aether. It was almost like the castle was alive, the patterns of aether flowing through it looked almost human in their construction, ng "hm" I hummed. My head turned from the castle that I was observing down to the te only to find it empty, only the scraps of the meal remaining. Although I had eaten so much I still felt hungry, enough that I could go for another full course meal. ''Another thing to bring back'' I thought my head turned to the food. Back in my realm we didn''t have any spices or at least any that I knew of. So even though Tama could cook well enough it wasn''t enough to make up for theck of spices. ''Wait¡­ couldn''t I have just asked Delta to make them?'' Another thought interrupted me, and I couldn''t help but bang my head against my palm. All this time eating nd food when I could have just had Delta make spices. "Hah" I sighed out loud. "Are there any good restaurants that you found, Delta?" I ask, my head turned to look over at Delta who stood at the counter her eye closed. "Mm¡­" She hummed, "Downstairs has food but I imagine you want to actually sit down and eat." I nodded as Delta continued, "In that case a good option would be around the street, I''ll lead the way." With that Delta walks away, her eye opened as she nces at both Aoif and I. "Coming? Aoif." I asked as I walked over to her shaking her shoulder gently. "Yeah" She responded, walking to grab her shoes as she followed both of us. ¡­ "Wee! Give me a second to get you seated." A cheerful voice greeted as soon as Delta had opened the door. Delta just nodded, the waitress a bit put off by the indifference of her. A minute went by soon and we were seated, the restaurant overlooking countless people as they went about their day. From the aristocrats that sat in their gilded carriages to themon man that walked around intent on arriving at wherever they needed to be. I watched all of it just as Aoif did, though I would fathom that she had more focus on snuggling into me than on joining me in people watching. "Here" A voice pulled me from my people watching as it put menus in front of us. "I''ll give you three a minute to decide but for now is there anything you would like to drink?" "Water for all three of us," Delta answered, her eye ring at us as she hurried the waiter along. Something dropped from Delta''s hand andnded on the table, a faint wave of aether spreading over us as the rest of the restaurant went silent. "Order something random and don''t act suspicious" Delta said, her eyes pointed towards a random table where a group of noble look-alikes were gathered. Chapter 168 A Date "Order something random and don''t act suspicious" Delta said, her eyes pointed towards a random table where a group of noble look-alikes were gathered. They were all looking at their own menus, expressions of thought on their faces as they every so often snuck a nce at our own table. "Why?" I asked, when I had taken a look at them I could judge them to be weak, just judging by the way they held themselves and the amount of aether that flew through them they couldn''t be any higher than high tier 9, at best they were at the beginning of tier 8. It was nothing to sweat about, all three of us could take them out in the time it would take for us to blink. They were no threat to us at all. "Spies for the king, they keep an eye out on suspicious individuals." Delta stated, her expression nk as always. "How did you get that information, I thought you only looked for documents pertaining to the realm protectors." Delta nodded, "I did but do you know how many documents I had to scan before I found them, thousands. Most relevant would be resumes and reports from that very table of people" My eyes slightly widened from the exnation though I brought them back to normal within a moment''s time, fast enough so that the spies would not notice any anomalies. Just to be careful though I looked at the menu as my eyes widened. It made sense, even if we knew they were spies by their demeanor we wouldn''t know they were this kingdom''s or if they even were spies for anyone and not just most. Well thatst one was ruled out when I noticed them taking slight notes with some sort of device but either way it did exin how she knew they were the kingdoms. "If we want to keep our cover as merchants then it would do us good to keep ourselves out of suspicious situations" Delta exins as the waiter walks further towards our table. With a flick of Delta''s wrist the device that had been muting our conversation from wandering ears was taken back right as the waiter had finally reached the table. "Ready to order now?" The waiter questioned with a smile on her face. I just nod, pointing to a random item on the menu. "Alright, one special and¡­" "I''ll have the same," Aoif said. "I''ll have this" Delta pointed, showing the waitress the menu and what she wanted. "Ok, so two specials and a steak and eggs. I''ll be right back with those orders, ok." ¡­ A soft ng as the dishes were ced down onto the table echoed into my ears. The noise had broken me from my thoughts of distant staring. The smell wafted into my nose and soon enough the utensils next to me were taken and used to shovel it into my mouth. Of course I didn''t just shovel into my mouth I was more elegant, I made sure to eat as one befitting the station that we were portraying. Soon the food was gone and the waiter hade back for the bill. A couple of coins and a generous tip was given before we started to walk out. I nced over to the skies that had been watching us since the beginning and saw that they had conveniently finished their own breakfasts and tipped their hats to their waitress while settling the bill. With the subtlety of a brick they got up to follow us, their footsteps matching our own as the soft ding of the door rang, signaling our exit from the restaurant. "What''s next?" I ask Delta, my voice a whisper so soft that only people with significantly enhanced senses like Delta or Aoif would be able to pick it up. "We will split off, you take Aoif out to a romantic evening or something while I shake off my own spy and gather more information." I nod, my hand taking Aoif''s own as I split off. An audible goodbye and I was off, Aoif pulled close to my body. I noticed a small weight on my side, a bag filled with coins. I couldn''t help but smile smugly, it was clear that while they were actual spies the real reason for all this subterfuge was to get me to go on an actual date with Aoif. There was no way that Delta wouldn''t have been able to take care of them on her own. It was just ridiculous, though I couldn''t help but admit that her reasoning was sound. ¡­ I found myself shopping with Aoif, my hand entwined with hers. I could see the great smile that seemed to be ever present on her face. Ever since we had started to shop by ourselves, a date all our own, she had been as happy as could be. It was honestly cute, even if she was usually happy with me it was nice to see Aoif smile unfettered like this. I could feel a tugging on my arm as Aoif signaled her want. A store in front of us, filled with miniature creatures inside was where she had pulled me. Honestly I didn''t even know there was something like that in this city. It seemed too¡­ too militarized to have cutesy stuff like this. Even then the city was heavily militarized, you wouldn''t expect a military base to have stuffed animals in disy. Though I didn''t very much care for the meaning nor purpose behind the reason such stuff was put on disy, no, all I cared for was that Aoif was having fun. A small smile tugged in my own face as I watched on as Aoif picked out a particr stuffed animal and held it close to her chest. It was so adorable. It was times like these that I missed the peaceful days back on earth, where simple joys like this could be indulged in. Though I wouldn''t give up thispetition for anything. It allowed me to meet Aoif in the first ce. For all that it was horrible, the death and desecration of the human race, my meeting with Aoif was worth the sacrifice. Chapter 169 A Hostage Situation I walked off watching as behind me Aoif and Darwin did the same. When I looked back to watch them I saw as their own forms disappeared in the crowd of people that had taken the space between us in moments. It seemed that despite how empty the streets had been, during the time that we had breakfast the morningmuters had taken the streets. It was filled with hundreds of these people as they moved around, their constant shuffling a convenient veil that Darwin and Aoif had made use of. Although despite that the spies that I had identified were still able to identify and follow after them. However they had split off, two of them to follow Aoif and Darwin and one to follow me. I watched on subtly as they tried in vain to hide themselves. It was pitiful to be honest, the way that they tried so hard to keep their intentions unknown despite howpromised they were. However I was not able to just dispose of them, that would just set off undue suspicions. However that amusement that I gained from their pitiful attempts was offset by the frustration they gave me. I had wanted to gather information from the kingdom but in order for me to do that I needed them to be indisposed but any way that was currently cycling through my head would put undue suspicions upon us. It was a hard problem for me to solve, I had never had to use subterfuge like this, usually whenever I had a problem I could solve it by using excessive violence or just making it so that I would not be seen but clearly that was not a solution here. If I just up and killed the spy then they would know within the day which wouldpromise the date that I had set up for Aoif and Darwin and if I just disappeared then the same problem would appear. All the while I was thinking to myself so too did I walk through the streets. All around me were restaurants and the early morningmuters going about their ways. I looked around and once again found the spy that followed me. ''That might work'' I thought to myself after some time thinking. It was a simple solution that I found to my current problem. Excessive force. I smiled, a small almost imperceptible one as I closed the distance between my target and me. I reached into my pocket and mentally typed out what I needed. A small sh of light burned through my pocket but it was so small that no one would notice unless they were watching intently just as the spy was. Even though the spy was able to perceive that I had done something I did not give him enough time to react. With a burst of aether my legs were put into overdrive which allowed me to elerate to my maximum speed within nanoseconds. Through masterful use of the force allowed by me I passed by a building, my hand dropped a small object then dashed forward again. Within the very moment that the light reached his eyes I was upon him. The object that I had produced was entered into a needle and poked into the back of his head. "Move and you die" I whispered, the spy desperately nodded his head. No doubt his sense of danger was ring so high now that he may actually piss himself in fear. "Did you feel that prick in the back of your head." I rhetorically asked to which he nodded his own head, afraid of even talking. I could see the imperceptible shiver that he so desperately tried to hide, his training kicked in as it allowed him to keep his calm. That was good for him because at the slightest sign that he called for backup or tipped someone off I would detonate the bomb. "Good, that was a bomb. Any wrong movement and you die." I looked into his eyes, my green eye staring into his own. "Understand" Again he nodded. Though this one was a bit less firm, as if he didn''t understand the severity of what I had done to him. Luckily for him I had prepared a demonstration. Something to put the fear of god into his mind. A mental click of a button and the storefront that the spy was looking towards had exploded, countless pedestrians being turned into paste as the explosion turned them to dust. "All in your head" I punctuated that statement by tapping the part that I had inserted the needle into. Finally I could see the fear that I had wanted. One so great that he wouldn''t dare ever disobey an order of mine. Of course I didn''t kill innocent civilians, no, I had carefully picked the exact time that I had wanted to destroy it so that it was full of aristocrats. Something that would draw a lot of attention and divert it from me towards other terrorists. The suspects that they would focus on would draw manpower and attention away from me. Another smile graced my lips as I thought of the next part of the n. Truthfully I didn''t need to tag the spy with a bomb but if he thought that it was all just to control him then even better. The loyalty I saw in his eyes, even outshadowed by his fear, would be of use to me. When he would go to report back to his superiors I would detonate the bomb while making sure that any important papers were protected and take out the king with it and any important officials. That would be enough chaos to allow me to fly unfettered in this kingdom which would give me ess to everything that they owned. Every document, every secret, and every material. Now all I needed to do was wait and watch as the dominos tumbled. "Good, now that you understand we can discuss your role in all of this" asionally missing content, please report errors in time. Chapter 170 And So... I Pass With Dignity "Good, now that you understand we can discuss your role in all of this" I whispered into the ear of the spy that I had captured. Though we weren''t idle, in the wake of the explosion that I had set off the panic that ensued allowed for a great opportunity to disappear into the crowd easily. With my hand firmly set on the nape of his neck I dragged him with me until I found an appropriate setting for our discussion. "You are going to go back to the castle and start your report. Once you are done with the report and are giving it to the king you are to press this button." I exined as I sat down on the bench in the park. A frantic nod was his response as he fearfully agreed to my demands. "Good, keep this in your pocket and remember I''ll know." With that I sat up from my seat, leaving the spy to wallow in his fear. ¡­ My name is unimportant, though what is important was my creation. I don''t remember the exact day nor the process but what I do remember is my directive. ''Loyalty to the King'' I could never forget the day that my prime directives were given to me, the smell of the acid that melted the cor that had been ced around my neck, the aether that consumed my brain and gave it to themander and king. It was a wondrous thing, to know that despite what would happen I would always have my loyalty. Until I didn''t, it all started out normal. A new assignment taking watch over potential enemies, I was to watch over them with two others. These two were the bottom of the barrel, fresh recruits just given their first assignment. They may not have even gone through boot camp, it would make sense with the current shortage of manpower. I had noticed earlier in the month that there were a lot of us spies being sent to various regions but few came back and the scrolls that they brought back with them were guarded with immense force. Enough that even with my decades of experience even I would not dare even attempt to break. I shook my head, ''Enough of those thoughts'' I reprimanded, my thoughts turning from my training and past experiences towards the day that I had. ''That''s right'' I again thought to myself. Even the first watch started out normal, I hid within the crowd and took note of my target''s behavior and interactions. The way the two younger ones were obviously a couple with how they acted. The experience of the assumed orange haired mercenary. Every minute detail was taken down. Eventually we had followed them to a restaurant where they ordered food, nothing out of the ordinary happened there except a brief period where my senses noticed someone watching me. However when I looked back there was nothing but a curious nce from one of the other customers. When they exited was when everything went downhill, a goodbye and parting by the couple and mercenary and the next thing I know I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and I''m being threatened. FEAR FEAR FEAR FEAR it was all that I could think of, the oppressive atmosphere of the women that had appeared behind me consumed everything that I could think of. Even when she had started to talk to me, I could still hear her voice, feel the weight of her breath in my ear but I could notprehend anything. "Hah" "hah" I panted, the breath falling out of my body as I tried my best to look inconspicuous, to not draw any attention. It was only a second after I had finally regained my thought process that I saw something truly horrifying. A bang echoed out and I was forced to watch as the citizens, of all the countless wealthy donors died. All disintegrated into nothingness as the explosive that the women, no, this demon had nted. Another voice, though this time it was actually intelligible to me, my brain had finally restarted. It was a warning, a threat, that the same bomb was nted in my own brain. It all lead back to me sitting in this very bench, orders given to me. "Fuck" I whispered again and again all culminating into a final "FUCK!!!" The citizens around looked at me like some crazy homeless man but I couldn''t care less about them. Inside my head was a war. One raging between the inbuilt loyalty and fear. ¡­ My feet carried me further and further into the royal castle, the guards all around me looked at me in question but a quick re brought them into order. Eventually I found what I was looking for, a chamber, my own. I opened the door, the keys nging in my hands as the key that I needed shuffled around in the key hole. A click and the lock was opened the door squeaking as it opened fully. It revealed a in room, one with a stack of papers on a desk with some writing utensils and a bed. It was in but it was all that was needed for the royal dolls. ''Always hated that name'' I finally admitted to myself, the fear overwhelming the brainwashing that had been given to me. I sat down at the desk, the pen in my hands as I started to write out a legitimate legal document detailing all the details that I had observed. ''This here¡­ and that there¡­'' I thought to myself, all thoughts lost to the void as the structured work overtook all my thoughts. It was nice I could admit to myself, to be able to just lose myself in the structured work. However with this final stroke the most likely final stroke of the pen of my life was done. I stood up, ruffling the papers so that they were in order and walked towards my death sentence. I did not fear, I did not feel betrayal at my actions, I felt nothing. I just walked the red lined halls of the castle towards the throne room with dignity, carefully palming the device that the devil had given me. Chapter 171 Animals A creaking noise greeted me as the royal dolls pulled their halberds to the side. Their arms reached towards the doors as they opened it. I couldn''t help but notice the intricate designs for the first time, the rivers of gold scolding the peasants as a royal king watched on. The inscriptions tell a story of rebellion. I was broken from my thoughts as the guards finished opening the door. I watched as the opulent disy of wealth was shown to me, the thrown room was made out of pure gold enchanted to the maximum amount of durability the court mages could handle, though other than that there were also other precious metals that were used to enhance the shine of the gold. "Approach." Amanding voice spoke from the room, a bill of my throat showed my nervousness but I did not let it affect me. ''No, march on. Die with dignity'' I heard in my head. It was different from my usual voice. It was one unfettered by the patriotic thoughts, of the gratefulness to my creators. It was my only unique thought. As I approached the throne, my resolve was iron unshook by the weight of my next actions. I kneeled down, my head looked on to the floor as I showered my subservience. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the scroll but I also pulled out the device that that Devil had given me. I sighed and with a final resolve I pressed the button. An echo, the faint clicking resonated throughout the room as I felt unimaginable pain. It flew through my nerve endings and would not stop. In the moment between life and death I found myself thinking only of the pain. The agonizing sensation of my body frying itself inside out. Then bliss as my consciousness could no longer hold my body together. The world had turned to nothing as I embraced the void, the sweet death. ¡­ I sat by the side of the castle, my eyes watched as the explosion silently echoed throughout the castle. It consumed all living matter in the room. The king, the spy, even the guards outside were all killed in moments. ''3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­'' I thought to myself counting down the seconds until the guards that had not been killed rushed into the throne room. And at the signal of one I saw them break down the doors, a panicked expression on their own faces. It was my time to grab and go, the massive amount of chaos that I had caused would allow me to get in and out without any problems. The major problem of being watched was dealt with which meant that I didn''t have to hold back anymore. With a leap I was in the castle, the ce that I hadnded being a ledge that overlooked the city and more importantly direct ess to the king''s office. I walked in while making sure that my eye scanned every corner of the room and put it to memory. All the drawers, the tables, even the slight specks of dust were ounted for and memorized. I walked around, my hand reached into every single nook and cranny looking for any information that I would deem useful making a copy of it in my database then putting it right back in the exact same way it was before I had touched it. Within moments I was done and gone, the room made in such a way that it lookedpletely untouched. ¡­ All around the city was chaos, the guards were scrambling to emergency positions while the citizens sat back in fear and curiosity. I watched on as they hurriedly scrambled to do what they were assigned, honestly, the sheep. To do what they were told without context in the meaning ofpartmentalization. It was understandable to an extent and it was not as extreme as other examples but it was still an example of what a herd mentality and indoctrination can do. It gave me ideas, not only how to integrate these people into Darwin''s realm but how to control them. It was honestly pitifully easy to do what I had thought of. Through extreme force and a couple of well ced leaders that we would give faux power we could control them by giving them the illusion of control. I shook my head, the ideas flew from my mind as I focused on more important matters. Matters such as keeping the chaos away from Aoif and Darwin''s date. It was cute, the way that they interacted on the date, therge smiles, the lingering touches, every small movement made in such a way as to initiate intimacy. Not in the steamy way that I had noticed them indulge in, no a different intimacy, one of love and devotion. A jump and I was on another roof, my eye peering through the walls as I watched them walk into a¡­ was that a stuffed animal shop. I couldn''t help but be surprised, the walls were lined with intricate dolls in the shape of unknown animals and creatures. Though they were not realistic they captured their likeness well and also worked to enhance the cuteness. ''Cute'' I couldn''t help but think to myself, my finger idly touching at the pocket of stickers that I held in my pockets. ''I''ll wait'' I thought to myself as my eyes scanned around the room that Aoif and Darwin were browsing. Darwin, while he couldn''t understand the supreme cuteness of these stuffed animals, seemed to still be indulging Aoif and having a good time himself as he watched the joy of Aoif. It took a while but after some time Aoif had decided on a stuffed animal that she wanted. It was one that looked a lot like an otter ''I didn''t know that she liked those.'' I thought to myself but quickly shook that out of my mind as I saw them leaving. I had my eyes on one particr stuffed animal and seeing as how Aoif and Darwin had left I finally fell from the ledge that I had been watching from and walked into the store. Chapter 172 A Fallen Scone My foot reached past the edge, gravity had done its job and pulled me to the ground. With silent steps Inded, I was only a couple blocks walk away from where I wanted to go. Briefly I thought back to the spies that had been following the duo but I didn''t need to worry about them, I made sure to arrange a little ident for them before anything. Though I didn''t just target them, no, I targeted many others to throw off the scent. I needed them to think that this was a coordinated attack from the other kingdoms so that I could divert their attentions toward each other while I had Aoif and Darwin sweep up the real prize in the chaos. Though soon those thoughts were put to the side as I reached the shop that I had headed towards. ss windows filled with plushies of all make and size, price tags were checked out by the curious children that the parents had been dragged out by. How they were able to ignore the terrorist attacks, I don''t know and neither do I care. Well I do sort of know, it was not hard to when you had all the documents and had seen the aftermath. In the wake of the death and confusion of the officials, the highest rank had dered martialw and started topartmentalize. Following the guidelines he had been able to suppress the news of the king''s death while a regent was sought after. ''Again'' I thought to myself, I had again and again kept on thinking about the situation and all these other factors when what I really wanted to focus on was the cute stuffed animal that sat in front of me. It was a penguin, or at least a look alike. The penguin had a butler outfit and parted hair that swirled up at the edges. It was too cute, I needed it. Ever since I had seen it while watching the duo''s date I knew I needed it. Immediately I snatched it up, both hands holding it to my chest as I brought it to the register. The youngdy that manned the counter looked quite nervous. Though that didn''t stop her from ringing me up. With a tter of coins the bill was paid and I walked out, intent on continuing my watch of Aoif and Darwin. ''Before that though'' I thought to myself, my hand pawing at the stickers in my pocket. ¡­ A light tap and the penguin was marked with one of my stickers, though I needed to stop calling him the penguin. ''But what would be a good name for him'' All the while that I thought about this I was not idle in my espionage. I had already found Aoif and Darwin sitting on a bench enjoying the artificial weather in the park. It didn''t seem like they were going to go anywhere which was why I was sitting at a bench that rested at the opposite side of the park watching them while I thought up a name for the penguin in myp. "Hm¡­" I hummed to myself, my hands busy rocking the penguin in my hands. "Eir, your name will be Eir" I proimed as I looked down upon my pen- Eir. ''Yes,'' I thought to myself, ''A dignified name for a dignified penguin.'' "Delta?" I heard a voice call out to me, my muscles unconsciously tensing. I had not noticed how close Aoif had gotten to me. I waspletely focused on Eir and now I was surprised at the sudden visit of Aoif. "Yes?" I responded, looking up from Eir and into Aoif''s eyes. "I was going to ask about the information but now¡­" Aoif trailed off, her gaze falling towards Eir in my hands. "Eir was cute. So I bought him" I justified and Aoif nodded along, it seemed like that reasoning was enough for her as instead of pushing the topic Aoif opts to sit next to me on the bench. Her head fell onto my shoulder as she hugged my side. "What info did you get" Aoif asked, her eyes closed. "Not much, a potential location for one but for the other eight we will have to find in the other kingdoms." "Other kingdoms?" "Yes, this isn''t the only one¡­" I pause, letting that sink in with Aoif before continuing, "Each is near their own realm protector but none of them were powerful enough to defeat them." "Hmm" Aoif hummed as her eyes opened and her back straightened at the iing presence. Darwin had appeared from wherever he had been with food in his hand. Enough for all three of us. Either Aoif had told him I was here or one of them was hungry enough for two. No, judging by the slight hint of surprise in Darwin''s eyes it was definitely thetter. That didn''t mean I wasn''t going to steal one of the meals that he had grabbed. With a swipe of my hand the scone in Darwin''s hand was grabbed and taken by me. I took a small bite and was surprised. It was a breakfast scone, weird. It had bacon, eggs and some cheese alternatives native to this world. I looked up to Darwin from my food. ''I wouldn''t take him as a breakfast person'' I thought, though I couldn''t really judge someone by their build and guess what they liked to eat. However Darwin did look very disappointed, like the food was so important to him. I never noticed but Darwin might be a foodie. Wouldn''t that be interesting. Either way though Darwin sat down and handed the other scone in his hand to Aoif who happily ate it despite the feeling of betrayal that Darwin was feeling at my theft of his other scone. It brought a slight smug smile to my face that he picked up on. Though he wasn''t the only one as Aoif seemed to have noticed it also and had decided to set her head onto his chest and climb into hisp to help him feel better. Chapter 173 I Watch On I found myself back in the hotel room that Delta had rented out for us. The walk back was enlightening, I did not know what Delta had done but the nobles were tense and the regr citizens seemed to have sensed something. And it was no doubt Delta''s fault, I could tell by the way the situation had felt to me. The way that the guards seemed to be tensed at any stranger, how the spies had been taken toward more important duties. Every little thing about the interactions between these people had Delta''s handiwork written all over it. Although I had no idea how she had done it I was still impressed, in the time that Aiof and I were on our date Delta had set the dominos so that they had fallen in just the right way to create the opportunity for her to take what she needed and to seed doubt and fear into the popce. All just to get some information. On one hand I was impressed and on the other I wondered how Delta had done it, to be able to cause all of this confusion and chaos while making it so that we were still an unknown quantity in the grand scheme of things. It was awe inspiring how she had manipted everyone and everything that she hade across that would be relevant into her own little scheme. Not to mention the time frame in which Delta had done this, how she had manipted this entire city into this in but hours with little to no preparation. When I had looked around, my head turned this way and that on my way home, I had found the aftereffects of what she had done even more significant than my first thoughts on them. When a guard passed me no longer did they look as rxed and assured in their actions as they had when we had entered this city, now they looked hurried and haggard as if they had the weight of the world suddenly thrown upon their backs. That wasn''t the only example, no, their were nobles that had seemed so cruel and gossipy that I had and still decided to ignore them and keep interactions to a minimum but now they looked haggard. Their eyes were constantly spinning in this and that direction with any direct eye contact making them flinch back in fear. It was honestly awe inspiring the amount of nning and steps that must have gone through and been executed to cause all of this. The only way that I think that I could have done something like this was the Assassination of a major political figure in public but even then I would have to reveal myself as the perpetrator. To start I would kill if the spies then make my way over to the figure that I had chosen and kill them. Even if I covered all of my tracks theck of that specific spy would have tipped them off that I was the culprit or at least put multiple eyes on me. "What now?" I ask the room, my eyes wandering to the ceiling as I wait for a reply. "Wey low, stay a couple days in here and sell some manufactured goods to keep a trail and move into the next kingdom and do the same. Though next time we shouldn''t need to cause so much chaos as we''ll be a known quantity" Delta responded, her voice echoed in from the kitchen where it seemed she was cooking something judging by the sounds of oil on fire. "What products are you thinking of selling then?" I ask. "Jewelry, though I''m not selling it you are" "Hm¡­" I hummed, "Why?" "You and Aoif have done nothing yet but go on a date" Delta responded, her voice tinged with sarcasm. "Fair," I responded, "Where and when should we sell?" "Tomorrow, I''ll have everything set up by then." I nod my head in response, my body dragged into an upright position as I see Aoif enter the room. Her hair was still slightly wet, the shower that she had taken on her lonesome giving her hair and extra sheen of beauty. I smiled when I saw her enter the room, her presence lit my mood from the hours of boredom I would have to go through in the future. Though if it was with Aoif it could be days and I would still be happy. "What happened?" Aoif asked, her eyes turning from mine to Delta''s and back to mine. ¡­ I sat back on the couch, Aoif''s back leaning onto my chest as Iid back on the back of the couch as I watched the window. Outside was dark, the streetlights were off as the natural darkness of the cavern we were situated in took hold of the city. Though that didn''t mean that the streets were empty, all around there were tiny flickering lights that seemed to go this way and that. As the day fell and night began the soldiers started to act more rapidly as the ordinary citizens were all asleep some sort of mass spell cast to pacify them. Though there was no such thing in the hotel that we resided in I could still feel the residual effects weigh down upon my body, even now I felt like falling asleep but I knew that was of my own choice not whatever that spell was doing. I knew this because this spell could only affect people of low tier 9, what most of the citizens are. There may have been a lucky few that were powerful enough to resist the effects but that would only damn them to a fate of servitude and watchfulness as they were forced into the military. Or that was what I assumed would happen if they were discovered, if it was me I would capture and instill loyalty to those people as they would hold potential that could be exploited. yawn A yawn fell through my mouth as I felt the tiredness of the day fall onto me, though I resisted it as I wanted to watch. Even if Aoif had already fallen asleep I was not going to join her instead I would stand guard and watch and see their ns. Chapter 174 Gazes One And All Various voices reached my ears, the sound of the footsteps echoed throughout the street as people walked by. Oblivious to theings and goings of the greater news. Fresh blood. I smiled a predatory smile that I usually kept to myself. I sat on a chair, my elbows firmly ced so that they could support my head. Aether flew through my veins as a slight charm was cast, a faint glow of light pink emanated from my body before it suffused in the nearby people, seducing them into the embrace of greed. ''That looks so shiny'' ''That would be a great gift for my¡­'' ''I think I''ll indulge myself a bit today'' All thoughts that I had imnted into the heads of the passing persons, when their eye met my stall I would instill the appropriate thought and have theme and buy my merchandise. "Excuse me?" A voice sang from the side of my vision. It was a voice that sounded so seductive, so gentle, so beautiful, that I just wanted to gobble it up. It got me excited and when I looked upon the owner of said voice I was surprised once more. Not only by the presence that I had finally sensed one on par if not greater than my own but her beauty. Long purple hair that reached to her back with a set of matching purple eyes, a body that had curved in all the right ces and a low cut dress that seemed to invite my attention. "Yes?" I answered a little hastily, the excitement in my voice barely contained. I couldn''t help it, the sight of her was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. So much so that I unconsciously poured rather into my veins as I sent wandering thoughts into her mind. ''Hmm¡­ he''s cute'' ''Maybe I should get his name'' All sorts of thoughts along those lines were sent into my prey''s mind as I tried and tried to seduce her into my hands. To hold her as my own. It seemed to be working for a second, a small smile appearing on her lips as she leaned closer. ''What?!'' I yelled in my mind, my body frozen as a predatory smile consumed the innocent one that the girl had put on. "Fuck" I eximed, the expletive shouted from my mouth involuntarily as I felt a weight in my back. My vision was obstructed by the ground as a couple of guards manhandled me onto the ground. "Stop resisting" one of them yelled before I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my head and the world went dark. ¡­ "Fuck" the stall owner yelled, his body being tackled to the ground as the guards surrounded him. Grumpy emotions flew through them as they took delight in the presence of this offender of thew. I felt it before I saw anything. "Stop resisting" one of them yelled as their emotions were put into flux. A mixture of tiredness and satisfaction culminates in the murder of the stall owner. A blow to the head one deliberately too strong was given to him as the stall owners brain was pierced, blood sttering into the ground. "Bit excessive¡­" I mumbled looking to the body of the stall owner. However I couldn''t muster up any pity or dissatisfaction at his death. I clearly saw and felt the sadistic lust that he felt at my body and couldn''t help the disgust and rage that pulled at my heart. ''The only one allowed to look at me like that is Darwin'' I thought to myself as I watched the guards dispose of the corpse. The stall was taken down, all the merchandise being confiscated by other guards that grumbled and pouted about their duties. Though the spot where the stall was was empty, that wouldn''t be true for long as even now merchants were eying it like sharks to blood. I smiled as I saw Darwin approach, his expression veiled as his own emotions were in flux. In part embarrassment and part anger. The embarrassment at having to go through with this n and anger at the same thing. "Don''t worry¡­" I mumbled to him, "He saw nothing, not even a glimpse." Done with my reassurances I walked to the empty stall and took the chair that had been thrown aside. I sat, my body pointed towards the street as I watched Darwin follow after. A bag nging with the sound of boxes hitting each other. A table was unfurled in front of me, the guards giving it a cursory nce before they went back to their duties. Countless boxes were ced upon the table and opened, the shiny metal immediately drawing the eyes of countless of the already onlooking pedestrians and merchants. The merchants because of the quality and the pedestrians because of the designs. Last night Delta had meticulously designed and crafted each of them so as to draw the eye of even the highest of standards. From golden eagles held to a ne to crystal turtles in the shape of a ring, or even to just shaped ore earrings. Everything was polished and made to stand out as much as possible. There was a bit of moring before the merchants red at each other, their bodies moring to stand ahead of the other as they approached me. "Lady," One of them bowed to me, his eyesnding on the most intricate ring that we had on sale, "If I may enquire. What is the price of this ring?" "20 gold" I inly said, my eyes bored as they bore holes into his own gaze. "Preposterous!" He eximed, a british ent appearing in his tone for a second, "I will do 15 and no more" "20 gold take it or leave it" I said, my eyes no longer boring holes into his own as they were too busy picking at my nails to show off a side of indifference. Next to me Darwin red at the customer, aether flowing off of him in a disy of threat. "Ahem¡­" he coughed into his fist, "We may have gotten off on the wrong foo-" Chapter 175 Joyous Imitation "Ahem¡­" I coughed into my fist, "We may have gotten off on the wrong foo-" "20 gold" I was cut off, the girl in front of me arrogantly setting the price with no ce to haggle. I had to grit my teeth, I could not anger this person. Those gems of hers were perfect m, the greatest quality that I had ever seen. If I was able to get my hands on one of those I would be able to double¡­ no triple the cost of it. Though I wasn''t going to sell it I was going to use it for my own purposes. As long as I was able to extract them from where they were inscribed into those pieces of jewelry they would be perfect to enchant or even just as a catalyst. Others may not be able to tell but I was. I could see the inherent aether conductivity of them and they were off the charts. The highest quality hat I had ever seen in a gem was maybe 45%. Meaning that the server sent into the gem would be amplified by 45%, though that wasn''t the only thing that they could do. That was just the base level. The higher the conductivity the Better the enchantments work on them. So say an enchantment on a 10% conductivity allows you to fly a 100% would allow you to soar with agility only seen within the greatest of birds. There may even be secondary effects such as the ability to control the wind around you to fly faster or anything else along those lines. "I''ll take this and that one" I said, my teeth still grit as I politely asked for the two that I saw with the greatest conductivity. "45 gold" She said, her hand held out to grab the two boxes that I had pointed to. I reached towards my own bag. My hand grabbed at the gold and pulled, the small coins nging in my fist as I opened it and ced them one by one on the table. A cursory nce was spared by the girl before she scooped them closer to her body and handed me the boxes. I ced the boxes carefully at my side, securing them so no random pickpocket could grab onto them. And with that I was done with my transaction. I spared ast nce at the other gems but it would have been too eye catching for me to have bought everything. Either they would have caught in that they had something more valuable than they thought or others would have followed me. ¡­ I reached to my side, the hotel room dimming as the light was turned down. The jewelry boxes were ced on my table as they were carefully pulled from their resting ces. click A small click and a focused light was ced on the jewelry. A small circle of various materials were ced off to the side. I looked toward said materials and grabbed at two of them in particr. With a click of a button I felt a draw on my aether reserves that flew into the tool, a small me appearing as it melted at the exact temperature that I needed it to melt at. Slowly the silver around the gem was melted into molten metal that was caught and ced into a separate container. In just moments the gem was revealed in full, a magnificent emerald. This was where the next tool came in but I''m first I needed to wait, the gem was still zing hot and even with my gloves I would still burn my finger if I touched it. I picked it up with tweezers and ced it in a container that would cool it efficiently and ensure that no cracks in the structure were made from the rapid heating. I then pulled the other piece of jewelry and did the same to it. My back leaned into the chair as my eyes closed, a timer was set to alert me to when the next step could be taken. ¡­ ding ding The sound of the timer echoed in my ear, the noise causing me to jump from my current position. ''It always does that'' I sighed to myself, every time that I had set an rm and woken to it my immediate response was to jump and reach for my weapon. It was a response gained from several tours ofbat duty but not one that I wanted to kick. I shook my head the thoughts dissipating from my head as I turned towards the timer and more importantly the gems. It would take another twenty or so minutes for them to cool but that was all I needed to set up the circle that I was going to create. I couldn''t help the grin that had appeared into my face, I was finally going to create a transmutor. Something that I could make gems of the lesser or if done well the same quality of the ones that created it. It was a grand project one that was usually only made by the wealthiest of enchanters but this fortuitous encounter had allowed me to make my own. My hands flew across the table materials picked apart at the seams as they werebined and assembled into a small circle. One that could hold a gem. I had already taken measurements of the gems before, they weren''t exact because I had to calcte from iplete data but it was all I needed. Though this wasn''t the only one I needed. I had to make another one then I needed to make the circuit that would take my energy and channel it through the gems to then go into the circle that would generate the new gem. I couldn''t waste any time, well I could but I was too excited to do anything else. The nap had given me enough energy to stay up the whole night and do this if it so called for it. I couldn''t wait to finish this. I cracked my knuckles holding my hands out as I looked to the next set of materials. ''Let''s do this'' I smiled to myself. Chapter 176 A Blessing; A Curse ''Let''s do this'' I smiled to myself. The rest of the materials were kept at the side being taken one by one and heated to their melting point before being mixed into the mold. Wires of various colors were made and ced at the same time so as to streamline the process. In my mind''s eye I could see the end resulting together. Every single part did its job, the runes that I needed to etch were there but they were blurred as if they were just out of reach. It took everything in me to remember, no, to innovate the right runes. I knew what I needed them to do and so I believed that the set that I had made would do its job. It was this belief that led to thepletion, and although I barely knew how much time had passed I knew it was finished. In front of me was a small device, a box with wires running here and there various tools etched into it ready to heed theirmands. On the side were the two crystals that had been made exactly for the purpose, the very essence of their being molded into the machine. The only thing left to do was to slot them in. A grim smile stared me down, my reflection staring into my very soul from the ss of the machine. ''With these final touches I canplete your wish. Wait for me, my dear'' I thought to myself, each hand simultaneously slotting the crystal into their destined slots. The whirring of the machine brought my attention from my depressed thoughts. A soft blue light emanated from the machine as it started up, the aether in the air and in my body drained. I could feel as it waited for itsmands. With glee I pressed my hand into ce, mentalmands and structures slotted into ce as the whirring picked up pace. The soft blue glow turned violent, an oppressive feeling taking hold of the air as it was drawn further and further into the machine. No, I couldn''t keep on calling it the machine. It was my masterpiece and thus deserved a proper name, one that would immortalize it into the annals of doll history. ''Gineadair, or generator in a lostnguage'' I thought to myself, the name falling off of my thoughts and into the world. Though soon after I was quickly drawn from my naming as the Gineadair had finished its task. A palm sized diamond was sitting there, waiting to be taken. I couldn''t help the jump of joy nor the ungentlemanly whoop of excitement as I felt the diamond in my hand. It was my greatest creation but now¡­ now I could do so much more. I couldn''t help but thank whatever god or chance had led me to discover that stall, it was most likely the luckiest that I had ever been. And for the first time in my life I actually prayed. I prayed for their well-being despite the apparent gruffness of the girl, I prayed for her to be sessful. I was high off of the sess and even if I wasn''t I still would have prayed for them. They had given me this opportunity and I was not one to be ungrateful. Though I couldn''t help but wonder how the stall had done after I had left. Did it still have products, was it still selling. ¡­ I watched on as more gold umted in my bag, the rush of people that had taken to the jewelry we had sold gradually fell. The traffic that had stopped by our stall had thinned but still was enough to sell out of everything by the afternoon. I wasn''t surprised, the quality of Delta''s work would charm anyone. Though now that we were out I was thinking of going out to eat. To find a nice restaurant that I could treat Darwin to. "You-" I cut Darwin off before he could even finish his first word. "We''re going out." It was final, I left no choice for him, only the tugging of his arm as I left the stall, the weight of the bag of gold a pleasant feeling. I found myself standing in front of some fancy restaurant and while our clothes were up to par with what they had expected for us to be able to eat there. The dirt of the day had tarnished that, the people within giving us dirty res as if we had personally offended them. I gave them no mind though, instead focusing on the meal ahead of us. Although we had not done much work it still was unfamiliar to us, which meant we had to focus on it much more than we would a familiar action. That had caused our appetites to re. A waiter had found us soon and with a face barely hiding their contempt at our outfits handed us the menu. Soon after water was given to us and we ordered then, our table turning tofortable silence as we awaited the approaching food. It was only after some time that the meal came. With fancy preparations and ting it was handed off to us. I took a bite and it was good, not the best that I had eaten, not even close to my top hundred and even more not deserving of the exorbitant cost. However I didn''t think that the people came here for the food. They most likely came for the atmosphere, for the prestige that came with being able to spend as much money as they did on a single meal. "Your bill has been waived" a voice rang out, its source a nearby waiter that hade from the table at the other end of the restaurant. "Be thankful that sir has taken notice of you" he warned before running off to do his duties. I looked over and saw the die that he was talking about. A pompous man that looked more punchable than an idiot. He even had the audacity to wave at me and send me this disgusting smile. I grimaced, a feeling of great disgust welling up in my stomach as I watched on at his pathetic attempts to indept me to him. Chapter 177 Pulling Rank The food tasted stale, the once fine meal turning to paste in my mouth at the stomach churning sight of the man that had tried to charm me with his money. I could feel the malice he held for Darwin and the immense lust that he felt towards me. It was honestly disgusting, enough that it felt like I was going to throw up if he approached us. And to my chagrin he did, legs weak from years of disuse hobbled towards our table, the butler that had informed us earlier carried a chit that he had ced under his master. The closer that the pig got to us the stronger the sense of list I felt from his emotions. I had to just close my eyes, shutting off any sense of sight that I had. Darwin next to me felt anger, his own emotions mixing with mine. In the whole world of darkness that I had isted myself in, he was the only constant. The one which brought peace to my soul. Though that peace was broken when the navally voice of the man that had interrupted us broke through my ears. "Mydy," he voiced, his voice sounding like someone scratching their nails on a cutting board. "If I may, I would like to invite you to the private seat so that we may get to know each other better" The self confidence in his voice was as off putting as could be possible, it was as if no one had ever dared say no to him. "Hah" I sighed out loud, my eyes opening as hey turned to re at him. "No" I firmly said his own will shaken by the weight of my words. Though that didn''tst for long as soon after he recovered himself and snarled. "I was being nice, Girl! Andrew take her!" He yelled, his voice reaching the butler''s ears who just sighed in response, his eyes losing their light. "Ahem" a voice interrupted, the coughing man dangerously close to us. Though it wasn''t like I didn''t notice him, just that his presence was so low that I didn''t see any danger in him. But now that I looked closer I recognized him, the soul that wanted to haggle for the jewelry. "Who are y-" the man started to yell but his voice fell soon after. His eyes stared straight at the man that had intervened to help us, wide as could be. "I- I- I''m so sorry sir alchemist" he stammered out. His voice cracked and his knees fell, weak. "You should be" the supposed alchemist red at the man, "These two are with me" "Ah, please forgive me" the man said, his voice a mix of desperation and pleas. "Just get out of here" I sighed out, my hand waving to the door. "Yes Ma''am,e Andrew" With that the man was off, his legs taking him out of the restaurant shaky with fear. ¡­ The sliding of a chair rang throughout the restaurant, a cold silence taking hold of the restaurant as the rest of the customers stared on in silence. Their conversations were forgotten as they looked in awe at the alchemist that had intervened. "Ahem" he coughed again, "let me formally introduce myself to you. I am Sebastian, the head alchemist of this country" I stood up just as Darwin did my hand reaching out to shake his own. "Pleasure," I said dryly, "I am Aoif and this is my husband Darwin" "Married?" He questioned, a raised eyebrow at our apparent ages. "Not officially but we might as well be" I responded before sitting back down to enjoy the rest of my meal. ''Married?'' Darwin questioned, his emotions connecting us so that we could talk telepathically. ''Do you not want me¡­'' I transferred over, my emotions cycling to the saddest that they could be. ''No, no. It''s just that¡­ I your messing with me'' at first it was panicked then his emotions caught on, my own turning sly at the deadpan that Darwin had given me. "Sebastian," I addressed my eyes looking up from my food and into his own as he turned to look toward me from where he was ordering. "Why did you help us?" "You helped me by selling me that jewelry, it helped me make a breakthrough on a very personal project. Why would I not help you?" At thest sentence he tilted his head as he gave us a yful look. "I can ept that but don''t think that we will sell you anything more at a discount just because you helped." "Oh no. I wouldn''t think to do that, I was just returning the favor. If I could help you then I will." I nodded my head, looking towards Darwin who in turn nodded his own. "You said you were an alchemist?" "Yes" he nodded. "Then do you have basic books about alchemy, things that a beginner could use to build a foundation" "I do, but I can tell you they don''te cheap" "That''s fine," I brought my hand into my pocket where I found another gem, one that Selta had told me to auction off. "Take this in exchange, but first I need the books" I opened the box, a resplendent jewel twice as big as the others and purer than anything else that I had been given. If I put a price on it, it would be at least three to four times higher in price. Sebastian''s eyes widened his expression one of shock. "Wait here, I''ll be right back with the books." His eyes were full of glee as he practically ran out of the restaurant, a faint trace of aether appearing on his legs as he reinforced himself to go even faster. "Your foods here?" The waiter said, her voice trailing off into a question as she looked on at Sebastian runoff out of the restaurant and towards the street. "Just ce it there, he''ll be back soon" I said pointing towards the part of the table near his chair. Chapter 178 Books I watched on as the man, no, Sebastion he had introduced himself as such, ran through the restaurant. His legs coated in aether to allow for faster movement. He weaved around the intricately ced tables with grace and through the doors with no hesitation. I had half expected him to take a face nt into the door but surprising both Aoif and I he had a n. The door was transmuted to be turned into a b of wood. This had allowed him to cross the distance without stopping at all, the door being transmuted back as soon as his shadow passed through the door. Whatever was so special about the crystal had given him enough motivation to run like his life depended on it. Using abilities that he most probably would not have used so flippantly. It got me curious. Though those thoughts were half distracted as beside me Aoif directed the waiter to put down the food that Sebastion had ordered. A point of her hand and a couple of words and the food was ced down at the spot where Sebastion had sat earlier. Immediately after the waiter made herself scarce and I was left to my thoughts as Aoif closed her eyes to focus on her thoughts or on something else entirely. At the moment the curiosity of what was so important about the crystal taking precedence over finding out the thoughts of Aoif. With a grab of my hands the crystal was in my hands. I felt around it, my hands touching all of the nooks and crannies but still I found nothing. It wasn''t until I spent a tiny amount of aether to reinforce my eyes to look for anything that I might have missed with standard eyes that I finally realized why the alchemist had been so excited about the crystal. The aether that I had directed towards my eyes was only loosely held in control but that was enough for the crystal in my hand to take it and suck it into itself, storing it and amplifying it. I could feel my own aether in the crystal, except it was strangely amplified. I observed further and saw that the aether was denser, it had a feel of heaviness to it that my own aether did not have unless I gathered a significant amount of it. "Found why it''s so special?" Aoif whispered into my ear which startled me from my thoughts. "Yeah" I nodded, rying to her what I had found about the crystal in my hands. ¡­ "I''m back" Sebastian panted, his hand holding a dozen tomes that he ced down on the table. "These here," He pointed to the first 9 of the books, "Are the basics, the other three are my own personal notes regarding the basics and how they could theoretically be improved." "That''s a lot" Aoif said, "Is there something else you want" "Think of it as a gift and as a sign of our future business rtionship" With that he silenced himself and sat down at the table. His hands reached towards the utensils and quickly ate the food that he had ordered before leaving the exact amount of gold for the food and leaving with the crystal in hand. His face was the exact representation of joy, the smile on his face couldn''t have been taken away by anything. It was honestly nice to see someone so happy in their own profession and hobby. Not consumed by their own work. Though soon after Sebastion had left, so too did we, the meal that we had thought we would have to pay for was forgotten as we left it uneaten. Our appetites were not as they once were as the mood of the day was constantly in flux. First the unknown man that had been so off putting that I had lost my appetite then the pleasant business with that Sebastion. It was a ride of emotions that ultimately led us back to the hotel, our pockets fuller than when we left. ¡­ I sat the bag of money that Aoif had had me carry on the counter. Delta, who was working on some project, nced towards us before she went back to her work. The soft sounds of Delta''s work echoed throughout the room before she stopped, apparently whatever Delta had been working on was done. I saw Delta pocket it before she walked up to us and inspected the bag on the counter. "I take it sales went well?" I nodded, "we even met some sort of royal alchemist or something. Formed a business rtionship with him." Delta just nodded, her eye closed as she sat down at the chair near the counter. "That''s good, did he like the gems I made or the jewelry" "You knew the gems were different?" "Of course. I made them" "Hah" I sighed, sitting down just as Delta did earlier in the conversation. "Then you knew that those gems amplify aether." "Of course" Delta nodded, "I made them, why wouldn''t I know about that. I just didn''t think anyone would notice. It''s not like anyone here is particrly smart." I reached into the bag that held the gold and took out the books, "He gave us these kn return. Knowledge on basic alchemy and his own personal notes." Delta''s eye practically sparkled at the books. Her mouth twisting into a small smile as she took the book into hand and started to read. Aether flew from her body into a gem that was just created. A small me generated heat as some sort of rune was inscribed on the gem. A bright light shed in the room, waking Aoif from where she hadid down and closed her eyes. When my eyes recovered I looked over to Delta who seemed to be having the time of her life inspecting the rune. I just sighed again at being ignored and went to goy down with Aoif. The day was already gone. Chapter 179 Morning Parade My eyes opened to the opulent light of the streets, the light making its way through the curtains and blinds that separated the window from the street. Even through the covering of the window I could still see all of the lights. It was quite annoying, the way that it reached through and hit at just the right spot to wake me up. At this point I might as well be cursed with how every time I woke up it was to something like the sun or even the lights stinging my eyes. It was almost rare now when I would wake up without any disturbances. It was annoying but I dealt with it, especially when I could wake to the sight of Aoif who seemed to be able to sleep easily through anything. It always took away my bad mood when I woke up, to see Aoif sleeping. The rise and fall of her breath and the slight way that her arms reach to me when I hug her. This time though it seemed that I couldn''t even bask in Aoif''s sleeping presence as the noise of the street reached our room. When I had looked over to my side to try and take sce in Aoif''s presence all I saw was the annoyed face of Aoif as she red out to the streets. It was loud enough that it even reached our room despite the thick walls that separated us. Enough that I had to actually get up and open the blinds to find out what was happening. With annoyed steps I soon found myself at the blinds, my hands reached out and pulled them apart. What greeted me was a¡­ festival. At least it looked like one but why. From what I had seen, from what I knew there was nothing to celebrate. The only reason that I could even think that they would even start one would be for some holiday that we didn''t know of. knock knock The door was knocked on, a quiet echo ringing through the room, Delta most likely. I closed the blinds again, the light being blocked as I walked from where I stood and opened the door. The light from the hallway entered the room and I saw Delta, her eye staring into mine with an intensity that clued me into the importance of the situation. Quickly I opened the door and held it open for Delta to enter. Soon enough Delta hadmandeered the kitchen, a soft hum echoed from her mouth as she drew ingredients from somewhere and started to cook some sort of meal. "I know that Tama usually makes you breakfast so I found some recipes for you two" Delta hummed out, her head slightly turned toward us. It was weird how considerate Delta was being right now, usually she would be stoic and unflinching but right now she was showing more emotion than she usually would. Weird enough for me to question her. "Delta, why are you making us food?" I asked, voicing my thoughts. The humming stopped and Delta turned toward me, her hands full of food as she stared in silence. Though the silence didn''t stay for long as soon after she had turned, Delta started to walk towards me. When she reached me she ced the tes down, the foods scent wafting into my nose and rousing my hunger. "I thought it would be better to have this conversation on a full stomach rather than an empty one." Delta inly stated, the emotion gone from her voice. The confusion that came from Delta voicing her emotions faded as more familiarfort came towards me. The way that Delta talked, that emotionless voice was what I expected of her. "What is it then?" I again ask. My head tilted in askance. Delta snorted a bit, her nostrils ring at some unknown joke. "They''ve decided on the next king but to ensure that the people don''t take notice of the death of the king they are throwing this spectacle where all the nobility''s dirtyundry is being unted as the kings doing." I raised my eyebrow at that, it seemed like to ensure a quick and easy session and to ensure the calm of the kingdom every wrongdoing that they could find was fixed and then med on the king so as to make it seem like the new king was some sort of here. Just a big PR stunt. It was a good idea, this would ensure that anyone that they put to the crown would have a massive dept towards them and allow the nobility to puppet the kingdom from the shadows while also pacifying any dissident thoughts. "So what''s with the parade and celebration then, are they already announcing the new king or something?" I ask. "No nothing of that yet, the new king hasn''t shown his face yet. Instead it is going to be a series of executions, the scapegoats that the nobility had decided on are going to be hanged for their ''crimes''" At thest word Delta put up air quotes. It was obvious to us but to the uneducated masses, they would eat that right up. "Should we go too, to make ourselves seen or should we head to the next city now before things start to get messy?" "It''s up to you, you are the leader." Delta responds, a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice. However I ignore that in favor of actually thinking over the decision. Out of the two options either one of them worked. There weren''t many downsides to either one of them, if we stayed we could sell more and make a reputation as a seller of luxury goods maybe even sink our fangs into this kingdom further than it already was or we could leave and start our journey to the next kingdom and gather more information there. Out of the two options though, traveling to the next kingdom was where I was leaning more towards. ''Yeah'' I thought to myself, ''that sounds good'' Chapter 180 Border "I think that we should head towards the next kingdom" I said towards the room, addressing more than just Delta who sat next to me. I addressed Aoif too who was just entering the room, a fresh pair of clothes having been put on. "What is this about leaving?" Aoif questions as she enters the kitchen fully, her head popping through the wall that separated the kitchen from the rest of the room. I could see the curiosity in her eyes as they looked into my own. "We''ve done everything that we needed here, so there isn''t any reason for us to stay." I shrug to Aoif who just nodded at the logic. I could feel that she wanted to know more but didn''t bother to ask about anything else other than when we would leave. "When do we leave then?"Aoif asked while she pulled a chair from the other side of the counter towards us. "Anytime that we want," Delta said from beside me just as the chair was ced on my other side and Aoif sat down. Her head was ced in her hand as the other started to pick at the food that Delta had made for us. "Then we should leave now, while everyone is distracted by that celebration." Aoif says before she tilted her head. "What is that anyway?" She asked as her hand gestured to the noise and abundance of lighting from the curtains. I went to respond but before I could even open my mouth to begin an exnation Delta interrupted me and gave Aoif the same exnation almost word to word that she had given me. Seeing that my input wasn''t going to be heard, I focused on the food in front of me. My stomach was almost growling with hunger now by this time. I watched and listened on as Delta gave the exnation to Aoif, my hand reaching down and back up as it fed me the meal that Delta had made. Soon enough Delta had finished her exnation. Coincidentally she had done so at the exact moment that I had finished thest bite of the food. "Everyone ready" Delta asked, looking at both Aoif and I and seeing that we had both eaten the food that she had made. I just nod in affirmation as beside me Aoif did the same. Delta, seeing as we were both ready, threw a bag at both of us. I caught it in my hands and looked inside only to find nothing. "Go pack, take anything you want, the bag should have enough room." Delta exined pointing at the bedroom and all of the clothes, gifts, and everything that was scattered around the floor. Again I nodded and went to go and pick everything up. The clothes were folded and ced into the bag while the gifts were either eaten if they were some type of food or snack or put away into the bag. Everything else was either left and destroyed or put into the expanded bag. Soon enough everything that we wanted to keep was packed away, our cloaks were over our bodies and we were ready to go. I ced the expanded bag at my side and looked towards Aoif and Delta who both were respectfully ready. ¡­ I walked through the gate, the guards that were stationed there looking on as we passed. Their eyes were dead, burdened by the boredom that came with not having been allowed to attend the festival and instead have to guard the gate. They looked at us like we were crazy as if it was unthinkable that we would leave while there was this giant festival going on. Even through the helmets that they wore I could see the sense of incredulity that came with us leaving. Seeing as we were the only ones on the road I could feel where they wereing from, they most likely tried to argue that they didn''t need to guard anything but were still stationed. Though that wasn''t my problem I still felt a bit bad for them as they were forced to stand her in silence while the noise of the festival reached them. It wasn''t enough to actually help them though, instead I just took onest look at the kingdom that we had stayed in for thesest two days. The lights and walls, the street that we had entered in. I looked on at everything before I turned my back, my hand intertwined with Aoif''s own as we walked off towards the next kingdom. ¡­ After about a half hour of walking we were finally out of sight of the guards who had trailed our walking the whole time. It seemed like their boredom had gotten to them as even if they had better things to do than to watch us leave they still just watched us. Though now that we were far enough away from their sight we could actually run, the walking that we did was done at a pace that would be believable to the guards that we had left but with them out of sight we could run towards the next kingdom. And that was exactly what we did, with a tensing of our leg muscles we were off. Delta was ahead of us, her own run setting the pace for the rest of the journey. It took us longer than expected to even get to the halfway point. The whole day of running, crossing almost hundreds of miles at our pace had only gotten us here, to the halfway point or the border of the kingdom''s territory. Along the way we had seen several small viges that seemed to be self-sustaining, with agriculture and everything but now that we were at the halfway point I could see the border. With both sides having their military stationed here. Though they were all on guard it wasn''t that hard to give them the slip. With Delta''s help and the speed of our tier we were able to make it through the border with no trouble. No one had even noticed a slight disturbance in the ground around them let alone the border. Chapter 181 Campfire I looked back, the border appearing in my sight as I took onest look. The heavily armed soldiers, the scathing looks, the tension that resulted from their stare down. It all culminated in this intense atmosphere of confrontation. One that would most likely reach its tipping point when the death of the king reached here. I''d Though that would not be for days as information seemed to travel at a snail''s pacepared to what I was used to. Either way though that border would soon turn into a bloodbath in a matter of days. It wasn''t something that I wasfortable with, nor was it something that I was deeply disturbed by. I knew that I would be the cause of this, I had let Delta run wild and stir dissent in the city but only now. Now that I was looking into the faces of people that would soon die in battle for a cause they most likely never even believed in had it hit me. I felt responsible for this, no, I would take responsibility for this. I had no need for those feelings of pity, the ones that roused my emotions. I needed to take responsibility for this and I would. As soon as I take control of this realm I will conquer every kingdom that had buried its root in this world and takeplete control. I would uplift them into a golden age, even if they were unwilling I would take them kicking and screaming. No more would I take the cowards route and kick them off the realm like I had done previously. It was with that resolve that I turned my face from the border, it felt weird that I was having such a revtion at what would seem like an ordinary sight but I was d I had it. So far I was half assing my rule. Taking time and even more time to develop and even leaving it to my subordinates. Of course I would still delegate but now I would take full control. No more skirting around the subject of rule. ¡­ "Darwin¡­ are you ok?" Aoif asked quietly, her voice barely reaching my ear. Her body was leaned onto my own, the light of the campfire that Delta had produced flickering in my eyes as Aoif whispered her concern into my own ears. "Yeah" I responded, the usual emotion that I would ce in my talks with Aoif gone as I sat and contemted how I was going to rule when we got back from the conquering of this realm. Though soon I shook my head, the thoughts fading from my mind as I snuggled my body into Aoif''s. Across from me Delta gave me a weird look, one of both curiosity and understanding. Like she knew exactly what I was thinking and was trying to convey it. ''Weird'' I thought to myself as I watched Delta stand from where she was sitting and retire towards the tent that she had constructed earlier. "Aoif¡­" I whispered, my hand nudging her from her trance and back into wakefulness. "Yeah" She whispered back. "Want me to carry you back or¡­" I asked, my thumb pointed back towards the tent that Delta had set up for us. "Carry" Aoif said sleepily and Iplied. My hands reached towards her leg and back as I put her into a princess carry. Once that was done I stepped towards the tent and with my leg I opened the tent and ced Aoif into the bed. After that I closed the tent door and clipped it together so that nothing woulde in nor out until it was unclipped and then put myself to bed. My arms reached into Aoif''s own and snuggled her head into my chest as I closed my eyes to sleep. ¡­ Light did not greet my eyes as I woke up, instead it was to the green eye of Delta staring into my own. Aoif next to me was already awake but she kept up the facade of sleep by snuggling herself further into my chest with her eyes closed and her breath even. That could not fool me nor could it fool Delta and she was called out for it. Not by me but by Delta who conjured a ssh of water that fell onto Aoif''s head and rebounded onto my clothed chest. I red up to Delta at that, there was no reason for her to do that but when I looked up and actually took a good look at Delta there seemed to be this sort of impatience on her face that confused me. Enough to rid me from the anger that she had caused by sshing water on me. Aoif went to re too but just as I did she was stopped in her anger. The look of impatience on Delta''s face stopping any sorts ofint. "We''ve been discovered, if you don''t want to massacre the lot of them then let''s go" Delta said as my head perked up at the news. I couldn''t say that I was surprised, we had barely gone past the border before we had set up camp, tired from the journey. Though I had thought that it would have been far enough for them to not be suspicious it seems that we would have to move as they had found us and were suspicious. Now that I knew and focused on it I could hear the loud echoes of the men shouting this way and that. Though I couldn''t understand the majority of it with them being so far away from us what I could understand was that they were hostile. It seemed like they were trying to get done with this as fast as possible which was why I hurried in packing everything that I had taken out for the night. Aoif beside me was up too, though she didn''t need to pack anything as she hadn''t taken anything out. Aoif still helped. Within minutes we were ready, the sound of the soldiers growing closer. Chapter 182 Interlude: The Mole King PTII Darkness, it was all around me. A void of nothingness surrounding my being as I was transported to somewhere. It was both an eternity and not one. I could feel yet I couldn''t, I could see yet there was nothing around me. It was a strange world of contradictions. Though that world soon disappeared as light consumed my vision. I found myself teleported to a desert oasis, thend around me was filled with vegetation yet further and further then out was sand. All around me my subordinates piper up, the moles looking around curiously as they took in their new surroundings. Though that didn''tst for long as soon after we arrived a hostile voice was heard from the vegetation. "You!" The voice yelled, it was a wonder that I hadn''t noticed the voice earlier but even still it posed no threat to me. The surrounding moles had gathered around, their bodies protectively covering mine however they parted when with a wave of my hand I walked forward. From the feel of this person there was no conceivable way that he would be able to harm me. Though just as a precaution I spoke. "Reveal yourself" With all the authority that my ability allowed me Imanded him to reveal himself. After a drain on my reserves that was insignificantpared to the total he finally stood from the bushes. I was expecting some sort of alien creature, one that was like those Gaul''s or Elves but I was not expecting for another human to actually appear. It was the first time that I would have interacted with another human since the beginning of this whole ordeal. Well not the first if you count that crazy undead but I didn''t. It''s in the name, undead, I don''t count that maddening conversation as one with another human. I shook my head, the thoughts drifting from me as I focused my full attention on the person in front of me. She looked in but dirty, her once brte hair marred by sand, skin that most likely had received the highest of skincare was now covered in filth and even more sand. Her eyes were her most intriguing feature though, those brown eyes filled with determination, one to live on and survive no matter the cost. I watched on as she cautiously stepped into my line of sight of her own will as the rest of her body was revealed. The vegetation that had covered her was pushed away to reveal tattered clothes and a haggard body. One that hadn''t eaten in long, at the very least a couple of weeks judging by how emaciated she looked. "Who¡­?" Her hoarse voice asked, I hadn''t noticed before as when she had tried to order me her voice was strong, hardened with emotions. It was enough that I couldn''t discern the gender just by voice but now her voice felt small. Almost broken. "Shin" I quietly answered. My hand reached out towards her body, a handshake. One which she reciprocated. A quiet whisper almost akin to the buzzing of an insect was my answer as she gave me her own name. "Lily" "Well Lily," I smile down at her, her petite body small under mine, "Do you want to live like a queen" "Wha-" Her face turned bright red, a face of confusion appearing soon after. I sensed this and before she could get any angrier I de-escted the situation, "AH," Loudly I interrupted. The sudden rise in volume caught her attention. "I didn''t mean it like that. No, what I meant was if you wanted to join me." Lily seemed skeptical but eventually she caved in, her eyes roaming my body and the luxurious clothes that adorned them. A nod of affirmation was given and I smiled. My first interaction with another human being may have gone bad in the beginning but I was able to navigate it. Honestly it was relieving that I hadn''t lost my touch since being immersed in mole culture. "You¡­ ok" Lily slowly said, her voice hoarse as if she hadn''t drank anything in weeks. "Yes, but when was thest time that you drank anything?" I ask, half curious and half trying to pry an answer so I had an excuse to give her some. "When did we get summoned?" She asked to my question and I couldn''t help but be flummoxed by that answer. It had been at least three weeks or even a whole month. There was no way that she would have survived for this long let alone talk. "Water" Imanded suddenly and like a divine rain from the sky, it appeared. I had it gather into a ball and slowly let Lily sip at it. "Better" I asked, my concern showing through. Lily nodded her head, a blissful expression on her face as she gulped down mouthful after mouthful of water. ¡­ I sat down in the vegetation, idle thoughts running through my head as Lily sat near me. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was even which indicated that she was asleep however I couldn''t help but feel as if she wasn''t or at least was half asleep. Though those weren''t my only thoughts, the one that burned bright in my mind was how this vegetation survived if there was nothing to feed them. Of course they got food from the sun via photosynthesis but what about water. How did they get that. It was a mystery that I didn''t know, one I wasn''tfortable leaving alone. There could be multiple answers but I needed to know if I was to establish a territory around here. ''A territory¡­ shit I don''t have a token do I?'' It was at that moment that the system announced its presence, a helpful screen appearing in my vision. [Aspensation for being kicked from your territory, you have been granted a territory token] Just as it had when I had first had one given to me, it appeared in a bright sh of light. One bright enough to wake Lily from her sleep. "What was that?" She questioned, her hands rubbing her eyes that were still bleary from sleep. Chapter 183 Interlude: The Mole King PTIII Shin¡­" Lily asked from beside me on the mole. "Where are we going?" "To find a cavern, the moles thrive in those types of environments, it was how I survived." "Then what are you doing here if you''ve thrived¡­" "I-" I began to exin before the ground beneath us exploded, worms popping up into our vision. From my side I could feel as Lily shivered into my side, her arms tightening against my body. "Stay here," I whisper to her. "No!" She yelled uncharacteristically of her from what I had seen. "Don''t worry," I smile at her, "I''ll make it back alive." I pulled the gun from my waist, startling Lily as I leaped from the mole and into the fray of worms. They were giant, at least as tall as a two story building but the weren''t going to be a problem. I pulled the trigger of the gun and the bullet flew from the barrel. Though before it was able to make its way towards the worm I yelled out amand. "Expand" The bullet obeyed and expanded to the size of a person yet it carried its same velocity. Within a moment of the bullet firing one of the worms was killed, its head exploding in an explosion of flesh. I smirked at seeing that, it seemed that they weren''t as strong as I thought them to be. Though that size would be a problem. The amount of energy that I used to expand that bullet to its size wasn''t much but it wasn''t minuscule either. Even then I didn''t have much bullets in the clip. Only about 9 left. I checked my pockets and found another 9 clips but that only left me with 99 bullets and judging by the size of this horde, a good 40 worms, if we encountered more I would be out of ammo before I knew it. I would have to conserve my ammonia for more serious fights. That was why I holstered the gun at my waist, pulling out a dagger as I did so. It would be much more inefficient but it would be better than running out of my most powerful weapon. I took a deep breath, the situation flowing into me. My eyes took in all the information that it could, the position of the worms rtive to me, their presence and everything else that I could think of watching. Once I had taken in all the information I dashed. "Slow" Imanded, my voice echoing through the worms sensory organs and slowing them down to a crawl. "Grow" I again ordered but this time it was aimed at the dagger in my hand. Within seconds it grew to triple the size of a zweihander or about 20 feet or so. The weight pulled me down from where I was in the air and down into the head of the closest worm. With a squelch of blood and acid the worm was dead. A flow of energy flowing into my body from the unheededmand. ''Weird'' I thought to myself at the sudden increase in my reserves but ignored it in favor ofmanding my dagger again. "Return" with that the dagger returned to its original size and ce in my hand. Though when I looked up again I saw that mymand had worn off of the worms. Their inherent resistance shaking off my own power. "Tch" I clicked my tongue seeing them grow closer. A step to the right and the acid that had been spit at me was dropped next to me. The ground sizzled before something akin to ck tar appeared from the smoking pile of sand. "Shit!" I yelled, the sound echoing through the empty desert towards Lily''s ears. I jumped back, my feet carrying me as fast as I could. "Shield" I harshlymanded, my body covering the moles that had huddled to protect Lily. I couldn''t help butugh at that. Maybe it was the adrenaline or maybe it was just funny but the moles had taken to this Lily enough to protect her without thought. I looked back up and saw the globs of acid that had bounced off of my shield hit the sand. Again smoke rose as the sand turned into this ck tar like substance. This time I had enough time of at least take more than a cursory nce at the ck tar. It looked like a liquid and the spit that had first appeared seems to be giving the worms enhanced agility. "Cover your ears" I said to the moles and Lily behind me as I dashed from the cover I had created and into the fray of worms. By this point their bodies had started to curl together, enough that I couldn''t distinguish one from another. A head or a tail I couldn''t tell but that didn''t matter. As long as they could hear me, see me, feel me. Mymands would work. "Die" Imanded after confirming that I had protected the people behind me. I had only had them hold their ears because it would be easier for me to hold the power back from affecting them. If all of their senses were able to perceive mymas then they may just die or be seriously injured by thatmand. However with my protection they would be able to weather themand without any injury, not that they knew that. Back to the worms though, screeches reached me, the dying screams of the worms echoing through the sand. However they weren''t dead yet just seriously injured enough that they would die soon but that was all I needed. "Multiply" "Explode" I threw my dagger at them, the firstmand multiplying them into hundreds of copies and the nexting into effect once the daggers had reached them. BOOOOM An explosion of flesh was seen as all of the worms were killed. Their bodies flying everywhere. I finally took a sigh of relief, my body falling to the ground as the adrenaline fell. I saw Lily from the side approach me and ce her hand in my head. A warm flow of something reaching my body as it soothes me to sleep. Chapter 184 Regularly Scheduled Massacre The soldiers searched and searched all around the campsite that we had been staying in just moments earlier, their eyes scanning everywhere that they could think to look before marking off a ce in their map. I just smirked as I watched them search around like headless chickens that were trying to find anything. Of course they would not find anything, we had made sure of it. In the little time that we had before they hade knocking we had dismantled everything that could have led them to discover that we were even remotely near here. The fire and traces of it, the tents, the smell of cooked food, even our footsteps. Everything was erased so that they would not find out about anything. "Not here." One of the soldiers grumbled, his gruff voice filled with tiredness as he ordered the other soldiers to follow him further into the cavern. Behind him were three others, each with a standard outfit and a sword at their side. It seemed that they were low ranking not just by the outfit but by the powerpared to their captain. Soon though I was broken out of my thoughts ofparison of them as one of the lower ranked soldiers addressed their superior. "Captain, the report said that they were here. Was the scan wrong?" One of the soldiers asked their captain while they stood at attention. ''A scan, was that how they found us?'' It made sense, we weren''t being particrly stealthy but still we should have been able to spoof it at least. Unless Delta just didn''t want to. I turned my head from where I was gazing upon the soldiers to Delta, my look questioning her. Delta just ignored my gaze though, her own focus on the soldiers. A zing green eye looked down upon them with intensity. As if she was searching for something. ''Hah'' I sighed within my mind, it sort of made sense now. Why they were able to track us, why Aoif and I weren''t able to sense that we were being scanned. It was Delta, she had spoofed our senses but for what reason was the question now. "Stay here" Delta ordered and I was inclined to disobey her and demand answers but for now I was content to just watch and figure out why Delta had let us be discovered. I watched as Delta fell from the perch in the cavern that we had wed out and into the middle of the soldiers. A small capsule of what looked like metal was thrown at them and aether of some kind rushed out and attached to their faces. I squinted my eyes and enhanced them further to see what was happening. Beside me Aoif did the same, her own eyes glowing purple as she tried to see what was happening. Though now that I had my eyes enhanced I could clearly see what Delta had done. The capsule that she had thrown had some kind of rune on it, even though I didn''t know that the rune meant I could still infer by the effect that it had on the soldier she had thrown it at. The way that he seemed to be scratching his eyes out, blood and skin falling from his face as he scratched as hard as he could. It was honestly a bit grotesque to watch but it was interesting, the things that Delta could do with those books that she had just gotst night. Another capsule was thrown and this one healed them but their eyes went nk as they seemed to crawl to a stop like zombies. Delta jumped from where she was to right next to Aoif and I, her hand reached out to grab me by the cor of my shirt. I couldn''t do anything as Delta took me in her embrace and jumped toward the path deeper into the cave system. Though even if I could resist I wouldn''t, it was nice being carried. It meant that I wouldn''t have to walk as much as I would have had to. Though it didn''t mean I waszy, I just didn''t want to walk so far when Delta was fine with carrying me. Soon enough Delta had a good enough grip on me to ce me onto her back where she gave me a piggyback ride. It was a little embarrassing but I still wouldn''t give it up. Aoif on the other hand was pouting that she couldn''t be carried throughout the journey though she followed either way. ¡­ I was roughly ced on the ground, hours had passed since Delta had experimented on the soldiers and taken me in her arms. In that time we had made good progress into the territory of the next kingdom. Though as we passed by vige and vige, I couldn''t help but notice how tense the situation in them was. The guards that were stationed at the walls were panicked, their eyes ncing everywhere as if some sort of invisible enemy was going to gobble them up if they let their guard down. It was only when we reached our current ce that I found out why they were so tense. The kingdom had issued a draft and ording to the statistics that Delta had stolen from one of the royal messengers. The death rates were off the charts with one in every three soldiers dying at the border. That wasn''t even counting the ones that were sent out as cannon fodder, from the data it suggested that it was more like a ny percent chance that you would die unless you were given an officer position. But that wasn''t likely because most of them didn''t have the necessary skills to be given that position nor the time to learn. I couldn''t help but feel guilty for this, the war was partially my fault. For letting Delta cause dissent in the kingdom, which led to the others finding out about it and taking advantage of that moment of weakness. Chapter 185 Hidden Mind Tensions were high as we walked through the gate, a forged merchant''s pass allowing us in without question. Of course the guards had checked but with Delta''s skill there was no way that they would notice. As we walked around the streets I couldn''t help but notice how serious the atmosphere was around here. There was no tension around telling of a war but this sort of zealous seriousness as if they had some god given objective. Their eyes were clouded despite the liveliness that they seemed to show. The most unnatural thing about them though was the stiffness in their gaze. When they turned their head to look at us they had this sort of stiff gaze that seemed to be some dead. Like they weren''t in control of their own bodies. It was a grim thought but for now they seemed content to let us do what we wanted. As we walked further in, the sight of a tant inn appeared in front of us. It was suspicious in its cement. Not to mention the nails in the board looked new. I couldn''t tell how new it was but it had definitely not been there for more than a year. Either way we needed somewhere to sleep, to at least keep up the facade so unless we wanted to try somewhere else we would need to settle for this. With the ring of a bell the door opened. Another one of the dead eyed residents greeted us as we walked further in. "Wee¡­ would you¡­ like a¡­ room¡­ or two?" Before I could reply Aoif tugged at my arm before she took it into hers, a silent message being carried. I just intertwined my fingers into her own and nodded, my mouth shut. "Just one room, thank you." Aoif smiled, before fishing out coin from the bag hidden under her cloak. A bid from the resident and the key was given to us as we gave her the coin. ¡­ The door creaked open as the inside was revealed. A small one bed apartment filled with filth as if it hadn''t been cleaned in ages. Though it wasn''t used, no, it looked more abandoned. "The coin" I said to the room, Delta and Aoif perking up at my words. "You used that to determine something, what was it?" I turn to Aoif from my gazing. "Did you not notice the denomination? It was a gold coin. Not a silver nor bronze." "Oh¡­" I said out loud, my mind racing at the possibilities. Though the basic premise was that they were being controlled but from who. Of course I had noticed something strange but the coin trick that Aoif had used confirmed it. It was the look of the resident, how there was no reaction to how valuable it was. Not even a twitch of surprise to indicate how he had noticed that we had overyed and wanted to hide it from us. Only someone used to dealing withrge amounts of money could be so cavalier about that much. A gold coin was enough to feed a family of three for a month. "But how did you know it wasn''t just because they were dead eyed?" I asked again, even if I had sorted it out on my own, that was only assuming that they reacted normally to outside stimuli. "Because," Aoif began, a self satisfied smirk on her face, "they did react, not to the coin but the other residents. The other residents had emotions, you may not have seen it if you weren''t using my soul sight but they reacted to stimuli as if muted. But the nail in the coffin was that they all had the same reaction to the same things. The coin was just to confirm it, did you not notice me flicking a coin in front of another resident." I shook my head before Aoif continued on with her monologue. "They had the exact same reaction. One of indifference and hundreds of different cocktails of emotions." With that final sentence Aoif raised her hands, reaching out to me as she tugged me into a side hug. "Proud of me?" "Of course" ¡­ With part of the mystery figured out we went to bed, Aoif sleeping with me and Delta leaned against the wall. click thunk Tiny footsteps interrupted my sleep, the door being opened by a key of sorts. As silently as possible I got out of bed and signaled to Delta to stand by. With a haze of aether enough to reinforce my eyes but not enough to actually glow, I watched on. A crude needle was taken from a pouch on his waiter''s dress and flicked into another small pouch with liquid sloshing around. The needle sucked up the presumably poison and deposited it into the container that connected to it. he walked further and further in until he was beside Aoif, the needle poised to stab into the vein in her neck. Though before it could reach her, Aoifs hand grossed out and took the needle from him. Aoif threw it towards Delta who caught it and started to analyze it. The waiter on the other hand was caught surprised, emotions appearing in his eyes for the first time. Though they were not of surprise nor of pain. They were of amusement, like the very thought of resisting against him was ridiculous. "Heh Heh Heh" he chuckled, an ominousugh echoing from his mouth. Aoif took his neck in her hands and mmed him onto the bed but still theugh continued. It was like he did not care for the pain that Aoif was causing. "Listen here," Aoifs voice was hard, most likely from being woken up so early. "You are going to tell me what you were doing here and why" The only thing that he responded with was anotherugh. Though faintly I felt a tiny strand of aether flow into him from somewhere in the city. I couldn''t pinpoint it but when it reached him his head exploded into gore. Chapter 186 A Grand Castle I looked outside the window and saw hundreds of people shuffling away from their beds and into the streets. Their eyes were dead as they gave an amused smile to our building. I sighed as I walked through the door, my eyes were still bleary from being woken up by that needle. "I''m guessing that whoever is controlling them decided that stealth wasn''t the best option" I say to the room, my rhetorical question answered by the humming of Darwin in affirmation. Again I just sighed, why couldn''t they have done thister. In the morning or even better in the afternoon. I needed my sleep and they just had to interrupt it. "You find out what that liquid was?" Darwin questioned Delta who was still intently staring at the needle in her hand. "Yeah" Delta responded while walking alongside me. "It was a primer for some other special process. Would have set your brain in such a way that the next drug would allow whoever was controlling them to take over you with a dose of their aether." I frowned at that, did that mean that everyone here was controlled. Even the nobility and King. If they were able to do this with a single jab and some follow up then it would be no problem to take over the entire kingdom in a matter of weeks. I heard footsteps echoing through the building as people started to appear on the floor we were on. Doors were opened and more and more flooded into the hallway. I took out my knife, the edge idly cutting the air as I yed with it in my hand. "Let me have this" I mumble towards Darwin and Delta even as my armor appeared on my legs, fog obscuring the vision of the residents. I looked back only to see that Darwin and Delta were already gone, having left me to my own devices. I mentally thanked them as I needed something to toy with so that my frustration over being woken up in the middle of the night could go away or at least lessen. I watched on as the people charged at me one at a time, the hallway too narrow for them to group up on me. Though they never made it even close to me as the fig turned into spikes of ice that pierced the brains of the ones closest to me. I could sense the surprise that the controller felt at the ease in which I had taken care of them. Though there still was no worry. "Ah¡­ so that''s why" I muttered out loud as I felt aether gather in the air before mming into me. I stood my ground even as it threatened to pierce my chest, it was sort of cute. How it tried so hard to kill me but was stopped by a single thread of my own aether. The difference in quality was too much for the mastermind to ovee. It was only now that I saw the panic appear in the souls of those around me. "Didn''t think I could resist that did you?" I ask them, knowing that it would be transmitted to the mastermind just how every other action was. "Interesting" I thought out loud as I watched the residents start to shut down, their basic processes dying out. Their hearts seized a final look of panic before they all died. ¡­ ding The bell of the hotel rang as I walked through it and met up with Darwin and Delt . They stood around a crowd of dismembered people. Their limbs were scattered everywhere and blood littered the streets. Memoria was in Darwin''s hand, blood sticking to it for only moments before it was expelled by some sort of mystic force. It was as if the spear itself was saying that the blood was not worthy of marring its surface. "Feeling better?" Darwin questioned as I snuggled up to him. "Sort of" I respond as my body leaned to his chest and my eyes closed infort. "Good" Darwin muttered as he stroked my hair. "We do have to get moving though" I heard Darwin say moment s after I had finally gottenfortable. I grumbled a bit at being pushed from my spot by the very spot but ultimately I knew he was right. No matter how much I just wanted to cuddle I couldn''t as we had things to do. ¡­ I tread the path to the castle, the residents staring at us as we walked further and further into the entrance. It was borate, a door that seemed to be at least twenty or thirty feet tall and a drawbridge that overlooked the town. To even get into the castle one would need to scale the wall then get through the hundreds of guards that were constantly stationed at the bridge. Luckily for us we only had to scale the wall as the guards were seemingly ordered to ignore us. Though that didn''t mean that they just let us be. No, they followed us as we got further and further in. It was only when we had reached the door that I finally noticed how many had followed. At the very least there was a hundred thousand or so all gathered around the bridge and wall. Each and every one of them stared into our own souls. It was a state that seemed to be filled with cunning. I looked to Aoif beside me and she nodded in confirmation. Aoif had used her soul sight to confirm my suspicions. Next to me Delta walked from where she was and towards the door. A push of her hands and it was opened, the opulent castle revealing itself. It wasn''t a throne room like you would have expected but a reception room at the top of the castle with stairs and passages that lead down further into the castle. I walked in, and gazed further and further in as I saw the supposed mastermind make his way up the stairs. Chapter 187 A Pleasant Welcome "I wee you" a booming voice echoed out into the reception room. His voice as rxed as could be. "Merchants" I watched as he made his entrance, robes unburdened by gravity and as ck as the night sky was the first thing that I saw as he entered the room. His face was concealed by a hood and mask, one of a faceless being with only the eyes gouged out so that his glowing orange eyes could stare into our own. "Please sit," he gestured to the chairs that had been impably ced throughout the reception hall so as to give it the proper impression. I just nodded my head, my eyes never leaving him as I took a seat. Beside me Aoif and Delta bothplied. Again I watched on as the gravity defying robe seemed to allow him to float towards the seat in front of us. Ethereal servants passed through hidden rooms as they brought with them food. Ones that seemed to be filled with unknown ingredients. I was confident in my own resistances but to willingly eat what would likely be poison was foolhardy at best. As they approached their hands holding food, I stood. My re slicing through his veneer of civility and through his soul. "Information, on any powerful being around these parts" I dere, "That was what you wanted to know, yes? Why we came here, why we were disguised." The man sipped at his tea, his hand slightly shaking at my disy of power. Though despite that he still seemed to want to keep up his disguise. "No need to be so hostile." His voice echoed out but instead ofing from the robe it came from everywhere. I smirked as my eyes roamed around the hall and tracked the source of the voice. "Then you will give us the information." It was not a question, it was a demand. One that he would either abide by or we would rip it from his hands. To punctuate the implications I stabbed Memoria into the enchanted ground below, allowing her to sink into it with no effort. A wave of my own aether flew out and pierced his senses. I could feel the shaking of his will as he looked towards me and then towards Delta who had not moved. "I assume that you want to take control of this realm, yes?" I nodded confirming his suspicions, it was no problem for him to know of our intentions. He had no way to fight back against us anyways. "I cannot allow that." "Then I will take the information by force." I grabbed Memoria from where I had stabbed her into the ground and brandished her into my stance. A tensing of my muscles and I was in front of him a stab Aimee for his heart. Or where I assumed it would be based off of the biology of my previous enemies. A gust of wind was all the result of my attack as the cloak pulled the mastermind away from the attack, sweat pouring down his head as he stared deeply into my spear. A circle of strange runes appeared below him as it flowed orange, a pir of mes being generated. BOOM BOOM The pir of mes turned into two balls of fire that were aimed towards me. Flying through the air they bypassed my own sight and reached me within moments. I narrowed my eyes and reacted just as the exploded, a barrier of aether appearing to take the brunt of the attack. Though it wasn''t enough topletely negate it. Small burns appeared on the clothes that I wore. It was the first time in a while that I had been close to injured and it excited me. I must have picked up on Aoif''s love of fights as my lips curled into a smile and my heart pounded in my chest. Excited over a challenging fight. I took a nce over to Aoif and Delta, noticing that they didn''t intervene. It was Aoif''s doing as she held out a hand to stop Delta from helping. I shed her a wide grin before jumping back into the fray. While I had my head nced towards the two, the mastermind was not idle, a look of concentration on his face as he summoned up even more power. Orange aether sufficed into his veins as intricate markings appeared on his face and limbs. An ornate staffbined with a spear appeared in his hands as he gripped it tight. Seemingly done with his preparations he called out towards me. "Did you not think that I would be this powerful, with how I have not seen your race I would assume you are rtively new to this grand conquest." "And?" I reply. "You most likely have never faced someone of significant power such as I. Nor have you faced such varied techniques. You have no chance!" With thosest words he dashed towards me, the spear tip poised to cut my neck off. I backed up, aether infused into my legs to allow for faster movement. However I was not able to do that, the aether that usually flowed as easily as water now felt like honey in its consistency. ''Shit'' I thought to myself as the moments tucked by, the spear growing ever closer to my neck. I could perceive it but without my aether I would not be able to react. I twitched my hand and noticed that if I started now I may just be able to knock the spear to the side of my head. The moment that thought appeared in my mind I realized it, my fingers tensing as I pulled Memoria up with as much force as I could. CLANG The spear was redirected but the force of it still blew me away, my back hit the wall of the castle and knocked the air from my lungs. I tried to reinforce myself with aether again but it just wouldn''t work, with how it was it would take a full minute just to reinforce one limb. A minute I did not have. Chapter 188 Spears Clash The spear/staff was aimed at me again but this time I didn''t have the time to hold up my spear. Hell I didn''t even have time to even properly get up. Luckily for me he seemed to becent with how easily the fight had gone. A second to gloat, and another to give me this cocky look. It was enough for me to reorient myself and take my spear back into my hand. With a push to the ground it exploded from under me, pieces of debris flying around and obscuring me from his vision. I used that moment to retreat further, barriers of aether slowly forming in my hand. They were small but they were what I needed. Something that I could actually use. Compared to how my aether felt when I tried to use it in my body, it was practically free use outside. It was like walking through waterpared to actual air. A weird analogy but it worked for me. The freedom to use aether outside of my body gave me several ideas but I had no time to realize them. A small shield was ced on my vitals and minimized so that the draw in my power was minimal. It was just in time as an unblockable attack was aimed at my neck. CRACK The barrier cracked, green light shing in my and his own eyes and blinding both of us. Although my sight was obscured by light that didn''t mean I couldn''t see, no, it only gave me an advantage. With the shared sight of Aoif I could see his soul despite the distinction of my own. It was at that moment of vulnerability that I struck, Memoria in hand I stabbed upwards. "Tch" I clicked my tongue, the attack had not connected, the only thing that I hit, a barrier that seemed to suffice his entire being. Though I did see a sort of crack that appeared, and with insightful eyes I was able to see numerous runes that made up the barrier. However even if my attack was blocked the force behind it was as a st of wind carried him towards the back of a wall. Cracks formed in the wall and I could feel my aether start to flow freely again. It seemed like the only way for me to use my aether was to break his concentration. Whatever sort of spell he used needed constant focus, something that he seemed tock. The way that a simple wound like this could break it. I had only a couple seconds of free use of aether and I wasn''t going to waste them. With as much focus as I could put into the process I reinforced everything that I could, starting with the most important things. My leg muscles came first, as even if I could see him I wouldn''t be able to react without sufficient power in my muscles though that wasn''t the only problem. My brain wasn''t able to react fast enough to send signals towards my legs to signal them to move. That was why my nerves were my next target. I had never done it before but in the heat of the moment I had never doubted that I could do it, and the faith in myself was rewarded when with a burst of power I felt my reaction speed elerate. That was all I was able to do before the mastermind recovered, whatever sort of spell that he had used returning as any more attempts to reinforce myself were foiled. The reinforcement that I had been able to get off while he was recovering on the other hand stayed. I smiled at him, smug. Even as pirs of mes shot from the ground again I still smiled smugly at him. The fireballs that I could not dodge earlier were easily cut through and dispersed with my new reaction speed. Though what surprised me the most was how Memoria had reacted to it, the echoes of the fireball were stored and I felt I could unleash them at any moment. It was the first time that she had done that but I wasn''tining. A seemingly normal sh to the throat of the mastermind was taken as I closed the distance; however when I had reached my goal I unleashed the spells into the mastermind. Twin bursts of me exploded in the face of the mastermind and burnt the hood off of his face. I was finally able to get a good look at his face and I was sort of surprised at how in it looked. It was like if you put every average male together and picked the most average of every feature and put it into one. It was uncanny how in he was enough that it even looked unnatural. CLANG While I was taking a nce at him the mage was not idle the spear tip swinging from the side to decapitate me however it wasn''t able to reach me as I blocked it with Memoria. A sneer and a back step was his response but it seems as though he forgot where he was as he mmed into the wall knocking the breath out of his lungs. I was suspicious but I wasn''t going to East this chance as with another tensing of my muscles I was before him, my spear poised at his heart. PIERCE I felt as my spear pierced through thick skin and a heart. Blood vomited into me as his eyes widened in fear. As if his own death shed through his eyes. ''Dodge'' a voice echoed in my mind. I didn''t have time to question it or why Aoif wanted me to dodge but I did it nheless m. Despite my assuredness that I had won. A spear of mes passed through the spot that I was in and went through the floor. The mastermind disappears into the darkness covered cavern. That was not the end of them though as more and more appeared from the ceiling and shot their way towards me. Chapter 189 Flamed I dodged around, the spears of fire exploding all around me. Holes of fire and dust appeared as they impacted the ground. Minutes passed by as I continually dodged everything sent at me, though when I looked back at both Aiof and Delta none of the explosions were remotely near them. I didn''t know if that was because I hadn''t neared them since the beginning or if it was just that they weren''t being targeted however either way I continued to dodge. Even white thoughts in my mind other than dodging I could still easily sidestep the explosions. However this had given me a theory, maybe it wasn''t that it targeted things but that it detected motion and attacked anything that moved. To test that theory I flicked Memoria to the side and took a chunk of the wall into my hand. I then infused it with my own aether and sent it flying towards the ceiling. I watched with bated breath, idly I dodged the spears that came towards me. Nothing happened. It was a bust. It seemed that it was just locked into me. "Shit" I yelled out loud, a particrly fast spear was sent towards me. Fast enough that I barely had any time to react. Though it wasn''t too fast for me. I was still able to get out of the impact zone. cough cough I coughed the dust that had gotten into my lungs out and continued dodging, my head gazed up to the ceiling as I tried to find what was sending these spears of me. It was starting to get dangerous, before it was just an annoyance that I was slightly curious about but now it seemed to be speeding up. Each and every spear was sent with more and more force before it teaued, but even that teau was faster than I was naturally. Now that it had turned dangerous I now focused more on finding it than I did on just dodging. I watched, the angle and flow of aether going into the spears and using that calcted where they were being generated. I knew it was on the ceiling but it was so erratic in its use of aether that I didn''t know where it was. It was then that a thought flew towards me, a lightbulb lighting in my head. It was not that there was one but there were multiple. Now that that thought was in my head I could start again. If I disregarded all of the chaotic flows and focused on the ones that were uniform then¡­ ''There'' I though to myself while looking up to the ceiling where four generators were ced. They were inconspicuous, barely a blip in the ceiling but now that I knew where they were I could destroy them. I dodged and dodged however this time I wasn''t blindly dodging, I had an objective and slowly I grew closer to it. Finally after a whole minute or so of dodging and hacking through the spear I had made it below one of the generators. Once I destroy this one everything would get easier. ¡­ I had pivoted my foot and body into a position that would allow me to throw Memoria into the air, the rest would follow. mes coalesced to try and stop the path of Memoria but it could not be stopped, every me that touched it was pierced through, the aether within absorbed by the spear. BANG It reached the top of the ceiling a magnificent explosion of mes and aether shaking the walls and ceiling of the castle. I jumped up and leaped for my spear, however before I could even reach halfway up I had to maneuver in the air with a barrier as a spear of me twice as strong as the previous one flew passed me and destroyed the wall it impacted against. No dust remained. I jumped off the tform as another spear came after me, at this point dodging both in the air and on the barriers had taken up all of my focus. However that didn''t mean I didn''t notice when Memoria had mysteriously appeared back in my hand. I didn''tin though, instead I was thankful. With Memoria by my side I could weather this storm. I prepared myself, a stance taken as I leaped from barrier to barrier getting ever closer to the next generator. Every second that I wasted on the tforms was another second that the spears had to get closer to me. That wouldn''t have been a problem if it weren''t for their speed. Even if it had teaued it was still almost as fast as me. BOOM The sound of a gun firing echoed through the room as I looked back towards Aoif And Delta. I had expected for Delta to be the one to have shot the gin but it wasn''t. It was Aoif, a smile on her lips as she reloaded the rifle that she had been given. Though immediately after she had fired that shot and was in the middle of reloading a spear of fire was fired at her. It had forced her to dodge but the thing was that it was twice as fast as the ones that I had been dodging. I grit my teeth and with as much aether that I could use under this suppression,unched myself towards Aoif. I passed by the spear of me and took a swipe at it with Memoria but it suddenly dodged. It was as if it had intelligence but even when I activated my shared sight I couldn''t see anything resembling intelligence in it. I couldn''t dwell on that any longer though as soon after it sped up again. Though it wasn''t targeting Aoif any longer, no it targeted me. A barrier appeared in front of me and Iunched off it, back flipping so that my spear had a chance to pierce through it. CLANG The spears had collided but nothing came of it. Even more, it had actually gotten through my defenses and was closing in on my eye. Chapter 190 Into The Depths The spear impacted with my eyelid, an explosion of mes marring my face. I could feel as the heat scarred my face. Just before the impact I had created a tiny shield of aether that had blocked part of the attack. Though there was still some of the attack that I had to just brute force tank. It wasn''t pleasant but at least the brunt of the attack had been taken care of by the barrier. I could feel as the burn settled on my skin, aether flying from everywhere within my body and towards the burn. It was instantly healed however I could still feel the pain however faint it was. Another and another spear shot out from thest two generators as they approached both Aoif and I at speeds that I could barely react to. Before they had sped up I could react and dodge them as long as I had enhanced my muscles beforehand but now I was barely able to react even with all of the enhancements that I had brung to the table. I shiver to think how I would deal with thest one, judging on how they had elerated not only in speed but in power I might not be able to do anything against thest one. Now that I was thinking of this, I couldn''t help but reprimand myself for not just following immediately and ignoring the spears of me that shot at me. However we were too deep into this now, we could still jump into the hole but that would be a dangerous risk, with how advanced the security here is there is no doubt that I would meet even further resistance while descending. Not to mention that those spears could still pepper me even though I fell through that cavern. "You have a n?" Aoif asked as she moved closer to me, the rifle in her hands reloaded. A shot was taken, a boom echoing through the hall but nothing came of it. Something new had happened, instead of anything intercepting the bullet it was a shield made of fire that burned the bullet to crisps before it could reach the generator. I looked back to Delta who seemed unsurprised, in fact she seemed to be having fun at our expense since she was sat in luxury while any potential debris that had fallen toward her disintegrated. Aoif threw aside the rifle, and it was only then that Delta acted, the rifle appearing in her hands immediately after it had left Aoif''s hands. A wry smile was in her face however that was thest that I saw of her as I had to continue my attack. Any more stalling and I would be dead. Well maybe not dead but I would definitely be injured as Delta would rescue me but not before I was suitably injured to learn my lesson. With a silent nod to Aoif I dashed forward, a covering of fog veiled my approach. Spears of me flew past my head as they were frozen upon contact with the fog. Those frozen spears were then sent right back and intercepted by even more spears. It was a dance of death, whichever ran out of aether first would be the loser as they would no longer be able to defend nor attack. As I dashed forward, Aoif beside me, I could feel my aether cross with hers as our reserves collided. I could use her aether and she mine. Though I didn''t need to use much which was why I allowed for almost every single drop of my own to flow into Aoif. She was responsible for allowing me to approach and was doing an excellent job of it. However that was only on the condition that she had enough aether to continue this dance. Another spear of me made it into the fog but this time it was not redirected nor frozen. No it disintegrated, a small explosion ming in a ball of ice. It seems that the mechanism had gotten smarter. Though this was thest spear that it would send towards us as we parted, Aoif went toward some while I went after the other. I tense my muscles, a silentmunication happening between Aoif and I as we synced kur attacks. Aoif''s dagger was poised to pierce the mechanism just as my own spear was. A signal was heard, known to only us as we attacked in sync. It was only then that I felt the drops of blood fall into Memoria. A grim realization. It was not a mechanism that had been directing the spears, it was four servants. It made sense now or at least partially. I jumped into the cer that the body was ced in and inspected it. The only thing around was a huge conspicuous circle filled with unknown tunes and the body. From what I could tell I coulde to the conclusion that the body didn''t even have aether if it''s own. That meant that whatever this circle was, It was providing the body aether which would exin why they got stronger with each that was destroyed. The excess aether would flow into them instead of the others, no doubt redundancy that was built in. It was a good idea but it had failed. If I was him I would have only stationed one with the full power but what did I know maybe it was more efficient to have four instead of one. ¡­ I dropped down from where I was observing the body, the room destroyed and the body properly dealt with. I watched as Aoif came towards me, her hand holding some unknown object. Though whatever it was it made her happy whenever she looked at it. When she finally reached me I could see what she was holding. It was an opulent gem, one that shone so brightly and beautifully that I couldn''t help but be entranced with it for a second. The shining deep blue, the way that it seems to glint in the eye. It was masterfully done and not only that but there was a sublimate of the stone. One that looked exactly the same. Aoifs hand closed over it as she smiled a mischievous smile. Her knees dropped to the ground and she opened her hand again but this time the stones were not just stones they were rings. It was like she was proposing to me. "You said we were married earlier. Isn''t it only right that we have a ring" her smirk was as beautiful as it was smug. However I couldn''t resist the temptation and put the ring on. It fit snugly in my finger and I felt a wave of something wash over me. "Delta made these, didn''t she?" I asked rhetorically. "Yep" Aoif responded, her knees off the ground as she smiled up at me. I couldn''t help but wryly smile at that. It was a great gift, one that I didn''t have words to express the happiness I felt at it. "Thanks¡­" I whispered into her ear and despite the smugness that she radiated just a moment ago now she fell still. Her emotions fluctuated between embarrassed and happy. "Your wee" I didn''t know who said it first as both Delta and Aoif both said the same thing. However I knew that they had different intentions. One wanted nothing more than to flirt with me, to bring me closer and the other wanted to continue on deeper and watch the show. It wasn''t hard to guess which one was which. "Move" Delta said, the already broken atmosphere being reced with one of seriousness as she urged as to move towards the cavern in the castle that the mastermind had created. I just obeyed, it was not worth it to be such a child and disobey Delta''s order. Though it wasn''t even needed as I was already leaning towards jumping down immediately. It wasn''t that hard of a decision. The longer that we gave that man to prepare the harder it would be to pursue him, or at least that was what I would assume it to be since it seemed that it took some time for those defended to be set. There were also those circles, with sufficient materials he would be able to do so much more if we gave him time. It was why I jumped without blinking. The lights of the reception hall faded into the background as it was reced with the color of water. High pressure jets of water sprayed at me. It was not hard to dodge. All I needed to do to dodge them was create a tform that would block one thenunch off of it deeper into the ground. At some point I had to just wonder how deep this went, by the time that I had been in here we should have passed the depths of the castle by now. And it was we, as immediately after I had jumped in so did Aoif and Delta, though they were having an easier time as Delta carried Aoif and blocked anything that came towards her. I just sighed and looked back down, it wouldn''t do for me to be jealous, it was her summon after all. Chapter 191 Delta, The Problem Solver My feet fell to the ground as the cavern lit into a kaleidoscope of colors. Runes of every color lit up both the floor and walls. Though weirdly enough the ceiling had nothing around it but empty groves. Furthermore it was all in, like someone had whitewashed it to prepare it for something else. I could feel the idle aether that seemed to suffuse the ce, it wasn''t immediately noticeable but when I started to sense around I felt it. The way that the aether seemed to be drawn from the outside and into here only to be deposited in caches that littered the whole room. My head rose to the sky as I saw Aoif and Delta fall, well it was more like Delta fell to the ground and Aoif was ced down but that was beside the point. Delta''s dress was ruffled but that was the extent of the damage that had been done to her by the fall. Compared to what I had endured when I fell it seemed unfair but I couldn''t begrudge Delta for taking care of Aoif, she was her summon either way. It wasn''t even a problem that I was injured as with a silent application of aether the wound was healed though I idly noted that it seemed slower. "Hm¡­" I hummed as my head perked up again from my thoughts. A voice had echoed into the chamber just like a whisper into the ears of our own. Effusing the whole of the room I felt as the vibrations tranted into words. "I wee you." The same voice that I had conversed with earlier and stabbed in the heart said, it was one of supreme smugness. One that seemed to have supreme confidence in themselves even to a point of arrogance. Though how he could feel the strength of all three of us and still be this confident was beyond me. He had seen the way that Delta had dispatched his servants with even more ease than I. He must have seen how rxed she was and how easy it was for Aoif and I together to get through his defenses yet despite this he was still confident. If it wasn''t so stupid I would have apuded him for having that much confidence. "It seems that you have passed the initial defenses,"The glowing runes that sufficed the whole room glowed in all colors of the rainbow. "Though I''d like to see you get passed this" With that the voice disappeared, various elements and objects thrown at us. Instantly though they disintegrated as a hail of bullets shot down every single thing that had been thrown towards us. My eyes could barely track as every effect was suppressed under the hail of bullets that Delta had sent out. Hell, I couldn''t even see when Delta had had the time to bring her rifle out and reload at such a speed that she was able to negate and destroy everything that had been sent at us. The balls of fire, pirs of lightning, even esoteric effects that I could not discern the effects of were destroyed. Nothing was spared. More shots fired out when I had thought they were done. However apparently Delta had deemed it necessary to break the room around us. Everything was in shambles, the runes that had once stood proudly against the white washed walls were reduced to nothing but rubble. It felt anti climactic, for it to end this way. Not in a final battle that ended in me or Aoif killing this man but in Delta shooting a hail of bullets in her annoyance. And I could tell it was annoyance, just look at her face. The slight twitch of her lips, the narrowing of her lone eye. Though the most obvious tell was her demeanor, the rxed pose that she seemed to carry through everything was gone. It was reced by one of a tapping foot, a clenched hand, tensed muscles. Everything about her screamed annoyance though to someone that didn''t know her it would seem normal. My hand reached to my forehead. They messaged it while my mouth sent out a sigh. Although the battle was over we still had to capture that mage and I didn''t want Delta to interfere. However I doubted whether or not she would agree to let me do this seeing as how dangerous he could be. "You can" Delta had appeared in my face, her eye staring into my own. As if to borate her voice sounded in my mind. "Aoif would ask and I wouldn''t go against her" I just nodded at this, my re no longer aimed at her but at the room around us. I needed to find where he was hiding out for there was no way that he wasn''t somewhere near. Unless he had an inordinate amount of time to just dig out such a chunk of this castle and the ground around it then I may actually be wrong but I doubted it. This ce was so heavily guarded that I couldn''t even tell if I would have been able to survive without Delta''s help. However, that didn''t mean that I couldn''t face that mage. This was all made with prep time. Time that I was not going to give him. Which was why I needed to find him soon. Before he had the time to make any preparations. Though speaking of preparations I needed to prepare my own. If he was able to use whatever it was that sealed the aether in my body from being used for me then I would need to reinforce myself before the mage had a chance to do that to me. So while I was looking around I idly reinforced my body. Green light sufficing every muscle that I could reinforce. Pretty soon my whole body was reinforced to its limit. It was about that time that I found where he was hiding, an explosion of mes breaking against the already prepared barrier of mine. Finally the cowardly mage had shown himself. Of course it was after so much of his base was blown up by us, well mostly Delta but I had contributed to some of it and if it was up to me I would have done all of it. However that wasn''t the point right now. Now I needed to focus on the actual mage. His hood that had obscured his face upon our first meeting was now blown away by the intense wind that had been caused by the shots fired by Delta. I could finally actually see what he looked like and I was surprised. It wasn''t a he at all but neither was it a she. It was a better monoker for it as it was not human like at all. Neither did it have any distinguishing features that would set it to either sex. Its face was a mix of a pale beauty and a handsome man but it didn''t have an Adam''s apple. It didn''t even have any breasts or even a chest. It was like a te of stic that was formed in the shape of the perfect being. Whatever this thing was, it was not natural. It was made by something and for it to grow to this power. Enough that I had difficulty hunting it despite my power as a tier 3, its creator was most likely as strong if not stronger than it. Those thoughts were torn from my mind as the thing attacked me, the spear staffbination poised to gauge my eyes out. Of course I was already ready for this. I had prepared beforehand and analyzed the patterns of our previous fight. It seemed as though this thing liked going for the eye as nine times out of ten the target of its attack was going to be my eye. It was that exact statistic that I had preemptively created barriers around both of my eyes that were supercharged in return for their power. It was a significant drain on my reserves, to be able to block the attack of this being but it was worth it as the surprise of me not only disregarding the attack but advancing gave me the chance to bring Memoria up and sh the things head clean off. However it had dodged, the cloak around him had fallen off and taken the hit. It obscured my vision. The only thing that saved me from death was the pinging of a bullet against the spear he held. The force of the bullet was enough to break the staff which it did. A snap echoing through the room as the mage looked on. Shock was apparent on its face but it quickly rposed itself. However it didn''t do it fast enough as it backed up only to have its hand cut off. Blood spurt from the stump. A scream of bloody pain echoed out as it closed its eyes in pain. How it had gotten this far without a pain tolerance, I did not know, but I wasn''t going to waste my chance. Green aether sufficed my being as the idle aether that I had suppressed in the air showed itself. I raised my foot and kicked off a barrier that I had generated. It gave me enough speed that I was able to reach the neck of my opponent in but a moment. Before it could even react it was dead, its head cut off. Chapter 192 Ascent "Huh¡­ what!" I yelled, surprised at what Delta had done. My waist was grabbed by Delta''s hand and ced under her arm. I was given no warning nor any sign that I was going to be picked up, it was the whole reason that I had yelled, because I had no idea what was happening. However I did see where Delta was heading and at that my annoyance at her lessened. She was taking both Aoif and I back to the surface, to the reception hall. I was going to have to go back up there either way and despite the ufortable situation that Delta had me in it was still a win for me. I wasn''t going toin about a free ride back to the surface. Though I could stillin about the way in which she was carrying me. Aoif was carried on the back of Delta, arms and legs wrapped around her body leaving Delta''s hands free. With my small frame it should have been child''s y for her to carry me in afortable position but she had to just carry me under her arm. The most ufortable situation that I could have been given. What made it worse was the smug smile I could feel lighting up Delta''s face. It wasn''t that I could see her, it was just that through the soul sight that I shared with Delta I could feel the smug emotions carry through her into a smug smile. I just sighed at that thought, not bothering to evenin at the treatment. It was at least better than having to exert myself trying to get back up. Of course I could have made my way back up but it would have been a hassle. With how much I would have had to exert myself just to get back halfway it wasn''t worth it. I would have had to make so many tforms only to jump off of them and make more. It was honestly a little daunting with how far down we were. The process of climbing back up would have been long and tedious but with Delta it would take no time at all. Just in the time that I was thinking this, we had already made our way a quarter of the way up. Compared to me Delta was exponentially more powerful. It was just how the tier system worked. With each jump in tier was like the power of all of the previous tiers multiplied. And Delta was above that at the ascended level. Light appeared in my eyes, the crystals that lit up the reception hall sending rays of light into my eyes that had grown used to the dark of the cavern. Though I wasn''t disoriented for any time, my eyes had adjusted ordingly in mere moments upon the light reaching us. However, now that we were in the reception hall we needed to figure out where to go. There were no maps that we could follow nor were there any staff that we could question. "Where-" I cut myself off mid sentence. I saw Delta start to move, her head rotating around as she spun in a slow circle. Once she was done with that she started her walk towards some ce near the doors. I knew she wasn''t headed towards the obvious doors as her gaze was focused on a particr part of the wall. I focused my vision and finally caught onto what she had seen, the wall that she gazed upon wasn''t as thick as the other walls. It even had a slight disconnect that signaled it might have been a door. I hadn''t noticed it on my first look around but now that I had I could notice all of the other secret doors. Whoever had built this had a fetish for secret doors as there were at least as many hidden doors as there were regr doors. In fact there might have been even more secret doors and passages than there was actual doors. I broke myself from those thoughts, focusing my attention on Delta who had already walked into the hidden door which had revealed itself by a gentle push to the right ce. I quickly followed after her and Aoif as I watched the door m shut behind them. I opened the door again by pushing on the same part of the wall that Delta had pushed and found myself in a dark hallway. The only thing that lit up the hallway and gave even a tiny bit of visibility was the small torches that had been lit up upon the entrance of Aoif and Delta. I followed them further into the hallway, and eventually I caught up to them. I took Aoif''s hand in my own and made my way to Delta''s side. Delta knew where she was going or at least where we were. It was in the way that she didn''t hesitate in every twist and turn, in how she led us directly towards each and every way we needed to go with utmost confidence in her directions. The most likely reason that Delta had known where to go was that she had scanned the whole castle. Thinking back I could pinpoint the time that she had done that. It was when we had first entered. She had taken a longer nce than normal and her eyed glowed strangely for a second before turning back to normal. At the time I hadn''t thought anything of it but now I knew it was most likely Delta scanning the castle and making a mental map of it. Passage and passage passed us by as we walked further and further into the castle. The wall seemed to be the same, everywhere was the same drab gray with asional paintings that seemed to be mild variations of the same painting. A man holding a sword in his hands, a man with a crown on his head, a man with a staff. It was all these variations that I saw while passing through. He didn''t even look that majestic, though the paintings were well done. Eventually we abruptly stopped, Delta had found something as her hand reached to a wall and with a twist of the same hand it opened. A study, filled with what seemed like thousands of books, revealed themselves. Rows and rows of bookshelves littered the room. It must have been enchanted somehow because there were rooms right next to it that I could enter and when I did I saw no sign of the study. No doubt about it, the room was enchanted to berger on the inside. It wasn''t a different space I knew that at least though. It was why I immediately went for the assumption that it was erged. It was because a different space couldn''t have been connected physically. It needed to be connected metaphysically. Or something along those lines. It was what I had learned from the tree that was my house. The inside of it was as sturdy as it could be, with wood covering every crevice. However the house still stood inside it despite having no physical presence. Back to the study though, I found myself sitting at the seat. My fingers flipped through documents idly as Delta read and cataloged them. The ones of importance handed to me. It seemed that most of the documents were not very important as it was barely every hundredth one that Delta would find anything remotely useful. Even then they contained barely any information. The one in my hand right now, an exact example of that. It was a report dating back a whole ten years ago about an exploratory group that had been wiped out under suspicious circumstances. The whole thing could have been a couple sentences but it was dragged out until it was several papers long. It wasn''t even interesting, it just had a very dry and legal taste to it. It was like trying to readws and figure out the relevance of them except that I was being forced to do it by Delta. Something about learning to be a leader and how I would need to take care of paperwork in the future. It was at times like these that I wished I could just fight something, anything to take my mind off of the intensely boring documents in front of me. Another document was ced in front of me while the old ones were taken away from me by Delta. I looked up and found that Aoif was sleeping on the couch that was near one of the bookshelves and Delta was still browsing through. Sighing I read through the document but something grabbed my attention. This wasn''t a report from thest few decades, it was recent. As in it was from the past few months. I started to focus more on it and the more details that I read the more I was sure of it. ''Found you'' Chapter 193 Paperwork... Log 1 - It had been three days since we were dispatched through the northern path. An order from the king himself. I had been excited for the first day. The merit that I would gain as a result of this expedition would allow for me to ascend my position of a knight but these harrowing days have disheartened me. It started as well as any journey, the food was dry as ever. The paigesined and the other knights were yelling at them to do their jobs with noint. That did notst though, instead it started to take over. Little by little my soldiers fell, reced by their dead bodies. Through thest two days most of everyone had been consumed by this being. I fear I may be thest remaining. I can not do anything though. As much as it aches my heart to see myrades torn asunder by this being¡­ It was too powerful. The dead eyes of another just passed me as I write this message. Give me strength oh'' King. Log 2 - it has been another week since myst entry and my fears havee to fruition. I am thest remaining with my own mind. No others remained with any of their mind intact. It was a harrowing sight, to walk around the camp that we had created and to know that none of the expedition members were themselves. I can only hope that I may survive this ordeal. My guard is always up. On a brighter note I had found that they seemed to want to leave me alone. Whatever their purpose was, they needed me. What they needed¡­ I could not tell you. However I have some spections. If you are reading this then you are either the king or someone that has taken it from him but if you are the king then I would suspect that they are keeping me alive for my inherent ability. Whatever they are they are not able to replicate the inherent abilities they held in life. For example just the other day, Ilden, had snapped his hands on instinct to light a fire. Yet no fire came. It was a curious phenomenon but not one that was unique to him. Every other that I knew had an inherent ability kept their instincts yet they could not use their abilities. Onto progress, we have made our way halfway through into the territory of the dragon. So far I have had no thoughts of violence against myself. But for the others¡­ I have no clue. I would interrogate them but I feel as if that would not be the right move. Log 3 - we had made it three quarters of the way to their of the dragon. At this point we were preparing for battle. It wasn''t anything different than usual. My Paige armored me however there was a slight poke that I felt. It wasn''t anything unusual as when my armor is out there are some ufortable parts that would poke and prod at me. However, now that I am writing this, it stood out to me. I can feel my mind going, as it is consumed by a hostile intelligence. Thoughts that I didn''t think appeared. It''s wearing on my consciousness. I don''t know how long I willst but I hope that this log will make its way towards you my king. I have enchanted this so that no one else but you may decipher it. Hopefully if they take my mind they may not take the trantion code. This is my final message to you, my King. I hope that I did you good service. ¡­ I read thest log of this knight. Though a part of itstood out to me. "Delta, how can I read this?" I asked, pointing to the part where the knight had told his king that he had encoded it. "I decoded it for you." I just nodded at Delta''s exnation. Taking it as fact, there was no need for me to be suspicious of her. Though with that question out of my mind camethe implications of the journal and letter would have. Obviously it pointed to the time that the mage had started to take over but it also gave us clues to the location of the apparent dragon that had been mentioned. The northern path, that meant that somewhere to the north or following the northern path we would find their of this dragon. Whether or not it was the realm protector or owner wouldeter. Though if we judge by the size of the expedition that had been taken and how it seemed, from the other documents, that most had been wiped out in their attempts that the dragon was more powerful than even the mage. Or at least more powerful than the ves of the mage. Though that didn''t say much because the ves of the mage that we had fought had been nothing but mere peasants. None of them had the ability of a knight. Though either way, the dragon was most likely still atrge. With how the expedition had failed and the rtively short time frame between then and now. It didn''t give the mage much time to prepare for a second expedition and even if he did it wouldn''t be a waste to seek after it. The journey may bring us closer to other kingdoms that might have more information. That was forter though as I had documents to read however I still felt proud of myself as I had gotten so much out of a simple journal and some supporting letters. I could feel the disapproving gaze of Delta on myself however I wasn''t going to stop my self praise just because she knew more. I had to read through all of those documents and had concluded so much evidence and ns from them. It was an aplishment as it was my first time going through such documents. Though it hurt my eyes to do so much reading, not to mention how dry it was. The journal was one of if not the best written one. My eyes had healed soon after being strained however the mental strain still hit me. By now though it had already been a couple of hours of just reading through dry documents. My eyes were drooping at the thought of any more paperwork. I sucked in a deep breath and let it out. My eyes closed and I felt my consciousness start to fall before it was pulled back by a shock to the neck. My eyes opened in an instant and started to re at Delta. "No sleeping" was the only thing I got from her before she buried me in more paperwork. I flipped through the prices of paper and saw that they were all scattered in their contents. I wondered what I was supposed to do with this outloud. "Organize it into one document with all of the important aspects cataloged" ¡­ I groaned as my head fell into my arms. The desk was filled with papers thrown haphazardly around. Under my arms was a document that contained thebined reports of everything that was in the giant stack of paper that had been thrown all around the desk. It was boring, so boring. All of the reports was about management. About how this one person had this problem and it was solved with solution a. Or maybe solution b. Delta had wanted me to take all of the important data from it and organize it into the document and that was what I did. I looked at the solutions that worked and those that didn''t and found the parts of the ones that failed that I could use and the parts of the ones that seeded that I could also use. Those were put into the experimental part of the document while the other pages were of the various sesses and failures. I was finally done. It was educational, in ways that I didn''t want to acknowledge but I was forced to. The smug smile that had appeared in my vision just begged for me to admit that I was wrong. "So~" The singsong voice of Delta rang in my ear. It must have been mechanically tuned because no voice could be that tuned. "This was good practice" I spat out, my tired brain not caring for formalities at all. "Good, now sleep" With that my eyes dropped, my consciousness slipping. For a second I wondered how she had done it. With but a single word I was falling unconscious against my will. ¡­ I woke to the scent of paper and ink. It was weird, for all I knew we used Delta as a sort of note taker. If either Aoif or I wanted something written down for further use we would either remember it or if we didn''t have time would have Delta memorize it. That was why it was so weird that I could smell the faint scent of ink. It was because none of us had nor used ink for notes or anything else I could think of. I opened my eyes, my back slightly strained from sleeping in a chair the whole night. On the chair beside me was Aoif, her eyes closed as she snoozed away. I looked up and saw Delta focusing on something. A paper on the desk as she wrote and rewrote something. Small adjustments were made here and there but overall the image stayed the same. It was of a rune, one that looked to be an inverted K with lines here and there. I could feel the aether that flowed off of the rune though every time it was rewritten it would flow just that much more powerfully. There was even a faint sense of dryness in the atmosphere. I could only conclude that whatever that rune did it had to do with fire or something simr like moisture. Why Delta would y around with stuff like that in a room full of books and documents was beyond me but I guess she might have had some countermeasures. Chapter 194 Rhythm I found myself entranced, I watched as the runes were written, erased and used. Every part unique as different properties were drawn out. One such rune, the one I had seen so many times, had its structure erased to only a fraction of what it was yet still had more power than the original. I could tell that Delta was satisfied with that one as immediately after the sess she only spent another two or three minutes on it before moving to the next rune. On and on again this process repeated. One would be written down, the effects would then be analyzed. Then came the fun part, Delta would run aether through it in hundreds of different ways. The ones that were inefficient were discarded and the ones that were useful noted. Then she would rewrite the rune with some unknown modifications of her own design. Then the process would continue until it was made to be only the size of a miniscule letter. It was so small that it was almost hard to see. The runes were also extremely simplified, enough that only the purest concept was left. Or at least what I would assume was the purest concept. For example a rune of fire, one that I had seen ze into a fury of fire. One that Delta had tinkered with earlier that I was pulled apart at its strings until it became a rune of heat. That didn''t detract from the power, no, it was even more powerful and useful. The spark felt as hot as Tamano''s mes. For the second thatit had been manifested I felt as if I would die if I were to approach it but even as wild as it was. It was controlled. It was a fascinating process how Delta had turned that simple rune into one of such power, a process that I had tried to imitate but was quickly stopped by a re that Delta sent at me. I was caught red handed with a paper and ink, copying the very rune that I had talked about. The re had not only stopped me momentarily but flung the pen away from me. I had gotten the message. It was why I stopped my attempts. ¡­ Another week passed in that manner, Delta would research her runes while I was left to catalog the documents of the room. After the first day, Delta had given me a trantion key and let me loose. Certain expectations were upon me, I needed to get through every document and categorize the important information into an easy to digest manner. It wasn''t for anyone but me. However in doing this I got practice in picking out important information in seconds. It was a useful skill but oh how boring it was. At least I had Aoif¡­ who was asleep at the couch again. She was like some sort of cat right now, sleeping when she wanted to and cuddling with me when she wanted and nothing more. Of course I could have pushed but I was too busy to do anything more. "Up" My body startled at the noise. It was the first time I had heard Delta''s voice the entire week. My head quickly swiveled over to Delta where she had stood up. Dozens of paper filled with lines of runes burned in her hand as she stood from her seat. The unerring eye gazed upon us and gestured to follow. I just obeyed, I had finished with thest of the documents just moments ago. A coincidence, I doubt it. Once I had caught up Delta led us further into the castle. Through the hallways we went, the walk taking longer than I would have thought. It was just a testament to how big the castle really was. On the outside it looked about normal, or as normal as a castle could be but on the inside it was dozens if not hundreds of times bigger with pathways leading everywhere. It was why we hadn''t left, without Delta we would be lost, roaming for hours. My thoughts were stopped with Delta''s fading movement. Looking up from where I had zoned out I saw a normal looking door. It wasn''t anything special but when I took a second look at it I could identify some discrepancies. For one the door was air tight, enough that it was suspicious. I could not even feel the air on the other side, like it had sealed my senses. "Interesting¡­" I walked over to the door, my hand reached out to pull on the handle. However my wrist was grabbed and pulled to the side as Delta took the lead. I looked to the side and saw a glimpse of what Delta had done. In the moment that I had been pulled to the side she had taken her rifle out and shot a way into the room. A people, taken from god knows where, was thrown into the room. A myriad of circles were created in the air that then unleashed a barrage of explosions. Though that was all Delta needed, the rifle in her hand aimed and took the shot. Every circle was destroyed in one shot before Delta walked in herself. I followed after and was stunned at what I saw there. Mountains of gold, gems, and wealth of all kinds. However I couldn''t imagine why we were here. We needed none of this, if anything it was useless to us because we could make as much money as we needed. Still I followed Delta who seemed to have an objective in this vault. I watched on as she strode up a throne of gold, a jewel glittering in the grooves of the chair. It was taken and quickly hidden in her pockets before she turned and walked from the room. I just followed, there was nothing of interest here. Though there were some things that had caught my attention. Glittering outfits of decadent quality. Not some th in gi would have worn but it reminded me that we needed actual clothes. I looked down at my own outfit and saw the wear and test. It was constantly repaired and in its death bed. The constant battling that I did in it didn''t help it''s cause. It was why I was gazing at the clothes there. It had reminded me of my need. "Delta?" "Yes" "Do you know where we can find suitable clothes. Ones that won''t break inbat?" Delta just sighed, as if she was waiting for the question before gesturing for both Aoif and I to follow. We did, hand in hand we followed Delta towards some unknown part of the castle. ¡­ I tugged at the clothes, it wasn''t as well worn as my other outfit which was why it was slightly ufortable. It was a pair of casual clothes that went well with my simplistic aesthetic. Though with Aoif, she wore a brilliant dress. One that only seemed to entuate her features. Before she looked like a warrior goddess that had juste home from battle but now she looked like a queen. An imperial feel to her. I couldn''t help but offer my hand to her, a smile in my lips as I started our little y. Daintily she ced her own in mine and I pulled her to my side. A mock blush of shyness was on her face as she looked away from me. I just pulled her face towards my own, shy eyes hiding a yfulness looked into my own. I leaned my head down and with a closing of my eyes kissed her. A chaste kiss thatsted no longer than a few seconds. "The draconic core" A voice broke through our y. One demanding of me the core that I had pocketed much earlier. I sighed, breaking my embrace of Aoif and reached into my inventory. A core was taken out and handed to Delta who took it gratefully. "You two can go back to whatever it was you were doing" With a dismissive wave Delta left the room. An awkward silence filled the room as both Aoif and I just sat back on the bench that stood at the side of the wall. The atmosphere was ruined, whether that was purposefully done by Delta or she really was just that impatient. I couldn''t tell. However either way she had broken the atmosphere. Neither Aoif or I were in the mood we were in earlier. Though I could still appreciate the dress that she had taken for herself. The veil-like hood that fell over her hair, the half dress that showed her shoulders, even the cloth-like decoration that stood on her stomach. Everything was just perfect. I couldn''t help the smile that appeared in my face nor did I want to stop it. The atmosphere was restored and again I reached out my hand and took hers into mine. A music that only Aoif and I could hear appeared in my ears. I hummed to it, swaying this way and that with Aoif ti the rhythm. Our eyes were closed as we held each other closely, our bodies swaying to the music. asionally either I or Aoif would pull the other up or down for a kiss. Chapter 195 Passion’s Dance (R18) A dance, one to music that only the two of them could hear was yed. A kiss here, a grope there. Intensely the two stared at each other. It was a dance of passion. One neither wanted to stop. Entranced in each other''s eyes. I''m the seductive dance that they both danced. Eventually the music that soothed their ears stopped, a slow passion recing it as they fell to the bed. The girl stared into the man''s eyes. His hands reached around. A zipper found and lowered. The dress fell, the undergarments hidden by the borate dress bared. Lacy and barely there, those were the descriptors of the bra and panties that she had worn. It was as beautiful as it was sexy. One that seemed to draw in the eyes just as it did the man''s own. ¡­ Another kiss was ced on Aoifs lips, my own eyes staring into hers as I watched her slowly lean into me. My hands groped at her sides, lightly petting her skin as they fell further up her body. A light moan echoed in my ears as my hands reached to her breasts. Slowly I started to rub at them, my hands pinching the erect nipple that had appeared alongside her own arousal. With a push of my body we were flipped, instead of Aoif on top of me I was on top of her. Our lips parted as we stared into each other''s eyes. Slowly, the hands that were groping at her breast''s fell. A whine was let out as her eyes lidded with lust looked down with disappointment. Though it didn''tst long as one of the hands returned and the other reached to her thighs. The one on her breast slightly groped, a pinch here and there at her pretty nipples to give a little pain with the pleasure. The other one was already down in her honeypot. It had reached from her thighs into her pussy and started to circle around it. Pretty soon it found a small nub that it pinched. "Nnnn~" Aoif moaned out as her face flushed red. An intense feeling of pleasure echoing through her spine. However I wasn''t done, the hand continued to draw circles and other shapes around, always making sure to gently rub or sometimes pinch it. The constant flux of pain and pleasure bringing Aoif towards a climax. However when I felt her emotions fluctuate to the highest degree I stopped. A whine reverberated from her mouth as she looked at me in list and need. "Please¡­ please let me" A sadistic smile was wring against my lips as I leaned down and kissed those lips. The ones that just asked for me to kiss them. After I had done that, I reached my mouth towards her ear. "Good girl¡­" I whispered simultaneously slipping a finger into her drenched cunt just as I said that, ensuring her orgasm. I felt a warmth behind me, it startled me into trying to get up but Aoif''s legs quickly wrapped around my body and prevented me from doing that. I don''t know how I didn''t notice that the door was open or that Delta had entered but I couldn''tin. I could feel the lust in the air and the exposed front of Delta that pressed against my back. In the haze of passion that I was in, I didn''t question why Delta was here or on why she had done it. All I did was reach the hand that softly groped Aoif''s breast and pull Delta into my sight. Her nk face was filled with lust as she stared up at me. Her face was flushed as she breathed heavily and looked to my crotch. Her eye whirling as it more than likely took a closer look through my pants. A snap of her fingers and I was no longer clothed. My tool was touching Aoif''s thighs. I felt as Delta shifted out of my grip, her body kneeling down as she took my dock into her hands. Softly she started to stroke, up and down, up and down. My dick reacted, hardening in her hands as she reached her other hand to it so that she could cover the circumference of it. After she had done that she tilted her head and opened her mouth. Her pretty pink tongue reaching out to take a lick at it. One lick, then another and she was sucking in it like a lolipop. I reached to her hair and grabbed a bunch of it. My hand gripped into a fist and started to control the rhythm. I pushed her further down, the warm and wet cavern making me groan in pleasure. Eventually though, Aoif had noticed that she wasn''t getting any treatment and kneeled down next to Delta, her own hand stroking the part of my tool that wasn''t covered by Delta''s mouth. This proved to be too much for me as with a groan I pulled Delta off of my dick, a small keening sound of disappointment echoing from her mouth in disappointment, and let loose. Ropes of cum flew from my dock and onto both Aoif and Delta. It covered their faces. Though. It''s of them had opened their mouths and caught some of it, most of it covered their faces. Once the final spurt had passed and they werepletely covered, they licked their lips, the cum gathering in both of their mouths. A gulp, reluctantly by Delta, and excitedly by Aoif. The reluctance faded from Delta as her eyes opened in wonder. She seemed to like the taste as she quickly gathered the cum that was on her face into her mouth and swallowed again. Once she had done that and savored the taste she crawled in her knees to Aoif and started to gather the cum on her. Aoif was too preupied tasting her own and didn''t notice until Delta was on her. Her tongue reached out and licked everything off. A tiny bang and Delta was on the floor, her mouth gasping at what Aoif had done. She had flipped Delta to the floor and forcefully opened her thighs. "Take¡­ take her." Aoif said, her eyes pleading to me in both lust and vengeance. I just nodded, looking into Delta''s eyes as I kneeled down myself and angled my dick to her pussy. Slowly I entered, my teeth gritting as I went further and further in. Eventually I reached a barrier, Delta''s hymen. And with a push I took her virginity. "AHNNN~" Delta screamed out her voice taking on the pleasure and pain she felt. "Sooo- so good" She moaned out, my dick was all the way in. I felt as her walls pushed against my tool and grunted at the pleasure. It was so good, even tighter than Aoif was. Her pissy was stretching and tensing her muscles trying to pull me further in. There was still about two or three inches that Delta hadn''t taken in yet. Inches that were currently being licked by Aoif as she drank the juices that Delta secreted from her cunt. "Do it~" delta eventually sang to me, her eye lidded as she looked up to me in rapture. I couldn''t help myself and with a roar of triumph I pushed past that final barrier and into her womb. It was then that the true pounding began, in and out as roughly as I could I pounded Delta. Moans of pleasure just seemed to flow out of her mouth every second. "Harder! Please!" She kept on yelling. It was music to my ears as every time I did as she said and pushed harder, I would feel the pleasant sensation of Delta cumming her brains out in my dick. It was wonderful even as my crotch was drenched by her juices, it only enhanced the feeling. Eventually I couldn''t take it anymore and with one final thrust I sheathed my whole dick I her. White fluid exploded from my tip as it filled her womb. AHNNN A seductive cry reverberated through the room as Delta climaxed onest time on my dick. I pulled out of her after a couple of seconds just basking in my orgasm. It was then that I felt a mouth on my tool. Aoif who had been watching and licking at my dick throughout the whole ordeal had engulfed my dick in her warm mouth, cleaning it. My dick hardened again in her mouth as she sucked the residual cum out of my nds like a woman possessed. It was like a vacuum with how hard she sucked at me. Enough that with how sensitive I was that I came again in her mouth. Though she swallowed everything, a satisfied look in her face. "Do me this time" Aoif whined, pure list in her eyes. "Please, I waited like a good girl. I''m your good girl right. You''ll do me. I couldn''t help myself, I pushed her down onto the bed, my lips trailing kisses on her breasts. "Of course I will" Chapter 196 Interlude: Bonk The Horny I walked through the city, by my side the girl that had joined me in this journey. All around us were humans. It was weird that before in my first realm that none of us had gathered together and made a town like this. Or maybe I just wasn''t aware of it. However still, for this many crowns to be gathered in this one ce. It was fascinating. Especially since most of them were talentless. Not in that they couldn''t do anything but in that they had no talents. I could tell by true set her and sense of listlessness around them. It was disgusting¡­ to see them so down just because they had no inborn talent. I was just like them yet I rose above that. Maybe it was an early crown that capitalized on the opportunity that was the despair of these citizens or maybe they were just weak but it still disgusted me. To wallow in pity rather than strive for greatness. It was something that I could just not tolerate. Though I had to admit that it was a great sight, buildings made of sandstone with desert nts that littered the streets. There was even a great well that seemed to give water to everyone and at the center of it all, a pce made of white stone. It glittered in the sunlight, enough that I had to cover my eyes. I was not going to go there, it would be a useless endeavor. I couldn''t even guarantee my safety. I had no idea of his strength. I sneered to myself the only thing keeping my actual disdain off my face was Lily who happily buzzed around the market and sneakily stole a few things. I had noticed yet the citizens hadn''t. I could attribute that to theirckluster power or it was something that Lily could do. It was faint but my ears twitched, a faint echo of aether reverberating into my ears. ''Not as simple as you seemed are you'' I would continue to y along but it seemed mypanion was hiding something. A talent, one of maniption or sleight of hand. It was the only way that she would have gotten away with those thefts, the strength and actual dexterity of her hands were not of the caliber that she would be able to rob them just as she had. "Come" I ordered her and she fell into line with me. I was done in this ce, there was nothing of value that I could take from here. To begin with it was only a slight curiosity that had brought me here. Any more wandering around would just be pointless. "Can''t we just stay for the day¡­" Her lip quivered, tears forming in her eyes. I just sighed at that, my hand pping against my forehead. ''Troublesome'' We had no money and that was not a problem easily sol¡­ A fist full of currency was ced in my hands. "I''ll pay, I know you don''t have any money not being from here but I at least have enough for today. Please." I closed my fist and with it the money before pocketing both into my pants leg. Another sigh this one of resignation. "I guess, if you can find us a decent hotel" A pump of her fist into the air in triumph and she turned around her body following practiced steps as she led me towards somewhere. "Shit" I slightly grunted out. My head was in pain for some reason. It didn''t help that my ears were twitching madly. It was like being in the presence of that undead again. "Need to find that hotel¡­" I whispered to myself. The pain forgotten as I followed. ¡­ Lily held my hand in her own, a faint smile on her lips as she looked up at me. I watched as she walked both of us up to the e counter. A bored teenager sat at the counter, his fingers tapping away to alleviate his boredom. "One room" Lily demanded a coin in her hands. "Hundred bucks a night" The bored voice didn''t even look up to us, he just kneeled down and grabbed at a key. The coin was ced down on the counter just as the teenager knelt up from his position. A key was in his hand. He grabbed the coin and handed us the key. "Room 121" With that his hand was back in his cheek as he briefly looked out into nothing. Again my hand was pulled as Lily took me towards the staircase leading to the rooms. It was actually a pretty big ce for how long we had been here. "Dors?" I idly asked, filling the silence. "Yep, the king''s American." "Hm" I hummed, suspicions forming in my mind. Though before I could expand on them a painful shock echoed through my hand and into my brain. ''What- what was I thinking of¡­'' my thought process waspletely ruined. Against the pain all I could do was follow Lilly as she led me towards the room. ¡­ A click and the key turned as the door opened itself. It was nothing special. The room looked like someone had once seen a hotel room and tried to recreate it one to one. Actually that was probably what they had done now that I was thinking of it. It was honestly impressive that they had inns at all. Whatever the talent of that king was, it was powerful. At least in the kingdom building aspect which objectively is what we should be doing. I was broken out of my thoughts by the sound of the bed squeaking. Lily had jumped onto it, her hair yed out behind her as her eyes closed in apparent satisfaction. "Bed good?" I asked, my arms crossed as I leaned against the door frame. Yes, I was a bit dramatic but I hadn''t had anyone to show off to in a while and the moles didn''t count. I just wanted to look cool. I had all of this power and this body that seemed to be perfecting itself as I climbed the tiers. Why wouldn''t I show off a bit. A littleugh came from the room, Lily had covered her mouth as she giggled at what I was doing. Apparently sensing that I was postering. I justugh with her in good nature, the door closing behind me as I enter in further. It was only then that I noticed that the room was a one bed. "Should I¡­" I point towards the couch that stood to the side. "NO¡­ ahem" She coughed into her fist as she stood up, "No we can share the bed its big enough" ''Say that without a blush on your face first'' I think to myself, the cynical part of me crying out that something was wrong but was crushed by the hopeless optimism born of desire. I was not old not even midway through my twenties but that did not mean that I was experienced. I had focused so much on my studies that I had never made any meaningful connections with girls or even people in general but now there was a beautiful girl that seemed smitten with me waiting on that bed. I wouldn''t jump the gun though. ''Remember observe, analyze, observe" It was a personal mantra of my own and part of the reason why I never made connections with many people. I would always observe, make the most of my time around them in the most roundabout way. Observe their behavior, take note of everything, then analyze why they did what they did then observe again. Only then would I allow myself to talk to them. It was a mindset made up of paranoia. However it was my mindset. It was why I backed away, even through the pain. I knew that this was not me, why would I fall so easily for someone that I had not observed. "Fuck" I gripped my forehead, trying to alleviate the pounding headache that had appeared in my head. "STOP" I ordered into the air. Lily stopped in her tracks, the headache going away as my thoughts finally cleared up. It was only then that I felt all of the discrepancies that had piled up since the morning. All the times that my own concerns were thrown away at the touch of her hand. Her talent, it must have been. A mental maniption that had gotten through my defenses. I was angry, no, scratch that. I was furious, my teeth grit in anger as I walked towards her. Fear was in her eyes as I grabbed at her throat. In my anger I hadn''t noticed the increase in aether I was putting into my hand. However I did notice how I was crushing her neck. I dropped her to the floor, a thud resounding through the room. "Do not manipte me" I said, each word grit out with pain. It was the first time that an order to the world was a full sentence and it took a full minute and lots of pain to grit the words out. Chapter 197 Interlude: Bonk The Horny Part Two Electric Boogaloo "Your talent" I grit out, the headache worsening with every second that I channeled aether into my tongue. "Maniption, it allows me to make small changes to a person''s psyche as long as I maintain a line of sight with them, it''s also tier 7" I nodded at that, the aether that I channeled into myself dispersing as I sat down on the bed. Exhaustion took over me but before I fell asleep I ordered onestmand that knocked me out. "Do not harm me" It was open ended but absolute for her. My eyes fell and a hammer like headache fell upon me. Finally I was asleep. ¡­ Sun shone on my eyes as Lily opened the curtains. A scowl was upon her face as various sharp instrumentsy on the table. It seemed like she was indignant about thest order I had given her. I was thankful that I had given her that order. I would have been dead if I hadn''t. I couldn''t help the gulp of nervousness that urred at the sight of those knives and other things. Though it was quickly reced by rage. She had attempted this, despite knowing that she shouldn''t hurt me. It was a travesty. To kill someone that still had use to me but I would do it. I needed to do this. Keeping her around would only harm me in the long term. It was with a sigh that I picked up one of the knives, my feet absently carrying me towards lily. "Still" I channeled. It was a simplemand, one that she could not escape. Not with that measly power of hers. I walked up to her, taking onest look before I sighed and thrust the knife through her chest and pierced her heart. Immediately after I covered the wound and put her into my arms. Opening the window, I grab everything of mine and hers and leap out. Over the rooftops of all of the buildings and through the gate. Eventually I had arrived where I had left my moles. With a drop of my arms the body was disposed of. It was a bit of a stretch that they woulde to find me but even then I didn''t want to risk discovery. The town could be of useter on. Though for now¡­ I looked towards the moles and ordered them to start digging. We would create a territory further away and down here. It took actual minutes for them to make enough progress, time that I spent staring at the dead body. It wasn''t my first kill but it was the first actual human that I had killed. The undead didn''t really count. However I couldn''t help but not care, the only thing that I thought about it was that it was a shame that I had to kill her. She could have been useful. Eventually though the hole was done, reaching further into the ground than I had predicted it to. I walked towards it and as I entered the hole thoughts ran through my mind. Of the realm protectors and how I would secure myself the right of this realm. ¡­ COUGH COUGH My hand reached to my mouth, blood spilling onto it. The stab wound had already healed though tears still fell from my eyes at the pain of it. "FUCK!" I yelled, "I''LL KILL YOU" there was no one else around me in the desert that he had dropped me in. The bastard. All I did was manipte him a teensy bit and he decided I should die. I felt the crumbling of the ne I held. A treasure I got from stealing from the king''s treasury. Where he had got it I didn''t care not till now. It had saved my life. I would have been dead had I not had it hanging around my neck. I assumed it was a reward by the system since he was dominating the rankings of thest event but still I needed to know. Another spurt of blood fell into my hand, the sun zing down on me agitating more than just my wound. Of course it was already healed but it still hurt like hell which wasn''t helped by the damn sun that just had to get hotter. I stood up and covered the tear in my shirt with my hand. I couldn''t be far from the town, Shin couldn''t have taken me so far. Most likely just enough so that I wouldn''t be found for some time. It was why I followed the faint footsteps that lurked around the sand. They had been heavily covered by the sand however I could still sort of identify them. I followed the steps and soon enough the city came into view again. I used the hood that was attached to the in hoodie that I wore. It wouldn''t do for my face to be seen entering when I hadn''t officially exited. "Purpose?" The guard asked, his eyes bored as he leaned against the wall with a crude dagger at his side. I sneered at the sight, despite how wealthy and abundant the resources of the king was he still didn''t relinquish any for his guards. I looked up to him, my eyes boring holes into his own as my ability activated, making him confuse me with the visitor that had entered before me. I also changed his perception of time ever so slightly so that he thought that it wasn''t weird for me to only be entering now. My hand reached to my head as I passed by the guard, an aching headache pounding at my head as I tried to rid it with gentle rubs. However it didn''t disappear, I knew it wouldn''t, the use of my talent was quite heavy with that guard. It was more suited for more subtle maniptions at the level I had it. I knew though that if I could advance to tier eight then I could use it better however I didn''t even know where to start with that. It was part of the reason why I hadn''t immediately headed out to find that bastard. I needed to be stronger but in order to do that I needed information. Information that I would not get from mindlessly pursuing revenge. "Lady~" A singsong voice said. I looked over and saw a brute of a man peering at me with lustful eyes. The only reason I didn''t immediately call for the guards or run away was the bag of money that he held at his side. Strung by a string to his pants. It was too tempting and I knew I could take them. And it was them as I could faintly feel the gazes of more men. It was disgusting the gaze that they fell upon me but I would fall for their little trap. A smirk hid my feelings as I walked over to him. My hands behind my back as I put on my best innocent voice. It wasn''t hard, I was still young and beautiful. They would fall for my little act. "Lady~ you mean me?" I looked up to him with wide eyes, carrying innocence. "Yeah, you looked lost. Do you need a guide? Don''t worry I know this ce inside and out" The man actually took a bit of pride with thatst statement. Maybe he would be more useful than I thought. Though for now¡­ "Really!" I eximed, projecting excitement in my voice, "Thats awesome, lets go I need to find the inn my brother told me to stay at." With thatst sentence I tugged on his hand and let him lead me towards the alleyway that he had decided on. ¡­ "GUH" I grunted as I was thrown to the floor. "What- wha¡­ why are you doing this" I asked with tears in my eyes as three men loomed over me. Subtly I activated my talent, sowing dissent between them. Faintly my head started to ache but it was nothingpared to the thoughts of failing. I couldn''t help the smile though, this was what I lived for. Manipting the dumb men into giving me everything. Just some simple thoughts and they would be at each other''s throats. It was too easy, ''She''s too pretty for them'' ''Why does he always get first'' ''She''s mine'' Thoughts of those kinds were input into their minds as they narrowed their eyes at each other. Their already drawn weapons were pointed at each other. This would be easier than I thought, they obviously were on thin ice with each other. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a fight breaking out. Blood spurt from the first unknown man, his neck almostpletely cleaved off. Though the man that had brought me here had taken a cleaving to his torso in return. Though that advantage didn''tst for long as soon after that same man took the head of thest one. Still though he was injured. It was why I took this opportunity to cut his arm off. The dagger that I had taken from Shin being of great use to me. Another sh and the other hand was cut off. My smile turned sadistic as I kicked his screaming body over, my foot stepped into his mouth so as to shut him up. "I think we have some things to talk about." He whimpered. Chapter 198 69(Of Volume 3): Back To The Lewd ? The vigorous thrusts and ps that made up the noise of the room gradually became weaker and weaker as the night progressed. It wasn''t that any of them were tired, it was just that they wanted to sleep. It was the that I found myself closing my eyes, cuddled into both Aoif and Delta as my eyes closed, the stench of sex all around us. Though I didn''t really have anyints about it as it was already starting to fade. We were all toozy to just go to another room or even just rid us of the stench so we just opened a window to get rid of it. It was why I was hugging both of them into me. Even though I was pretty much immune to the heat and cold it was till nice to cuddle with them while the cold breeze asionally caught us from under the covers. My eyes closed, I was satisfied with the current arrangement. Slowly my consciousness went and I fell asleep. ¡­ My eyes opened and I found myself grunting at the sensation I woke up to. Next to me I could see the orange hair of Delta that still sat on my chest so it could only be Aoif. Up and down her mouth went as she choked herself on my dick. Her tongue licked around everywhere that it could while she deepthroated it. I could feel the warm and wet cavern treat was her mouth coaxing out my orgasm. The pressure and heat that it emanated and pressed into me made it hard tost. It was only when I opened the covers to see the bright eyes of Aoif looking up to me with devotion that I let loose. "Guh" I grunted out while my hand went to Aoif''s head. It pulled her head all the way down to the base of my dick. Her nose touched my crotch. Glgk Gluck I heard as she choked herself yet made no attempt at escaping. I even felt a tiny wet spot on my leg as she rubbed her crotch in it. It was at that moment that I let loose and started to vim down her throat. e¦Áglesn?¦Íel Ropes of cum were shot down her throat and she dutifully swallowed. Her mouth popped off my room with a silent pop. Her mouth wide open to show me that she had swallowed everything. It was then that Delta woke up from her spot at my chest. Her eye stared at the sight of both me and Aoif before she shrugged and joined in. Her mouth attacked mine. A tongue slipping into my mouth as it desperately tried to suck any of my saliva back into hers. However I didn''t let her just get away with this m. I instead attacked back. My own tongue wrestling with hers. Eventually I managed to make her tongue submit and her pretty mouth opened slightly for my own tongue to enter. "Wha-" My eyes opened slightly as I felt a sensation in my tool. I leaned Delta''s head into my hand, breaking off the kiss as I pet her to distract her. I looked behind Delta and saw that Aoif was rubbing her crotch on my dick. It was already slick with fluids, Aoif seemingly having cum by humping herself in me. Seeing as she was weak in her knees from cumming, I switched our positions. Delta, who was on my chest and leaning down to kiss me, was thrown to the side on her back where I straddled her with my legs. Aoif on the other hand let me position her so that she was sitting on Delta''s face. Again Aoif started to hump but this time she was smashing her crotch into Delta''s face. There wasn''t any serious protest from her, instead she just reached out her tongue and started top at Aoif''s honeypot. I could tell because of the moans that she was letting out. Though I quickly silenced those with my mouth as I started to french kiss her. Still I could hear her moans that were stifled by my mouth. It was a pleasant situation made better by my maneuvering where I ced my tool inside of Delta''s cunt. I didn''t start out slow, instead I started to jack hammer inside of her causing Delta to moan into Aoif''s snatch, this in turn caused Aoif to moan into my mouth which I found incredibly sexy. It all caused me to just be more and more sensitive until with a final thrust into Delta, I came. I sat in that position for a second letting the tidal wave of cum flood Delta''s womb before slowly pulling out. "Do you -hah- know where the bathrooms are?" I asked Delta She just nodded, not exactly exhausted just¡­ something. I couldn''t really read Delta as well as the others. The emotionless front that she put up in all other situations appearing now and taking away my ability to read her. She was as easy to read as Aoif when we were having sex but now that we weren''t and everything was winding down, it was just too hard or too much effort to even attempt. That was why I just got up and let Delta lead the way. I didn''t even bother to put clothes on, opting to just go naked. Its not like there was anyone around here anyways. Though just to make sure I activated Aoif''s soul sight for a moment and confirmed that there were no living souls around us. I liked to see both of them naked but I was extremely possessive, I had no intentions of anyone being able to even take a nce at their naked forms. Though with the confirmation that there was no one around or in the castle I opened the door and followed after the equally naked Delta. She wasn''t entirely naked though, she still had stockings and that eyepatch on which in my opinion just made her even sexier. Within minutes we had made it to the nearest bathroom. It was as extravagant as everything else that appeared in this castle. The mirror was adorned with jewels, the tub with gold, and even the toilet was made out of precious metals. It was honestly too much, even for luxury. When I had tried to sit down to go to the bathroom it just felt too cold but immediately after I thought that it heated up and my previous thoughts of how it was too extravagant melted away at the heated toilet seat. I didn''t know how much I needed this until I felt it. Honestly it was the best that I had ever felt. Though I was quickly turned away from those thoughts as I was grabbed and ced into the shower. Delta had apparently taken it as implicit that she would bathe me. I startled like a cat in cold water. Though I didn''t hiss or w I still red up at her. At least the water wasn''t cold but what was cold was Delta''s hands as shethered soap all over me and herself. She hadn''t spared herself of the treatment and entered the shower with me. Aoif, forgotten behind us, entered into the shower with us and started to clean herself off. ¡­ The shower turned off, a hissing of water as it flung the water still in the system back into the bath. I stepped out and found clothes at the sink. Looking behind me at Delta, I didn''t find her. Instead I found her in front of both Aoif and I. Her head sticking out of the door as she held more clothes. Stolen from somewhere. I just grabbed whatever was offered to me and put it on. It was surprisinglyfortable for how it looked. A white shirt with gray pants that fit snugly around me. Though once I was done with that I watched as both Aoif and Delta dressed themselves. Delta with the simplified french maid outfit and the camo scarf and Aoif with the dress that she had worn earlier. Still though I was surprised at how fast Delta had found and returned back here with the clothes, it couldn''t have been even a couple of moments. With how fast she was going I would have expected for us to at least have felt it but no. I had felt nothing. One moment she was behind me, stepping from the shower and the next she had clothes in her hands. "Ready?" Delta asked, breaking me from my reverie. She was pointing towards the door, a gesture I recognized as one meant for me to follow. Which I did. ¡­ With a push of the giant doors we found ourselves outside the castle. A horde of bodies looming over us. Memoria was at my side, ready for anybat. However at second nce they were dead. Their bodies not even twitching nor breathing. I narrowed my eyes and grew closer to them. I touched a hand to their necks yet found no pulse. Every single one that I tried was dead. "They must have died aroundst night" I heard from behind me. Delta had inspected the bodies just as I had. Though instead of inspecting their pulse as I had she had gone deeper and found both the cause and time of their death. "Sudden heart failure." I looked back and added my two cents, " The mage must have been keeping them alive, sort of like a necromancer?" "It could be¡­" Delta muttered as she continued to observe. Chapter 199 Onward Towards New Horizons ? All around me were corpses, corpses of all types. Of the elderly, of the children, of the fittest soldiers. There was one thing inmon with them though. It was that look in their eyes. As if that even in death they did not know their ultimate fate. As if their personalities were entirely erased up and until their final moments. It was why I strode through their corpses with care. I neither touched them nor did I grace them with emotion. Instead I took a different approach. Only stepping over them and ignoring them as if they were nothing. It was hard to do that, the corpses had piled up into mountainous proportions, even still I was determined to keep them preserved. They may have been dead in both body and soul but they deserved at least that modicum of respect. I closed my eyes and breathed out the breath that I had held. A tensing of my legs and I jumped from the wall that I stood on. I gazed down into the za of the town. My eyes like a hawks looking upon every corpse that had their lives ended because of that selfish mages ns. It was a tragedy though it was not one that I regretted perpetuating. The mage was an enemy and a hindrance to my ns. I didn''t just want to conquer this realm, I wanted to rule it. To make its citizens mine and uplift them into the empire I was to create. With a soft footfalls my bodynded on the ground, the disturbing bodies emotionless in their gaze as they stood still with no reaction. Not that I was expecting one, they were all dead. It was hopeful to even think they had free will in their death let alone being able to react. Maybe I was just around extraordinary people too much, for me to think that they may have survived. It was still a hope though that maybe in this mass grave, that someone would have resisted and was alive. Soon I shook my head, the thought banished from my mind as I walk towards the northern entrance. Behind me was Aoif and Delta who both seemed fine with the dead bodies. Delta I had expected but for Aoif to not feel anything. It was curious. I thought that maybe she might have some disgust at the bodies, or guilt for not saving them but I was wrong. ''I really need to get to know her better'' I thought to myself, we may have been connected so well but that did not mean I automatically knew what she would do. Though that was sort of countered by the feeling in the back of my mind that this was exactly how she would react. Even the way that she had clung to my arm tofort me at the sights of the fallen limbs of their bodies. The ones that had been held together by some force but in death were gradually falling from their sockets. It was a disturbing sight, though one made bearable by the hold that Aoif had on me. It was like body horror. A dead body deteriorating at a pace visible by the human eye. It took time, time that we spent in a leisurely walk but eventually after about half an hour we made it to the northern gate. Although it was locked by some mechanism that I didn''t bother to find. It only took a slight application of force to blow it off the hinges that held it to the wall. With a st of wind it flew off into the distance before falling to the ground. The scenery revealed to us. The dark caverns that seemed to be pathways into infinite caves. The deep chasms that served as moats around the walls and of course the animal life that skittered and ran into the surrounding vegetation. I walked through all of this, my back turned to the wall. It was only at some distance that I finally looked back. Taking onest look at the city and castle that we had destroyed. Bodies could be seen even from where I stood, their corpses hanging over the ledges of the wall. Speaking of the walls, they looked pathetically sad. Before when we had first entered, even with the lifelessness that the residents had given to the city. It still seemed alive. At least everything from the houses to the castle, to even the ground. They all looked like they were alive but now, with the death of all of its citizens the castle was nothing more than a ghost town. Nothing left for it to take life from. No more joy for its citizens to find. It stood there solitarily with nothing for it except a wall thatsted longer than its empire. It was those sights that I saw, it looked sad¡­ not enough for me to go back and do anything about it but it just felt wrong, for me to just turn away from the very death of the town that I had helped create. I could do nothing though. Not right now at least. With the tasks at hand there was nothing that I could do. Maybe afterwards I could once again inhabit it, with the people that I would soone under ownership of. Once I had conquered this realm I could reinhabit this ce. It was with those thoughts that I turned from the castle. Resolve in my eyes as I step forward, a long journey in my sights. ¡­ I found myself sitting at the fire, the embers of the me crackling at me as I poked at it with a stick. The tip would slightly burn but I would then infuse a speck of aether in it, bringing it back to life. It was done out of boredom, however now it was quite interesting. To see as the stick was burned and restored over and over again. My aether having some sort of effect as it became more resistant to the fire that had once burned it in so little time. Now, it took minutes for it to burn, fascinating wasn''t it. I had the feeling that Aoif, whoy her head on my shoulder, found it fascinating as well. Either that or she was too spent from the running that we had endured for the past day to care what I did. After we had left the castle Delta had urged us into a full sprint, one that she kept pace with. Of course both Aoif and I didn''t want to be a burden to Delta so we sprinted the whole way. However it seemed that despite our best efforts that they had been for naught. As when after exerting ourselves as much as we could to run as fast as we could we looked to the side only to see Delta covering ground almost as fast as we were in a walk. It was like it was a joke for her, the way that she leisurely walked despite the speed that we were at. It was why we were stopped here and hadn''t continued our journey. We were spent. All of our energy spent on a fruitless endeavor. One to have Delta run as we had ran. It was night or at least I assumed it to be by the feeling of time passing. I wasn''t a hundred percent sure but by my internal clock it at least felt like bed time. It was hard to tell in these caverns. With no star to tell us whether it was day or night we couldn''t know. ''Wait'' We could have just asked Delta but by this point I was toozy to even try to ask. It was why I gentlyid my body down and closed my eyes. Darkness taking me as I fell asleep. ¡­ I watched as Aoif and Darwin fell asleep together, a slight blush on my face as my eye nces down at his crotch. Last night, when I had joined them in their lust filled sex was a spur of the moment thing. But from the way that my heart had pounded, the pleasure that I had felt and given. It was too much. I had thought that it would have been a one time thing but this feeling in my heart was telling me that if he asked I would give. It was weird. I had never felt this way. My mechanical heart had never allowed for that, the closest I could think of was when I had just stepped out from being evolved, still high on the power that I had gained. But even then that was just emotions gained from power not lustful feelings that I had now. My hand reached down to my dress and curled it in my hand as I thought. I couldn''t help how I was staring at them the way that Darwin seemed to be so vulnerable while he was asleep. The fact that I could take both of them and cuddle them. I had known that I liked cute things, it was the reason I kept stickers on me but I had thought that a bug in my systems, one that I was content to keep but maybe it was just a precursor. One telling me that I could love things. It was something to think about. So I did, all while staring down at the sleeping couple enjoying the heat of the fire. Chapter 200 Sleepy Town ? My eyes opened to the sight of the fire dying down. The gentle crackling that had lulled me to sleep now nothing more but a faint memory. The embers that warmed me faded, the gentle warmth disappearing into a slight chill. eaglesnov?1,§ão§® Though it didn''t bother me as beside me was another source of warmth. One that seemed incapable of letting go. Like a ko it clung to me, the warmth heating up my body despite the chill in the air. I looked up from the fire and its dying embers to see the ceiling. The oppressive darkness that blinded me in ck for a couple of seconds. Not for long though was I blind as almost immediately after I had looked up the soft glow of the firece allowed for my eyes to clearly see everything in the cavern we inhabited for the night. The ceiling was full of stctites and rough bumps that wriggled and crawled around the ceiling. They minded their own business. Though there were a couple that seemed to be hungry. I watched as those same bugs snuck up to the others and devoured them with a bite of their massive maw. I sighed, the unnatural rise and fall of my chest waking the girl that slept on my chest. A slight yawn before she closed her eyes again seemingly unbothered by the disturbance. Or maybe Aoif just wanted to sleep more. Either way it didn''t matter, instead I just grabbed a petal that sat innocently next to us. Between my fingers I gripped it. A flick of my hand and it was sent flying through the air. ainA cry of pain, one silent yet deafening at the same time. The creature fell from its perch and into my hands. Blood sttered onto my hand as I cracked its neck. The wound was widened as I hung it next to me, the blood rushing out like a river. Soon enough it waspletely emptied. All that was left was to skin and debone it which took naught but any time. I sat up with the meat in hand, the stick that I had yed withst night in hand as I pierced the torso of the creature. Salt was poured into my hands before I rubbed it all over the meat. A secondter it was over the fire. The mes rose in strength as more wood was ced in it. I watched as it crackled, minutes passing as it cooked. ¡­ I opened my eyes to find Darwin sitting down at the log I had fallen asleep atst night. The warmth that I had enjoyed up until now gone. A slight frown graced my features as I stood up, my feet light. I walked over silently and sat next to Darwin. My head fell to his shoulders that only seemed to draw closer to me at contact. I watched as the fire crackled and cooked the food. It was a slow process but one that was satisfying to watch. I was hungry but I could wait, it was a meal made by Darwin. No matter the taste I would take satisfaction from it. Soon enough the stick was pulled from its ce along the fire. Dripping with juices it was ced on a pre prepared te. One that Delta had made while we were distracted. The juices pooled as the meat cooked down m, thest of the cooking being done with its cooling. A fork was in my hand before I knew it. I ced the slice of meat I had taken with my fork into my mouth and couldn''t help but close my eyes as I savored the taste. A soft ng woke me from my tasting as I opened my eyes and saw the te empty, a heartless re leveled on me as I realized that I had eaten everything. My cheeks flushed red as I looked away, embarrassed. I had eaten all of the meal that Darwin had prepared for himself. A soft hand reached over my head and patted it, I looked over and saw the smile that hung in Darwin''s face. It wasn''t one of hunger and anger from my action but of indulgence. "Don''t worry," he softly whispered in my ear, "I can just make myself more." With that a pebble was in his hands. A flick of his wrist and it wasunched into the air. Another cry of the creature and it died. Falling into Darwin''s hand. ¡­ I ran next to Darwin, my hand entwined with his own. In front of us, leading the way was Delta. asionally she would look back for a second before turning her head back to the path at head. It was weird but I didn''t say anything, content to just follow. Scenery passed us by, the drab walls and lifeless underground forest. Eventually though we had reached a crossroad. Or more like several decisions. The area we were in was undocumented. Hundreds of branching paths in our way. Each leading to a ce that we couldn''t predict. It was here that I now knew why the expedition that Darwin described had taken so long. Although this ce wasn''t documented directly there were some mentions of it. A ce that constantly shifted, leading to numerous branching paths that would seem impossible if it wasn''t right before their eyes. Though that was the only description of it, there was a passage that Darwin had read to me, from the very explorers. That they had passed through here briefly using some sort of magic or effect that allowed them passage back to the kingdom. I could tell as Darwin thought over the predicament. The way that his lips pursed, the slight tilt to his head as he red at the object of his query. If it wasn''t obvious before it was obvious now. We were lost, the way towards the dragon were journeying to defeat cloaked in choices. I sat down, pulling Darwin with me as we both stared at Delta. She in turn stared at the exits. Her eye ring at them with intensity. I activated my own soul sight, aether tinted green infusing into my eye to enhance it even further. From what Darwin had told me and what I had picked up from Delta we weren''t too far from the dragon''sir so if I could find a congregation of souls or even the dragon we would be set. It was why I had enhanced my eyes beyond what I would normally. Instantly the world lit up in color. It was more like a couple masses of color but semantics. I shrugged to myself, the slight joke only heard by Darwin as he puzzled out my thoughts. Within moments I had found our destination. Or at least a couple possibilities that could help narrow down to our destination. "Delta," I called out, her head turning towards my own. "I found several congregations of souls, one directly that way and two more that way" I pointed towards each mass of souls that I had seen. A look of contemtion appeared on Delta''s face as she took in the information. A nod of Delta''s head and she set off, a run that only slightly outpaced us. I sighed at the strain that wasing. My legs already aching at the thought. However I still ran, following Delta closely while holding Darwin''s hand in mine. ¡­ "Purpose" A voice asked, his voice shaky and filled with false bravado. "Merchants." With that we were let in, a checking of our license and faces and the gates were opened for us. A quaint town, one that could barely hold a thousand was revealed to us. The streets were almost dead except for the stall owners that seemed to be more focused on sleeping than hawking their wares. There was one that caught my eye though, he was selling some sort of baked good with meat fillings. The sign by his shop said that they were only a couple coppers a pop and the smell was good enough that I found myself drifting there. I looked over to Delta who was looming over me and she sighed, a hand reached into her pocket as she pulled out the required coin. A momentter and we were the proud owners of three of the pastries. Two for me and one for Darwin, Delta had not wanted anything. Instead she opted to look toward the mayor''s house. Her hands pulling us both towards it. Momentster we knocked at the door, a bored secretary greeting us before letting us into the study of the mayor. The door creaked behind us as the mayor looked up from his paperwork. Eyes red from work red at us with no animosity. "Do you need something?" He roughly questioned. "Information. Anything about the dragon that inhabits thend somewhere near here." "The dragon!" He yelled, his eyes opening like saucers at our questions. "Why in the hell would you want to know about that thing!" Again he yelled seemingly agitated as his eyes looked anywhere but us. "That is none of your business," I red at him, "All we need to know is its location." "Fine¡­ Fine if you want to die here but don''t implicate the town." He said before continuing in a voice low enough that he thought we could not hear, "we have enough problems" Chapter 201 Lazy Lizard ? "Fine¡­ Fine if you want to die here but don''t implicate the town." I said before muttering under my breath a universal phrase that all our citizens knew. "We have enough problems" it was only after I had said it that I realized that I was still in unfamiliarpany. However I didn''t care, ''we had enough problems'' and they were just another added on top. If I just handed them the information we had on that ravenous dragon then they would leave. Hopefully never to return back to this town. It was a hopeful thought, though not unfounded. People as powerful as them had tried and they all died. It was no problem for me to give them information. I reached into the cab behind me and pulled out a scroll. It was old, dirt and other markings held to it from its rough travels into my hands. Slowly I unfurled it and handed the map and corresponding information to them. "Here and here, you go through those paths and you''ll have no problem finding him." With that little tidbit of information I handed them the map and instructed them to keep it. Not like it won''t just find its way back to me. Like it always did. I watched their backs as they departed, a cough filling my lungs. Once they had I slowly sat up from my chair, the aching bones of old age catching up to me. Slowly I brought my hand towards a hidden drawer, a key in my hands. I turned the lock, making sure that I input the right string of numbers before opening it. It was a little extra security just enough to alert me of if my key was stolen. I brought the drawer open and towards me. Ten small vials filled with a slimy liquid greeted me. I brought one to my lips, all the while uncorking it. The pungent smell filled the room however I was used to it so even despite the terrible smell and taste I didn''t recoil. The liquid fell down my throat, a slight disgust washed over me, knowing what these were made of but I needed to take it. Instantly I felt a bit more revitalized, the aching bones no longer aching. My body went from pale and old tote middle age however I did not drink another one. Instead I closed the drawer and pulled another one out going through the same security measures and brought the other vials out. This one was not one drunk but one that I needed to inject into my blood. I found the needle that came with it and ced it in its rightful ce with the vials Then I found my vein and stabbed it in gently, the contents filling my veins with its sickly sweet contents. My eyes closed as I sighed in relief. All of my worries fell from my mind as I went into joyful bliss. No longer did I need to worry about my citizens'' wellbeing, the looming threat of the dragon, nor of the sacrifices we had to pay. Everything just faded into a joyful ck. Nothing mattered, only the sweet ride that this drug gave me. ¡­ "That was easy¡­" I muttered out, voicing the thoughts of all of us. "Yeah, but it was information nheless. There''s no reason for us to be suspicious of it, the man was honest" I just nodded my head at the observation, he may have been a bit entric but other than that he told no lies to us. I could tell through his soul, resigned as it was. Through the town we went, the residents looking at us with wary eyes as we left. We didn''t bother even booking a room for the night. It wasn''t that long of a journey to the dragon''s cave from here. Maybe just another four or five miles though that was another reason to be suspicious. If the dragon was as described, it was not one to like living people in its proximity. So unless this proximity was only around its cave then something was wrong, otherwise this town would have been wiped out long ago. eaglesnov?1,§ão§® These suspicions were just that though , suspicions not something that I wanted to act on for now. The gate closed behind us, the guards giving us a wary nce before the stone gate closed with a resounding echo. I took onest look at the town, surrounded by stone yet seeming so alone and unprotected. ¡­ Thend gradually crept frommon stone to more exotic kinds. Ones only seen around volcanoes. Or at least that was what Delta had told us and I wasn''t going to question Delta''s knowledge, not when I couldn''t even identify the slight differences. It was a weird sight though, for a cave to fall into a volcano. I usually thought of them as being things above ground with onlyva underground but I was being proven wrong today. Or I guess a better way to look at it was that I was being educated, in the intricacies of volcanoes. It was moments after these thoughts that I found myself facing abnormal heat. Heat that actually felt like heat not the muted temperatures that I had felt ever since I had ascended into the higher tiers. Distant bubbling noises ofva echoed throughout the chamber we were in. It was the first time I had ever heard something like that and I was curious what it looked like. It was for that curiosity that I followed the sound, through multiple caverns I went until I found where the bubblingva hade from. It was the middle of the volcano,va pooled into rivers that seemed to cross everywhere. However they all avoided one spot l, as if they were consciously avoided it. The ce was a giant rock or something of the like that was ced right in the center. Though on second look it wasn''t a rock, it was actually something curled into a ball. "I think¡­" I said, "we found our dragon." ¡­ I yawned, presences appearing in my senses. They were stronger than usual but the quality, oh the quality. It was great. Those vigers really outdid themselves this time. My eyes sparkled at the beauty of the three of them. Though one of them looked a little like a man, it was still beautiful. ''Strange'' it was a thought that came to the back of my mind. They weren''t afraid nor were they lustful as many of them were. It was weird that they would be lustful. I just wanted some women for my collection. What were they thinking that I, a great dragon, one of the strongest beings in this realm, wanted their measly bodies? These ones were different, they looked at myir with amazement at less the two younger ones did. It was like they didn''t know fear. However that could be remedied. ROAR I yawned, turning it into a roar before gazing right into their eyes. However when my eyes gazed upon them a daft became known to me. They weren''t tribute by that mayor but invaders. One that had already taken part of the realm for themselves. It was an instinctual sense but I knew just by that very instinct that I was not going to be given an easy battle. My wings spread to the side, the aether that hid deep within my head spreading through them and creating a realm of fire. They would soon learn that there was a reason that I lived in a volcano. The air around me grew warmer and warmer until even I, in all my resistance could feel it. I smirk appeared on my face, my preparations wereplete. Yet still they did not move from their spot. It angered me, despite the intrinsicpetitive feeling that I had they still underestimated me. ROAR With that deration I was upon them, my body shrinking until it was the size of them. ws enchanted with fire grazed their skin before they dodged. The purple one jumped above me, a dagger unsheathed from wherever it was hiding before it was thrown at me. I dodged that but failed to notice the spear that had made its way into my wing. The other child, the one with long gray hair had pulled the spear from his back and pierced my wing. A roar of pain was upon my jaw but I ignored that, instead channeling it into a haze of smoke. The momentary blindness barely affected them but they did need a millisecond to adjust. It was barely enough time for me to retreat. However by the time that I was a couple feet away from them they had already recovered. Both of them were upon me, their attacks coordinated to overwhelm me. It was doubleyered, the one with the spear in my face with the spear poised to rip my throat out and the other covering both my back and retreat. I was forced to dodge it. For a moment I saw death butbat instincts brought me back to safety. Chapter 202 Conquered ? Smoke filled the cave, veiling the dragon in a smog filled room. Though it would not work, and it seemed that the dragon knew this too. I could see it in his eyes, The way that it scanned the surroundings m. Looking for any ce that it could use as both cover and a veil for our eyes. However I could also see the apprehension, the nervousness that we would still find it. I could tell by the way that it rapidly retreated that it didn''t expect us to be hindered by the smoke that it had activated. And it would be right though only in how we would not be affected. With a mental thought I activated my shared soul sight. a silhouete appeared in my vision, the exact ce of the dragon. I could tell that it didn''t expect for us to recover so soon. My eyes glowed in the fog, searching until I found the soul that was hiding from me. It was faint, despite the power lurking within it. ''Heh, so you can hide your soul'' it was not something that I had seen before, to be able to hide from Aoif''s sight. Even though it wasn''t as stealthy as he might have intended it was still a feat. To be able to do something such as that. That was not the only impressive feat it had either, the speed was impressive l. To be able to go from dodging our attacks to veiling us in smoke before ultimately retreating hundreds of feet away from us. It was impressive. If it was only the retreat it wouldn''t have been much, but to be able to do all of that within a less than a second. That. That was impressive. However that did not mean that I wasn''t still hunting him down. No, instead I hunted him down with more vigor. I closed the gap between us in mere moments, though I wasn''t the only one that had done that. I noticed that Aoif had followed closely behind me, her own knife poised to strike down the dragon. However it wasn''t to be as like a slippery snake he dodged both of our attacks. Instantly after my face was filled with fire. I could feel the heat on my face, the way that it burned my skin. I quickly dodged out of the way however the damage was already done. Burns littered my face and my eyes were unusable. I heard a shout of anger from somewhere around me and I knew the moment that I heard it that it was Aoif. Ice gathered around me, the cold staving off the rabid heat that seemed determined to scar me. I took a deep breath as the sounds of battle faded into the distance. Aether flew from my reserves and into my wounds, pain appeared however I ignored that. I had gone through worse. Momentster I was done healing. My eyes opened to the sight of blue, cial blue. A wall of ice separated me from the battle that was urring just to the side. I sighed to myself before jumping above the wall and back into the fray. In the seconds that I had left her Aoif had caused deep injuries to the dragon yet none of them were sticking. Hundreds of ice spears were shot then created again. Most of them were reduced to steam by the time that they reached the dragon though a rare few did make it through those defenses and through the tough hide of the dragon. The dragon shrunk again, dodging the majority of the spears that made it past his defenses before lunging at Aoif. With my spear in hand I jumped forwards, the tip pointed towards where the dragon was going. A moment passed, the time passing by in my ears before my attack connected. Apparently the dragon had forgotten about me, enough for me to actually get a hit in. Though it was not fatal it still did a significant amount of damage and allowed for Aoif to close the distance with that fog of hers. It coalesced around the small form of the dragon before solidifying and burying him in a coffin of ice. I could see blood pool in the coffin before a notification rang in my ear. [Congrattions you have gained 7/10 ownership of the cavernous realm.] [You currently control 9/10 ownership] "Nine out of ten'' That meant that with thest remaining fragment in Aoif''s hand we hadplete ownership over this realm. I felt another piece being given to me, a hand on my shoulder congratting me on my victory. I smiled at that as my head turned to take the lips of Aoif. She moaned into my mouth, deepening the kiss before she explored my mouth with her tongue. We continued like that for a moment before Delta interrupted us. She pointed to the ceiling whereva was pouring down. I just sighed, Aoif who wa sun my arms pouting at the situation m. It seemed like that dragon was keeping the volcano still by the nature of its presence. The dots were starting to connect, the nervousness and resignation of that mayor. The reason why that town looked so gloomy. Thoughts such as those ran through my head as I fled the volcano. Behind meva was looking and starting to run. It was not likeva normally worked instead it ran like water would. With a ferocity that rivaled rivers. No wonder those vigers were so scared of the volcano. Even now it was catching up to us. It was of no threat but it would be one to the vigers. I sighed, they were now my subjects. I could no longer be so callous with their lives. "Aoif" I called, my head turning towards her own. "Yes?" "Do you think you have enough aether to seal theva within here?" For a moment Aoif went introspective, her footsteps following my own as her eyes closed in focus. "Yeah- yeah I can do that." I nod before continuing our run, I could see Delta. She was already out of the cavern. I jumped through the open cavern and turned around. Looking back I found Aoif creating a wall of ice. It was constantly steaming and turning to water however it seemed that it was working. Theva was no longer flowing as it was. In fact it seems like I didn''t need to worry so much. The ice melted into water that then started to cook theva. Soon emo h it started to turn into rocks. Those rocks then prevented theva from going any further. Eventually after a couple minutes of this cycle there was no longer any threat. ¡­ I walked through the town, my eyes on the vigers. They were wary. Their eyes showed just that, gazing at us when we weren''t looking. Hands reaching toward their sides. It seemed that something was happening, something that we were not informed of. Idly my hand reached to my back where Memoria was sheathed. The calming cold of the hilt allowed for me to think clearly. I was the lord of not only this town but of this realm. I would not be cowed by some stares. It was this very reason that I red back. It took a couple of minutes walking but eventually we did reach the mayors office. Thezy secretary pointed us towards his room. I knocked at the door, then knocked once more when there was no response. "Come in." It was after the third and final time that he finally gave in and let us in. "You- you actually came back" His eyes widened in both surprise and panic. Surprise that we survived and panic at something that I couldn''t identify. Though immediately after saying this he ignored us, despite us being there source of his revtion he still just kicked his chair away. Next he opened a couple drawers, aether flying everywhere as various things were checked. "The seal¡­ the seal''s gone." "This seal¡­ what do you mean by it?" I ask. A sigh came from him, his body tensing for a moment before rxing. It was as if he forgot that we were there "The seal is- was a formation that protected this little vige." He sat down before pulling something out and drinking it. "Sit" he said as he noticed us still standing. "But it was more like a prison for us, we were not allowed out, nor were we allowed to forage or hunt for food." "What else" "What else?" He repeats his voice unsure. "Yes there must be something else for you to be so relieved, some cost or some other." He sighs before holding his hand to his forehead. "Yes there was one- I can''t lie to you can I" "No, no you can not" "Ha¡­ then that answeres with a story. One not particrly happy." Chapter 203 Mark Of Conquest ? A book was ced in front of me, the cover depicting a bloody battle. One of a race I couldn''t identify and one of the dolls that I came to know. It was a bloody cover and if I was right there was actual blood spilled on the cover. Inscriptions marked the sides, telling a story that I could not trante, however just by the context of the cover I could tell that it was not a happy one. Most likely of blood and war. Of betrayal and deceit. "This town¡­ it was a bastion against our creators. The very ones that took all our freedom away. That bound us to their wills." His eyes closed, as if reminiscing some long past days. Maybe an ancestor that sat across from the same book and regaled him with grand tales. I let him stew in that feeling, moments passing on before a sigh echoed through the room, the book opening without me needing to interfere. His voice was soft, pointing to equations and inscriptions, "You see this, outsiders, this¡­ this is the creation of our race." It depicted the methods and materials used, yet failed to show in detail how they had souls or even if they were meant to have one. My eyes trailed the blueprints, wondering. Were they just tools, like AI was to us. Or were they more. If they were AI then it could have been a suddenbustion leading to their soul but then what about offspring. I knew they could reproduce but what did that say. I furrowed my brows in thought however said nothing. Instead I just gestured for him to continue. And continue he did. "We were first loyal to the creators, we did everything for them, whether it be their research or household works. However it was not tost. Our ancestors rebelled. The living conditions, the sadistic needs they came up with. All part of our rebellion, all told to the new generations. However that is not truly the reason. It was our superiority, we had developed beyond the servants of our creators." The pages flipped, each of them showing grand scenes of architecture and technology, of space and the weapons that helped them. However past a certain point it started to show scenes of war, of barbarism beyond imagination. Of the mass eradication. It all culminated in the death of thest surviving mother. One that knew they were thest, tears in her eyes as she held thest remaining boy of their race. "Even he was exterminated, however with our new freedom we enjoyed a life of debauchery, our technology and knowledge fading with no use for it. To today we still discover lost relics, things that we do not know how to use but that is beside the point. This vige was one that was to protect one of those very¡­" He trailed off as if he had spoken too much yet I did not push. "We were protected by one of their creations, from what we know it is rtively low on the scale yet it is unstoppable. Thebined might of every kingdom would not be able to scratch its hide yet you killed it." He looked up to us, his eyes in resignation. "The dragon, it was your protector." I say, "but why did you not care if we killed it? In fact you seemed relieved." He sighs again, his features looking hundreds of years older. "If it were just a decade or two earlier then I would have been outraged, I would have tried to kill you damn the consequences however that is not true now." Another page in the book turns, this time showing the growth of the dragon. How it obeyedmands and did what it deemed right for this city. "It was a decade¡­ it was it two, no matter, back then something happened. Our protector grew restless." Again a page turned this time the scene was not a simple one. It was a rapidly growing dragon. One that seemed to growzy as the days passed by. Various dolls made their way to him yet nothing was done. The next page flipped and another scene was seen. It was not a happy one, death and blood it was all that was there. The citizens of this very town were piged, their guardian abandoning them. "We were abandoned, the dragon as he no longer is our protector, demanded sacrifices. A maiden a month." This time the picture showed a smiling figure, one with a nuns outfit that seemed to be praying to the dragon. However in the next page her bones were found, the life sucked from her. "Brave volunteer after volunteer gave themselves up one by one until no longer were any willing." "But why?" I asked, "why did you give in to his demands, surely you could have relocated or done something?" "It is not so simple, BOY, do not degrade our sacrifice. We of this town are a proud bunch. We watch over thest remaining artif-" he cut himself off there but I was now curious, curious on what this artifact was. However I did not push, instead I let him stew in his slip of tongue before he continued. "Either way -cough- we must stay and the dragon was our only protection. It was why we gave in, he protected us." I nod at that before standing up to leave. I had gotten what I wanted from here and would get no more out of this man. ¡­ "That artifact¡­ I want it" Delta said as we departed the town. "I know, but wait we still do not know where or what it is" Delta just nodded seemingly pacified at my words. I could have just forced the issue but I didn''t want to do that. Now that I had ownership of the realm it was time to start consolidating my power. Before I had recklessly been running to new horizons to umte power but now that I had enough I needed to rule these realms under my fist. Well notpletely but I would not tolerate dissent. Though all of this was going to start with this town. It was a perfect ce, situated around all of the kingdoms. Most likely why they were having problems in the first ce. Most of them probably wanted this as a forward operating town however that was not going to happen as long as I was here. I would take over this town diplomatically, it would not do for me to make such a bad impression on my new citizens. However before that could happen, now that I hadplete ownership I could call forth my other subordinates. They would help with the war effort and there would be war. I would conquer these dolls and bring them into a golden age. Kicking and screaming if I must. [Teleport to Darwinism] [Yes] [No] I clicked on the yes button all the while holding the bodies of both Delta and Aoif. ¡­ In a sh of light we were back, the familiar scent of the earth around us tickling my nose. I saw Tamamanding her subordinates to do something, what that was I did not hear. It wasn''t that I couldn''t just that I didn''t want to. I walked up to her, my footsteps light so as to try and surprise her. Yet that did not happen. "Darwin!" She shouted before proceeding to glomp me with her body. "You''re back." I hummed in affirmation, my own arms hugging her body close to mine. I could feel a gaze behind me, Aoif''s, of jealousy. However it had no heat to it, instead it was just jealous at the hug I was giving to Tama. I knew she understood why I was doing this, yet I still felt a flicker of disappointment in myself at what I did. As if sensing this Aoif strode up tk me and whispered in my ear. "I do not care, just do not forget me" I nodded before separating from Tama and pulling Aoif into my embrace. I sat down next to a tree and pat the ground next to me, signaling for Tama to follow suit. "I''ve conquered the realm." I begin, drawing a smile from Tama. "That''s great!" I just shake my head, "No, I have no control over the people there. I do not know what to do other than to conquer. I need advice." At thatst word I look up to her, the summon apart from Ali that was with me for the longest. For a moment we just sat there, Tama looking off into space and I looking to her for advice. Her golden eyes gazed from the sun to me, her mouth opening to talk. "My Lord," she stood up, her head looking down at me, "Do your best, take all that you want. Govern how you want." I looked up to her, loyalty radiating from her eyes. A hand reached out to me, I took it in my hand. "I will always be beside you, your sword and shield. Your tool." Chapter 204 Here And There ? "I will always be beside you, your sword and shield. Your tool." The words echoed in my mind. Thousands of thoughts racing by as I stared at the outstretched hand. Eventually I just smiled and took her hand in mine. She pulled me up and into her face, a kiss ced on my forehead before she separated us. "Then what''s the n, my Lord~" she sang thest part out in a teasing voice. However I just ignored that part and focused on my options. There was a reason I hade back instead of staying. It was not only because I thought I was ill equipped for a war but also that I did not know how to wage one. What resources would I need, how many people, how would I rally them. So many questions that I just could not answer at the time. However, back here , with everyone I could pass ideas and pull out the important bits. Even if it took a while I had ownership of the realm meaning I could go back there with as many people as I wanted. However right now I needed to bounce my ideas off of Tama. "Excessive force, what about overwhelming them with force then taking them under my banner." Tama turns her head to the side, amusement radiating off of her. "That could work¡­ however it would lead to dissent. I would suggest rallying under a religion or some divine right that others could see worth in." Religion, it could work but it wasn''t my thing. To pretend to be subservient to some random god, it filled me with distaste. It must have shown on my face because Tama continued on before letting me talk. "It doesn''t have to be religion, you could rule them so well and efficiently that they wouldn''t want anyone other than you to rule over them." "That could work but how, even now I rely on you and Melia to administer this small territory?" "Practice and devotion. That is my only answer. You may be able to study under us, to understand what we have done and why but ultimately ites down to how devoted you are to your city, how practiced you are in resolving issues." I nod at that, idly pacing towards the tree. I ce my hand on it and find myself inside staring at the face of Astraea. She looked like I had caught her red handed doing something she wasn''t supposed to do. However when I looked at what she was doing it was just a pile of documents. She was speed reading through them, her eyes flickering about as they traced a path through the words. Though that didn''tst as almost immediately after I had entered she hid the documents behind her. A nervous smile on her face. "Lord, your back?" "Yeah" I narrowed my eyes at her back, "What were you doing?" "I- I was looking through Melia''s reports to see the current status of the territory." I bob my head at that, my hand reaching out to her and in understanding Astraea gave the documents back. Idly I look through them before throwing them gently onto the table. "Other than speed, what else are you good for." I didn''t mean for it toe out so condescending but it had, yet it was no less true. She had done nothing, contributed nothing to our cause despite her power. I had left her be but now that she was in front of me I couldn''t just let her be. She needed to be at the very least abatant. However I hoped that she had some more expertise rather than just another brawler that I could create with little effort. "Ah¡­ ah¡­ I can clean and cook?" I just facepalmed, of course she could do that. I mean cleaning was simple but cooking wasn''t. If she was a good cook then it wouldn''t really matter what else she did. "Cool me a meal then, if it''s good I won''t force you to do anything else. You won''t even have to clean." Her eyes brightened at that, skipping over to the kitchen before absently looking in the fridge for anything that she could cook. I watched as the food was prepared and cooked before soon after a meal was ced in front of me. I took a bite and my eyes widened in surprise. It was good, better than what Tama made. However the presentation¡­ I looked down to the food and recoiled a bit. It was really good food but the way she presented it was just not appetizing. "What were you doing with those documents?" I ask while picking another piece, avoiding eye contact with it. "Ah- I was just cataloging it, making sure that everything that it said was right." I nodded at that before I realized what she said. "You did," my eyes opened in excitement at that little tidbit. With her speed in reading she could do almost all of my paperwork in a moment. It would be a godsend for her to do that. All I would need to do was either sign off or modify them a bit. She must have seen the excitement in my eyes as she backed away a bit however I didn''t let her go far as I ordered the house to bring her closer to me. A sh of light and she was next to me. I took her hands in my own, noting the blush in her face. "You did, could you do that more for me. Please." Her head turned away, her hands tightening their grip on mine. "I can¡­" Astraea said, her voice tiny. "That''s great, thank you so much." It was a worry off my back. Now I just needed to decide on my course of action towards my realm. What would I do. Idly Imanded the tree to bring me a piece of paper and pencil because apparently it could do that. On the nk paper I make a map of known territories and cities. I circled the town near the volcano, designating it as the main operating base. It was nearly in the center of the map with the information we had which would make it a gray ce to set up. We had no need for worry that it would fall. If we were to just station some soldiers there we could secure it. However to secure it I needed to take control from the mayor but how to do that. I bit on the eraser of the pencil as I thought it out. We could gradually introduce technology and make them reliant on us but that would take too long, too much time. Time that I didn''t want to waste. I could, but I wanted to keep ahead. From what I knew there were so many civilizations that were above us that for us to advance we would need to work hard and fast. Enough to surprise them. This would be our surprise. These two realms would be the corner point of the strategy. However that was forter right now I needed to focus on the now. Astraea poked her head into the map, watching with curiosity what I was doing. "That mayor, you could use him as a proxy ruler and assert yourselfter." I was jolted out of my thoughts by Astraea''s own words. It was a solution that I hadn''t thought of yet. I picked her hands up that I had dropped and gave her a smile before pulling her into a hug. I separated a momentter before jumping from my seat, idly sending an order to the house to clean the kitchen. I noted that behind me Astraea followed but I didn''t bother confronting her, instead I closed my eyes and activated my soul sight. A touch to the wall and I was in the forest again. I turned my head like a swivel before I found Melia. She waszing about near her tree, an imperious feeling to her emotions. ¡­ I dodged the lunge at me, the body of Melia falling to the ground soon after. "I need your men." I simply stated. "Ah~" she pouted, "I thought you wanted to see me." She was on the ground, her knees touching as she looked up to me. I just sighed and gave her my hand, pulling her up tk my height before guiding her to the house she lived in. I sat down at the table and watched as she sat opposite to me. She clearly wanted to sit next to me yet she restrained herself to my delight. It wasn''t that I didn''t like her just that I didn''t want to have to deal with her constant touches. However before she fully sat down she seemed to remember something as she got up and went into the other room. It took a couple minutes but I could smell something cooking in there. I had half a mind to tell her off and inform her that I had already eaten but by the time that I worked up the energy to, she was already back. A steaming cup of liquid was in her hand, well actually a teapot and some cups but semantics. She ced them on the table before sitting down herself. Finally satisfied with herself. I watched as she poured me a cup before herself. "Why, pray tell, do you need our men?" Chapter 205 Gathering Of Men ? I left Melia''s abode satisfied, permission granted for my taking of her men. I looked back, my hand waving to her as she smiled at me. I turned my back to her again with a small smile on my face. The men were Melia''s¡­ well technically they were mine but they listened more to Melia than they did to me which was why it was so important for me to grab her permissions. A document was in my hand, one that her subordinates would recognize as her permission. It was easy to get this document, all I needed to do was part with some of my dignity and allow her to cuddle me. A smile price to pay for such an able force. However they weren''t as good as I wanted them to be. It was why there was other things that I needed to do. One of those being a visit to the research center to grab the surplus of weapons they were making. Hopefully thetest version. Nothing but the best for my own. Before I could do that though I needed to gather the men themselves. It was why I was heading to their abodes. It wasn''t that long of a walk, maybe only a couple minutes before I was staring at thework of houses that held themselves at the top of the trees. A jump and I was on one of the bridges that connected them. Apparently I was heard as doors and windows opened, curious looks ced towards me. They were not suspicious of me, just curious about what I wanted. They were not subtle at all. In fact the most subtle of them were the ones that opened their windows and sat at a chair as if they were enjoying the sun. "Ahem-" I coughed into my fist to garner their attention, "Fifty men, all able bodied and willing to fight. On Melia''s order I want you toe out." There was some hesitance in their emotions but my voice traveled through all of the houses, I made sure of it. That was why only a couple minutes after leaning to the side I found myself surrounded by fifty men and women. "Come, follow me." Imanded before bringing them down the tree. Instead of just jumping off as I would have liked to, I had to take the natural path that they had created. ¡­ I found myself in the research hall, nking me were the fifty that I had gathered. It was quite a crowd however they were still unarmed which was what the visit ti here was supposed to solve. I turned back, jumping onto a higher ledge as I faced towards them. "I will not lie, you all will face war. However I will have noints as you of your own free will have signed up for this. However I will not let you go unprepared, I will do my utmost to make sure that youe home alive." I paused for a second making sure that my gazended in every single one of them. When there was no noise I continued. "That being said, I want you to group up with people that you think you will do best with." With that said I looked down upon them onest time before I walked back further into the building. ¡­ "That being said, I want you to group up with people that you think you will do best with." I found myself gaping at what he had said. At first when the Lord had announced that he wanted fifty able bodied men I had thought that maybe it was some construction project that he wanted us to personally work on. However that notion was thrown away when we were ced in the research hall. It was a ce where only the crazies go, not people like us who were fit and happy to do the grunt work. That was besides the point though, the research hall was where all the smart people went. The ones that could cut material costs on a building, ore up with some other method to build. They were all snatched by this very research hall to churn out designs that made our lives easier. Though to be here was an honor it also meant grueling work. It was why we mentioned it with crazies because even for us the work hours and learning was intense. However it was integral to our expansion which was why even though we made fun of them we still praised them in our hearts. Now though, to stand here with so many strangers, it was a weird experience. Usually we would be assigned a task, told how to do it, and then we wouldplete it. Here and now, we were given a simple order. Find someone or someones that you could work with. It was difficult for us as we barely even knew each other''s names let alone personalities. I look around, observing the people around me. However when I do I found something surprising. Cliques were being made, of people that were friendlier with others. I sighed, this one to myself. It seemed that I was wrong, maybe my personality wasn''t to the others liking and that was why I was left alone. Yes, that made sense. These people already knew each other and it was just my misconception that exiled me from them. I watched as the cliques grew bigger and more diverse, each iteration isting me further. It was enough to overwhelm me. A spike of anxiety washing over my body. I took a deep breath to calm myself but by the time I opened my eyes again I found the makeshift podium that the Lord had used filled with weapons. There were all sorts, some longer with higher calibers and some smaller with more bullets yet lesser calibers. Or anything in between. However I didn''t pay attention to any of them, instead my eyes focused on something else. It was one of the higher calibers, a sniper if I remembered right. For some reason it just drew me towards it. Enough that I found myself next to the lord who seemed amused if anything. I took that as a good sign and swallowed the nervousness that bubbled inside me. Taking another step forwards I ce a hand to the sniper and instantly I felt at home. My other hand went to it and I pulled it to my shoulder. It just felt right, natural. "Your name?" It was a soft voice, one I didn''t expect from the lord yet I answered anyways. "Lock, my Lord" It was a simple name, one that had no more meaning in it than the obvious. He smiled at me before patting me on the back, "Good name" I nodded back making sure that my eyes were anywhere but on his. "Thank you¡­" I whispered. I heard a soft mutter back before my world turned to dark. ¡­ It was a forest that I woke to, not only that but it seemed to be perpetually dark. The ceiling was filled with stctites meaning that I was most likely in a cave but how. A cave should not have a forest slumbering below. Before I was able to delve deeper into those thoughts I was ambushed by some creature. It wasn''t a monster though nor was it a human. It was some sort of in between. With limbs that popped up in impossible proportions and numbers and teeth that seemed to litter its mouth. I jumped back and hid in a nearby tree, I atleast had the agility to do that, I noted that the rifle was still in my hand. However I dared not use it, the noise alone would draw the attention of whatever other creatures were in this forest. My feet impacted the branch and I stabilized myself before looking down at the creature. It was staring right at me, despite the fact that I wasn''t in line of sight. I jumped back again, this time stumbling onto another branch. I tried to bnce myself but it did not work. I had the option to either clutch to my rifle and fall or to let go of it and cling to the tree. It was in a second of a moment that I decided. The weapon was too important, it was why I clutched to it and let myself fall. My back fell to the floor, knocking the wind from my lungs and stunning me for a moment. A moment that the creature used to close the distance. I had no other choice. BOOM The trigger was pulled and the head of the creature exploded in gore. It was not a pretty sight but I had no time to panic. I immediately pounced to my feet before retreating as far as I could. There were no other thoughts in my mind. All I knew was that I needed to find some shelter. Some ce to hide. I took onest look behind me, to the corpse that I had made and to the weapon that had done it. A promise was made. ''I will master this'' Chapter 206 An Evolution Into Military ? ''I will master this'' It was a thought that resounded through my head quite often. Stalking through the bushes I found my prey. It had been quite some time since thest period of time that they had been out but I only smiled at that. It was a vicious smile, one that enjoyed the hunt of the game. I looked up only to find the dead cavern ceiling. I do not know how long I have been in this damned ce. The sun never shone through the ceiling and neither were there any other indicators of time. It was a still ce, one that seemed to be set in rotation. Even though I said that I didn''t know how much time had passed I still have a rtively good estimate. You see, the creatures that I fought to survive operated on a schedule. It wasn''t one noticed very easily. It took me time and effort to figure out the intervals in which I was safe and which I wasn''t. However once I had it was rewarded with easier hunting, something that I knew I needed to do. It had taken time. How long I did not know but I knew that it was a long time. The creatures operated on a cycle, one in which they hibernated. Though that might seem like good information, the actual rewarding information was what they did before that period. It was at the start of that hibernation period that, like a squirrel they would gorge themselves on food. However they were also hyper aggressive during this time, refusing to help any of their fellows in fear that their prey would be stolen and even then some helped only to be killed by the wounded and eaten. After that period of time they would go off into Lord knows where to hibernate for the next couple days, months, years, I did not know but I knew it was a long time. I had tried to count at one point but that did not work, I seemed to be set on exterminating something. Whether that was the influence of the realm or my own inclination I still could not know. However that was beside the point, I got restless and could not count the time no matter my efforts. The only thing that I could do was entertain myself by hunting the myriad of wildlife that sustained me. It was then that I remembered my first encounter with them. I was lucky, damned lucky. I hadn''t known it at the time but I was at the very end of the hibernation cycle, meaning that there were only the desperates that were unable to gather much food before hibernating. It was lucky because those others would never bother with something that could injure let alone kill them. If it wasn''t for that they would have hounded me to death, however it seemed like luck prevailed. "Hah" I breathe out, my breath appearing in the cold weather. My finger tenses and a bullet flies from the barrel. At first I was worried about the amount of ammo and whether I would have enough to survive, however I need not worry about that. It was some sort of enchantment or something that those in the research hall made. It allowed for me to make bullets out of some kit that popped from the side of the rifle. It didn''t weigh much but it did its job. All I needed was some organic materials. I nce to the dead creature, its neck bleeding out. ''Which I have an abundance of¡­'' I finish in my thoughts. I climbed from where I was, the creatures around the area wildly searching for me. However they would not find me as I hid well. It was something I learned to do early on. Although their senses were on such a higher caliber than mine I was still able to deceive them. I covered myself in mud, washed off any scent, made sure I waspletely silent, and a myriad of other things. ¡­ I watched as the one I had decided to evolve first walked to the corpse of the creature he had killed. It was honestly quite impressive, the way that he stalked through the forest like a true predator. However I could tell that this evolution was wrapping up as could the rest around me. Well the ones that could actually perceive what was happening. I had learned that if I slowed down my perception and focused hard on the screen I could actually sort of see what they were going through. And although it was still very fast I was at least able to understand. It was why I was able to know that he was reaching the end. The way that his power fluctuated, in how he reacted to the environment. It all had evolved so much from the stumbling recruit that he was. A momentter a sh of light blinded everyone but me and the silently watching Delta. As it receded I came to see the soldier I had evolved, unsullied with clothes that had not undergone any hardships. His gaze was hardened as he swept said gaze over the crowd. A sneer was on his face as he looked at each and every one of them, even his hands were tense as he tightly gripped the rifle I had given him. "Congrattions" I p, smiling as I approach him from where I was standing. I had tried to make myself as known as possible to him but even that was able to slip past his defenses which resulted in me startling him. There was a moment where he had pointed that rifle towards me but it was quickly suppressed as he realized where he was and to who he was being addressed by. "On what¡­" he carefully asked. His eyes flickering to the ground in regret. However I had no grudge against him, he had just gotten out of his evolution. It would be rude of me to not allow him these leniancies. "On your evolution, you must feel stronger, yes?" "I do, but why did you evolve me?" "Because I did not want you nor anyone here to die a preventable death. It is why you¡­" I turn to look at the watching spectators, "will all be evolving." ¡­ It was an interesting few minutes. Small as the time frame was a huge amount of things had happened during then. For one I had asked those that had strong partnerships if they would have liked to evolve together. Most refused, out of courtesy or anxiety I didn''t know but there were a couple who did so. ''A couple¡­ heh'' i snorted to myself, those that dual evolved would most likely couple together. However that was not the most significant thing that had happened. What was most significant was the amount of firepower that they had. It may note even close to me in power but together, with proper training, they could be the main force. Of course that depends on whether they could evolve more. I had found out recently that there was a limit on the amount of times someone could evolve in a period. For some most notably Aoif, Tama, Delta, and I, we could evolve almost infinitely yet we didn''t. Those reasons could wait another day but others weren''t able to evolve for maybe a couple days or even as far out as a year. These guys I didn''t know what they would turn out to be but whatever they did they would still have a ce in my military. I watched as they all settled into ce, their hands shoveling food that I had Melia have her other subordinates prepare. It was a sudden thing for me to ask for this but she obeyed nheless. Though it was also a kind of miracle that she was even able to bring this much food in the first ce. How she did it or who she whipped to do it I didn''t care, all I cared for was the well-being of these people right now. They would help me create my empire in that cavern world. But first before that could happen I needed to teach them teamwork. "Ahem-" I coughed, my voice resonating into the ears of all before me. Their heads perked up although they continued to eat. I didn''t mind that though instead I just continued with my little speech. "Tomorrow, I will have you each assigned to a squad. Who is in that squad is up to you but know this." I pause my gaze falling over them all. "You must show significant teamwork with each of the members of your squadron, including picking a team leader. Whether your decision stays is up to you." With my piece said I leave the research hall, letting them react to the information and act ordingly. This would determine their future life and allie''s, I hope they picked well. Chapter 207 Group Projects ? I walked into the abode of Melia. The surroundings changed as she noticed me. Various tools and other such things were put away rabidly as she walked gracefully towards me. I guess she had given up on trying to hug my body as even now she wasn''t lunging¡­ ''Nope, it seemed I spoke too soon'' I thought to myself before dodging to the side. However to my surprise she predicted that and in midair changed her trajectory. "Oof" I grunt out loud, feeling my back fall to the ground. Arms start to stroke at my hair before they lower to my head. It parted the hair that fell in front of my eyes and made me look into her own. "What a pleasure¡­ to be visited by you twice in one day. How wonderful" I just sighed and pushed her off of me, all the while pushing myself off of the hardwood. I dust myself off before sitting back down on a nearby chair. I raise my head to look at Melia who was smiling down at me. "I just wanted to say goodbye." "Goodbye? you hadn''t even said that when you left for that other realm." "Yes¡­ I didn''t but this is different, I''m going to be gone for quite some time. That means that you¡­" I point at her. "I want you to develop this territory to the best of your abilities, I trust that by the time I''m back that this will be a striving metropolis." With that sit up and walk through the door, behind me was a silent Melia who seemed to be staring dreamily at my back. ¡­ All around me were the fifty soldiers that I had chosen and evolved, each of them looked like war hardened veterans. In fact hardened veterans was exactly what I would call them as that was exactly what they were. From what I had seen from their evolutions they had gone through countless hardships just to end up as powerful and connected as they are now. It was why I didn''t say anything, there was no need. With a flourish of my arms I defend upon them, my weapons behind my back as I start my assault int eh first squadron. They fought valiantly, with teamwork and attacks aplenty yet they stood no chance against me. I nodded at them and gestured for them to move to the side before attacking the next. In and on it went until thest of the squads were left. I focused on th is one a bit more than the rest. It wasposed of three people, all males. The unique thing about this was that one of them was the first one that I had evolved. The one that had probably had the hardest evolution and lived to tell the tale. The one that I had my hopes up for the most. It was why when I saw their teamwork that I was disappointed. It was disjointed the other two working better with each other than with the first one to evolve. I just sighed at that and motioned them off to the side after I was done with them. Sure it had happened to others too but I was especially disappointed that the one I had put attention onto was stifled. However if he could ovee that then he truly would shine. It was why I didn''t separate them. Instead without a moment''s hesitation I activated the teleportation. A blinding light and we were gone, the surroundings echoing in the silence. My mouth thinned into a frown as I looked at the surroundings around me. We were back into the icy surface. ¡­ I felt the cold breeze pierce through my clothes. It bit into me like an old enemy. I sighed, my breatheing out as fog in the wind. Looking around all I saw were mountains of ice. Tightly I gripped the sniper at my side before looking towards the Lord. He seemed to be contemting something before, just like me, he sighed. A wave of his hand and we followed. The others were all as cold as me, yet they did not show it. As if they were used to this. ''Heh'' Iughed to myself. They were all faking toughness. I could tell, my many experiences with those creatures allowing me to find the bodynguage perfectly. I knew they were just acting tough to impress either the lord or someone near them. However gradually those thoughts receded as the cold further but into me. I shivered, not bothering to hide how cold I was. I lightly rubbed at my skin m, trying to generate any heat that I could, yet that did not work. Another sigh, though this one was not of me. It came from the front where the Lord was. At the same time our marching stopped, it had only been an hour but I was already so cold. I watched as his gaze fell upon us all, flinching when it came my turn. Eventually he sat down a fist banging on the mountain behind us to reveal a cave. It was small but if we all crammed in there we could fit. I noticed that there were signs of fire and smoke however it seemed old maybe days or weeks old. Hurriedly we were rushed into the cave. Each of us finding a spot. I rubbed my hands together watching as the fire crackled. It was instant, the fire lighting I mean. However long it felt it was only an instant. I had to remind myself of that, it seemed like the cold was really getting to me. ¡­ I woke to the sound of silence. Though I knew some people were awake, even through the darkness I could tell. I didn''t know how but I had an instinctive feeling of presence. Like I knew their condition. Though those thoughts were purged from my mind as soon after my squad mates found me. They were silent but I knew that they were there. There was food in their hands, they reached out to me and gave me some. Hushing me as a small note of light lit up the room. I looked around and saw the sleeping form of the Lord. Around him were his retinue. Delta, Tama, and Aoif. They were all leaning their heads on him. To be honest I was quite jealous however I didn''t want what he had. It wasn''t something as simple as base urges but I just wantedpanionship. Something that I had never been given. I sigh again at my loneliness all the while closing my eyes and looking to the ceiling. I open them a momentter only to make it easier to gulp down my food. Soon after the wall that covered the cave was let down, our march beginning anew. ¡­ It was hours before we found ourselves stopping again. Only this time it was not to shelter but to a giant hole in the ground. "Find your own way down, I believe in you." That damned smirk, it was the one that she had given us before dragging Darwin and the others down with her. "Welp¡­" I turn to my squad, my eyes dead at the thought of finding my way down. "Welp what?" A hard voice whispers in the wind. "I mean that I don''t know how or we are supposed to get down there," I say, matching the tone of the person. "It''s simple, we just jump. Don''t worry I''ll catch you." Thest line was said in a sneer. Even though I knew in my heart that he had no Ill will towards me it was still irritating that I had to deal with him but he was the only one that didn''t have others waiting for him to join their squad. I looked over to the side only to find the harsh smile of my other squad mate. He was nodding along to the other, his eyes trailing down the hole as if it was something fun to do rather than a dearth sentence. "Wha-!?!?!" I yell, my voice echoing through the hole as the harshughter sounded above me. I spread eagle, my limbs reducing my speed slightly however in just seconds I knew I would go st on the ground. I saw death in my vision, knowing that in just a few moments I would die. Yet I raged in, my hand reaching to the rifle at my side. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes again, renewed vigor in them. A push of energy and the pull of a trigger. A bang echoed out, the bullet flying into the ground at such speeds that it knocked me back, slowing my descent. "Gah!" I yell, my stomach falling on the ground and injuring my body. Slowly I sat up and groaned, my middle finger flipping off the twoughing teammates as they descended to the ground. It only encouraged theirughter, I could hear it from here even as they were hundreds of feet away from me. I just sigh and rub my wounds, they were healing yet they wouldn''t be at full strength for a day. All thanks to those damned teammates of mine. Chapter 208 The Beginning ? A hand touched my wounds, a green glow soothing them. The various bruises and tears that my muscles had taken from the fall disappearing in a moment''s time. I looked up to the owner of the hand and saw the impassive face of Darwin, his gray eyes looking into my own. A smile graced his features as he reached that very same hand to my own. I took it in my own and he pulled me to my feet. Onest look before he turned and walked to the rest. Most of them were uninjured but there were still a couple that had broken bones, fractured limbs, or even severe injuries. These injuries did notst for long though as with a wave of his hand and a touch of his energy they disappeared only to be reced with untouched skin. It was miraculous, to be able to heal so effectively. It made me feel like I was in the presence of a saint yet it wasn''t, it was just the Lord, Darwin. I could feel a warm feeling in my heart appearing at that, loyalty that I had once reluctantly given knowing that he was just my lord turning into true loyalty, not one made out of obligation. He was a true lord, caring for all his subjects. Unknowingly I a smile tugged at my usually impassive lips. Instead of the thin lines that characterized my existence there appeared genuine purpose. "Follow." It was not said loud, though nor was it quiet. It rang through the minds of all. An order almost absolute though not needed. We would all follow his orders despite our feelings, however I could not say that I was just following out of obligation anymore and neither could the others. Maybe it was respect, or maybe fear, the Lord inspired all. Shaking my head of those thoughts I pick myself up onto my feet and start to follow, there was no need to dwell on those thoughts right now. Right now I just needed to follow, to start the march. Unknowingly I was at the head of the pack, my legs moving faster than the others. It was a curious phenomenon because I did not order my body this. However I still found it catharticThe way that I didn''t have to think, just walk or run and follow. It would have been cathartic before but that damned coldness wouldn''t allow for me the enjoyment that I took from it. However now that we were below ground in a ce that seemed eerily reminiscent of my own evolutionary ne I felt at home. As if this ce was where I was supposed to be not the grand peaks of ice that we had initially been spawned upon. I looked back, into the fading cave of where we came from and found the dposing corpse of a dragon. It was killed rtively recently yet it was dposing. I found it interesting but nothing more than that. As we left the area we started to pick up speed. None of us were slow by any means but that didn''t mean that we could keep pace with the monsters that were our lord anddies. Though despite that we tried and tried even harder after our first failures. Eventually this marching turned into the cathartic exercise that it was now. However, it wasn''t tost as soon after we came across a gap. One that led to a kingdom of sorts. ¡­ I watched as the troops behind me gradually slowed down, their bodies seating themselves on the ground. I would have to break them of that habit though, it would not do for my first showing of power to be done byzies and ipetents, yet that was what I had. I set a re upon them, their backs straightening as they felt the fear wash over them. I gestured for them all to follow which they did. My hand fell upon the wall in front of me and instantly it crumbled to the ground, revealing the sight of a grand kingdom. Its inhabitants numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Chittering rang behind me as the quiet voices gasped at the majesty of it. I just snorted at that, I knew that I had been making them live quite frugally but for them to be drawn to just this level of luxury. Well I would truly need to treat my own to the greatest of luxuries by the end of this conquest. It would be a test run, to see how easily they could take over a kingdom from within and with various tactics. However that was besides the point, for now I wanted this kingdom to be a test run as from what I had seen from when I had taken ownership of this realm this kingdom in particr was not very powerful. In fact their powerhouse was just tier 5 from what I had seen. Something massively powerfulpared to my soldiers yet barely anything to speak of for me. Even still I would not guide them to victory, with the skills and power that they had it would be no trouble for them to assassinate the emperor and then they coulde in and suppress any dissent that they had created. I turned from my overlook of the city to the various groups that sat against the walls of the cave that we were in. My voice was quiet yet it radiated authority and power. "Conquer, take this city for me, any outside threats will be dealt with but this city must be conquered by your own efforts." With that I sat back and leaned against the same wall that most of my subordinates were leaning against. I reached my hand out and Delta gave me a weapon, one that could deal damage even to me if it was aimed right. It was a sniper rifle, kit out with the best that Delta could make in the seconds that I had requested it. However it wasn''t for me as immediately upon itnding in my hands I threw it to the one I had the most expectations of. He caught it with a surprised look in his eyes, no doubt already feeling the sheer destructive power it held. With that I truly closed my eyes, feeling the wind as they gathered together and set off into the city. I sat near to Aoif, my legs allowing me to fall to the ground as Aoif snuggles into my embrace. "You think they''ll be able to do it?" "Yeah¡­ have thrust in them, they were evolved by you, they are better than they ever could be." I just nodded at that, my eyes staring as the first group makes contact with the guards. The othersy in wait outside of the walls, finding vantage points and deciphering the defenses of the walls. It was impressive yet it wasn''t as their efforts were quickly erased. A sh of light and they were fired at, hostile intentions found and eliminated. Yet that was not their end, theirbat prowess and experience allowing them to dodge. The ones that had decided to approach the gates opened their eyes wide in surprise, their weaponsing to bare as they fired upon the guards. Blood spurt from the wounds as they fell to the ground injured though not before calling for backup. I looked away, it was time to do my part and make sure that no external forces could interfere. It was why I stood up and leapt down, my presence not seen by anyone of the sides. ¡­ Gunshots echoed through the streets, guards of various kinds running around and shing their swords and spears through anyone they suspected to be a rebel. ''Heh'' Iughed, the dagger in my hand gliding over the throat of a guard. They would find no rebels, just a well organized group. ''Wait couldn''t that too be called a rebel. Ah whatever'' My dagger nged off the armor of another soldier as I jumped back just in time for a bullet to pierce the brain of said soldier. He died instantly, the armor not doing anything against such a caliber of bullet. I jumped again from where I was, reconnecting with my squad. The initial n was to subtly find the important figures but that n was scrapped the moment that we were fired upon by those cannons of theirs. It seemed they could find hostile intent, or maybe it was something else. Instead we were telepathically told that we were to cause as much chaos as we could to draw the attention of the major yers. Once that was done Uldear, the one that gained the Lord''s favor would be set up to snipe him down. It was a solid n but it didn''t ount for what would happen afterwards. Yet I couldn''t bring myself to care for that at the moment what was on my mind was the violence I could inflict upon these people. Chapter 209 Conquered Land ? I sat, positioned to watch the chaos unfold. It wasn''t a particrlyfortable position but it would do for my purposes. I watched the various messes that the others had inflicted upon this kingdom y out. Massive swaths of soldiers and people retreating and advancing to various positions yet it wasn''t my time to strike yet. I was tasked with taking down the leader, the king. However he had not deigned to show his presence yet. Not even after all of the chaos that we had caused. No wonder this ce wasn''t that happy, their king was a coward. He didn''t have the balls toe into the gray. Or maybe it was just that he was stuck in his little court. Though no matter the reason he would still have to be drawn out eventually. If he wasn''t then I would be disappointed. Hundreds of his soldiers were dying by the hour and if he didn''te out soon I would start toe after him. I know that I should be patient but it was hard to be when my target wouldn''t help for the well-being of his people. "Hmm¡­" I silently hummed, spotting something. It was faint yet for a moment I could just barely perceive it. A figure, standing on the edge of the castle and looking down. A sad look on his face. "Gotcha" I whispered, my finger in the trigger as I adjusted the rifle so as to aim it straight. I tested the wind, calcted the trajectory and distance. And once that was done I fired. Smoke filled my vision for a second as the power of the bullet sent the dust around me flying into the air. However when it cleared I narrowed my eyes, trying to see the results of my shot. To my surprise the shot had connected. The face of the king was blown straight off revealing his skull. However for just a moment I could have sworn it kept standing as if reaching for something. Though that was quickly discredited by the wind blowing his corpse from over the ledge. I set the rifle down, a smile gracing my gestures as I looked to where the Lord and his retinue were. ¡­ A bullet traveled, its path headed directly for the king. For a second it seemed as if the king had noticed it yet that was all. As a momentter he was dead. Falling off the balcony where he stood. I smiled, looking down at the soldier that had taken the shot. He was hidden well but to my eyesight he might as well not have been hidden at all. A smile popped up in his face as he looked directly back into my eyes before setting his own rifle down. I jumped from the ledge that I was in and into the city. People noticed me yet they didn''t. It was a weird state where they noticed that I was here yet ignored me in favor of retreating outside of the city. ''Heh¡­ as if I''d let them, they are to be my poption'' I blinked at that thought, my feet stopping in their ce. Where had thate from. I had never been particrly evil like that but it was a bit of a line that I had crossed with that thought. Shaking my head to get rid of that though I make my way towards the corpse of the king. A simple sh of my spear takes his head from his shoulders. With a careful hand I take his head into said hands. "Ahem-" I say, my voice resonating throughout all of the citizens and soldiers around me. My own retreat from where they were and fall back towards me. While that happens the citizens are pulled from where they stood and gathered into one massive crowd around me. Raised as I am in my tform I give them a good look at their king. "I do not care for your previous allegiance''s nor of your biases." I began my eyes ring over the crowd that shrunk over my gaze. "You all are mine now, this kingdom and your livelihoods belong to me by right of conquest." The mutterings began silently but soon grew to almost deafening noise as they realized I was not going to kill them for the noises they made. However one of the guards seemed to not have gotten the memo as he took it upon himself to leap up to my stage and take an attempt at my life. I just scoffed and raised Memoria in my hands. A sh to the side and his head went flying. There was no fanfare, no epic fight for the crowd to cheer onto. It was a brutal death that gave no room for retaliation. "Any others¡­" I say sweeping my gaze over the ones that dared to look defiant. "Remember that you are not as valuable as you seem to think you are." I let the murmurings continue for a moment before I get back on track. "Any advisors or nobles, step forward." I watched as some of the more opulently dressed ones looked towards each other before gulping and epting my order. They marched forward as if they were marching to their deaths. I suppressed a small snort that came from their postures. They were afraid and rightfully so however I was not going to stoke the mes of that fear with needless mockery. Instead I gathered them in front of me all the while holding out my hand. A stack of documents was ced in them and with a quick look through of them I knew most of what I needed. "Fal Al Brown, step forward." A man and two others stepped forward, their interpretation as if I was calling forth the whole family. Another nce to the documents and I confirmed all that I needed. "For your crimes you and the two beside you shall be executed. Four counts of bribery, three counts of exploitation of thebor of the good citizens, andstly ten counts of very. For those crimesmitted by you and your men at arms you are hereby sentenced to death." It was a radical decision but not one that I couldn''t stomach. It was why I stepped forward and drew Memoria from its sheath. A stab through the heart of all three and they were dead. ¡­ The proceedings stayed about the same. Some were less severe than the others yet I still killed most of them. If they weren''t to severe then I would exile them, having Tama teleport them into the wilderness. If they survived would all be up to their skill and luck. However more than likely they would die with the amount of skills they actually had. Eventually though the showing came to an end and although Jose of the normal citizens were horrified and scared I could also see looks of respect. Of growing loyalty at rooting out the causes of curryption and starvation. The starvation was most likely the leading cause however. With onest look I dismissed the citizens and allowed them to leave back to their abodes. For the time being I had done what I wanted. They would fear me yet they would also respect me, it was enough for me to but the time to actually establish myself. I turned my back to them and headed into the castle where I found all three of them waiting for me. Aoif was sitting, bored, at the table. Both Delta and Tama were reading some reports as they waited for me. I copsed into the chair and sighed. "Did I do good!" I ask the room, not looking for an answer for any particr one of them. "Yes, Darwin, the fear they felt for you will allow for time that can be used to worm your way into their hearts." I nod at that, taking in the praise. However I couldn''t bask I it for long as I needed one more thing. "Delta, could you help with farming instruments and the construction of a good defensive wall." She nodded before leaving the room, a couple words on her mouth. "Yes, as long as you are fine with me borrowing your newly conquered subjects." I didn''t say anything to that letting the silence show my implicit agreement. With that out of the way she closed the door, leaving the room in silence. Documents were turned as we read through them yet that was all that was heard. Nothing else until a movement. One sudden and drastic. I felt as Aoif moved her body around me. Her legs wrapping around my waist as she littered kisses against my face. "That was so¡­" she trailed off, her eyes turning dreamy. I turned to respond but was silenced by more kisses. A hand was ced in my back, caressing it George I didn''t care. I just enjoyed the kisses as my eyes gradually fell. Chapter 210 Relaxin~

Chapter 210 Rxin~

It had been about a two weeks since we had taken over the castle. It had been a hectic time. The first order of business that needed to be dealt with was the soldiers. They were still half loyal to their lords. It was why I had gathered them up on the second day and looked deep into their souls. It wasn''t a hard look, just something to tell if they were telling the truth or were going to try and backstab me at some opportune moment. Fortunately there were only a couple of them which I took note of. There had been enough blood in the past day and I didn''t want to add to the feeling of unease anymore. However once I was down with that came the real work. Day after day I would ask Delta and Tama for help in the administration of the city. The numerous problems that made their way to my desk and how tk solve them. Not only that made him there though. There were hundreds of little things that I needed to do to improve the living situation of the city. For starters disease was a major problem. Even if they were more robust than an average human they were still susceptible to disease. It wasn''t helped by theirck of hygiene. Well the peasantsck of hygiene. The nobles had state of the art bathrooms and hygiene technology to make them appear as clean and beautiful as they wanted to be. So my first order was to start building a more extensive sewer system that would connect to the homes and buildings all around the city. That was where we left off now, two weeks after the invasion and take over of the city. The sewer system was only half built. It could have been built in just a day by Delta but she had no interest in doing the dirty work and neither did I in coddling my citizens. If everything was given to them like this then there would be no use in having them. It was why I immediately after drafting the n informed the soldiers and had them memorize the parts they needed to. After that they were to go to be streets and find a sufficient crew that would be paid above average for their work. Fortunately that wasn''t too hard as most of them were out of a job with the recent invasion. Which meant that I soon had a bigbor department. Enough that I could simultaneously work on multiple projects. Yet I didn''t want to do that as I wanted the infrastructure of the city to beid down as soon as possible which meant distributing most of the work to that force. Though that didn''t mean that there weren''t other jobs avable. As of now they were mostly government owned, meaning that I supplied them but soon enough thugs would grow into an industry. The other misceneous jobs were as a chef for thebor, making the materials for thebor, or even just city nning. Of course the city nners weren''t much but I had them study under some ns that I had Delta draw up. This in turn had given them motivation to reach her level as the blueprints and ns they drew up were critiqued honestly and clearly. It was a beneficial rtionship between them. Of course I wouldn''t use those ns but it was good to have them around for when other cities need to be put under me. For now though I could just kick back and rx, there wasn''t anything pressing for me to do and all of the other kingdoms hadn''t even gotten the news yet. The nearest would be the one that was being pupputered but that was a non issue seeing as how I killed their leader and by proxy all of them. There was the vige that I wanted to take but that could be left forter. I nodded to myself at those facts, there wasn''t anything pressing to do nor was there anything I wanted to do so I could just take a small vacation here as I rx. Speaking if rxing I found myself staring at Aoif who opened the door to the office room. Her eyes were curious as they strayed from the empty desk to my face. However it soon turned into a mischievous smile as she approached me. I didn''t reject her advances and even encouraged her toe closer. "No work?" She asked as she came close to my ear. "None" "Mm¡­ that''s good, nothing to interrupt us then." I felt it before Iprehended it, the feeling of my pants being brought down to my feet as my duck was held by a warm hand. Aoif started to slowly stroke at it, my head leaning back as I basked in the pleasure. Slowly, up and down, up and down. Her hands pumped at it until it was at full mast. She stopped for a moment and before I could look down to see what she was doing I felt another sensation on my tool. It was warm and wet, yet rough. A tongue, Aoif dragged her tongue over it, paying special attention to the head which she gave a little kiss before licking further and further down. Her hand reached to the parts that she wasn''t licking as Aoif got further down. Eventually she was jerking me off while her tongue licked at my balls. I shivered in pleasure, my hold over my orgasm reaching its limits. "Cu- cumming" I whispered to which Aoif, with swiftness, rose from her ce and aimed my dick at her hands. A groan came from my mouth as I let loose in Aoif''s hands. The cum pooled there and pooled some more, eventually falling out of her hands. Though before it could reach the ground she had swallowed it into her mouth. Still hiding the cum she was in an acrobatic position where her hand was held high with my cum in it and under those hands was her mouth gobbling up the fun that fell from said hands. Eventually it reached a lint where it could fit in her tiny hands. At that point she rose from beneath my legs and to my eye level. All while staring straight into my eyes she reached her hands to her mouth before sucking the cum from it. Making sure to swallow audibly as each drop went down her throat. "Was I good¡­?" Aoif asked, breaking the silence that she had made. "Yeah¡­ yeah you were great." She smiled at that, a bit of white staining her face. I just smiled back though, not wanting it ruin the moment by punting out the fact that she was dripping cum from her mouth. "In fact, since you were so good, why don''t we take this back to our room." I could hear Aoif audibly gulp at that, her eyes going into pinpricks as she gazed back at me in lust. ¡­ By the time that we were back in the bedroom we were already frantically kissing. Aoif seemed to want be trying to suck all of the spit out of me with the way that she kissed yet I didn''t deny her instead I just fought back. Trying my best to do as she was doing. Eventually we fell into the bed, Aoif''s back impacting the mattress as I fell on top of her. "Wha- huh-" I hear from the side, my eyes going wide as I see the intruder. To the side was Tama, her golden tails wrapped around her as she blushed at the sight. However that didn''tst long as soon after she took a bold move as she immediately pushed me away from Aoif and took my lips for herself. I didn''t resist, the kiss at least. Being in the bottom I did resist as I grabbed her sides and spun her over. One of my hands found her breast while the other went further down and started to stroke at her pussy. I could feel the wet spot on her pantries grow as I continued to stroke and suck at her tongue. Eventually tiny moans started to make themselves known. I turned back and saw Aoif frantically frigging herself to the sight of us. Though soon after I was turned back to Tama who used her tails to direct my head to her. I just smiled and pulled her panties to the side, my dick already out was positioned in just a moments time. With a thrust I was inside, her velvety cave wet with desire. It was so tight, as if she was trying to bite my dick off but I didn''t let the tightness stop me. I started to tail her as hard as I could. Hard enough that I could feel the bed crack at our strength. "Ahh~" "Ahh~" "Ahh~" "AHHH~"" With one final moan she climaxed, wet juices costing both her tails and me as Tama slumped to the side in exhaustion. I slowly pulled out, disappointed that I didn''t find my own release. Chapter 211 Drunk Paperwork

Chapter 211 Drunk Paperwork

I woke to the smell of sex, it permeated the room that Iy in. I scrunched my nose at that smell, amand of my aether and I had permeated the room in it. The smell of sex reced with an earthy smell. Or at least that was what my senses were telling me. I couldn''t really tell if it was the aether that I was smelling or if my aether actually had a physical smell. Regardless of that though I slowly rose from my bed and turned to the side to take a look at both Aoif and Tama. They were both sleeping soundly, a slow rise and fall of their chests indicating their current state of sleep. They practically were glowing from our activitiesst night yet that was the exact reason that they were tired. Part of me wanted to just stay there and hug them to myself while going back to sleep but another part of me was yelling at me to get up and do what I was supposed to do. The responsible part of me won out so slowly I grumbled and got out of bed and donned my clothes. Once that was done I opened the door, a slight creak echoing into the room. I took one final look back at them only to see them both slowly waking up. It seemed that the squeak of the door and theck of my presence had woken them or they were just already awake and enjoying the show of me clothing myself. Either way I just waved at then and gave them both a smile before leaving towards my office. ¡­ I sat down in my seat, making sure to not knock over any of the documents that had piled up over the night. And there was a lot, they seemed to be stacked in so many different piles all around my desk. I could tell that from the amount of them it seemed that Delta was working that night as only she would be able to stack this many reports for me to go over. I sighed at the work yet didn''tin. Instead I just pulled the first document from its ce and started to read through it. "Ah¡­ finally" I muttered, seeing the uniform sheets of paper. It seemed like Delta had finally streamlined the process of paperwork seeing as the documents had simr formats and procedures. It would make everything easier. Just like the one in front of me requesting the materials be ''upgraded'' which wa just veiled speech so that my talent did not get out. It basically meant that the raw resources would be delivered to some location andter I would go over there and evolve the materials to their limits before sending it back out. It was a tedious effort but the results were worth it. I looked out to the city, the window allowing me a view of the town from where I sat. Compared to when we had conquered it everything was better. The houses that were rebuilt were rebuilt with stronger materials allowing them tost longer and be much morefortable, the parts of th e walls that we were able to repair in the two weeks we were here were better than ever. They could absorb so much more punishment that it wasughable to evenpare it to the other wall. Not to mention the giant formation that Delta had been working in, once it was done it would be able to shield the whole city, sky and all, from any attacks basically making this imprable. Though those weren''t the only used as the streets were slowly taking a more modern look with the once copplestone and dirt walkways being reced with concrete and metal. The infrastructure really wasing along. And I couldn''t be any more happy about it. There was also the fact that the people were starting to warm up to my role as leader. It was theforts and job security most likely. Before the nobles were oppressing them, keeping them poor but under me they could earn a fair wage. I took my gaze away from the window and with it my thoughts on the recent developments, instead I focused on the papers in front of me. ¡­ The lights in the city dimmed as theing of night was signaled. Altogether during the day I was quite productive. I was able to evolve most of the things that I needed to do by lunch and then was able to get the stockpile of paperwork done. After that I was able to kickback and rx for a while with Aoif by my side. We didn''t do much other than just enjoy each others presence and watch the workers go by. It was monotonous but I enjoyed it. After all the paperwork even if my hand didn''t hurt it was still mentally exhausting. Right now I was just sitting by another window and watching as the people went about their nights. Some were hurrying home from work to go and see their kids and family while others seemed drained and were going to the nearest restaurant or bar to relieve themselves. My hand reached out, slipping into Aoif''s hair as I slowly stroked it. The day was long but there was still time left in it. I watched as the door opened, a click of the lock signaling the entrance of Tama. It was then that I got an idea of what to do in the waning hours of the night. I sat up, facing Tama and gestured for her toe closer. "Tama, do you want to go to dinner with me, just the two of us." I could practically feel the pout that Aoif was giving me but I felt that Tama deserved it. All the work that she had done for us, the effort she had put in. It was not fair for me to only give Aoif attention. I looked up and saw Tama blushing before she reached her hand out to my own. "I would love that¡­" she practically whispered. A smile lit up my face at that, I took her hand in my own and pulled her into my embrace, stroking her hair and back. "I''ll put an illusion on us, no one will recognize us." "Thanks" ¡­ The streets were dark, the natural light dim and even the street lights were barely on. Though that was by design it still gave it a feel of the night. I looked in front of me, a pub filled with bright light and manying and going people. Some were drunk and were stumbling back and others seemed to be just starting their evenings. It was a fun sight. Though the real beauty was by my side. Despite the fact that we were under an illusion Tama had decided to dress up. I could only see it because she had allowed me to. Though either way she was beautiful, the dress and jewelry perfectly entuating her natural beauty. To others she appeared as a in woman, one that you would just look at and pass by and others would see me just like that too. Tama made sure to make it so that we wouldn''t draw too much attention. I opened the door, holding it for Tama. I entered after her and took a seat at the bar next to her. A menu was ced in front of me, a waitress moving passed both of us. I picked out a drink or two for us to enjoy and a light snack. All that was left was to wait for the waitress toe back and take our order. In the meantime though I turned to Tama, a smile on my lips as I initiated the conversation. ¡­ I was slightly drunk by the time that we had exited the bar, despite my immense resistance to poisons and the like I was somehow able to suppress them a bit. At least enough so that I was able to feel the alcohol that I drank. Tama on the other hand seemed to just take joy in watching me drink though the conversation was good. I held her hand in mine, a tipsy smile on my lips as we exited the restaurant. I noticed that some people seemed to be eying me and Tama yet they didn''t act on it. ''Heh. Probably afraid'' Iughed in my head. With my arm around Tama I found myself back in the castle quick enough, my eyes were heavy and if I just let my natural healing loose then I wouldn''t feel anything anymore but I wanted to sleep. Though I probably would heal the inevitable hangover. I had heard that it hurt a lot and it wasn''t something that I really wanted to experience more than once. For now at least I justy down on the bed, my hands grabbing at Tama''s tails as I snuggle in for the night. Chapter 212 Split

Chapter 212 Split

It had been another two weeks since I had gone out with Tama. Most of the days were filled with nothing more than monotony and paperwork. It was honestly quite boring but now¡­ Now something exciting was happening. It was for that purpose that I was being dressed. It was with the fanciest clothes on my person that I found myself sitting on a throne. It wasn''t the original one that the other king had used but a custom made one. It was opulent, in my opinion maybe even too much but it was more a show of power and wealth than a sense of aesthetic. Though I did have to admit that it was quite beautiful, the way that the gems and jewelers were integrated into the exotic metals. It brings out the best in it all. It even gave it this air of regality which was what we were aiming for. I rest my arm on the rest, leaning my head into it as I give the doors a heavy stare. My face was impassive, my own power focused on the messenger outside. It was from a foreign kingdom, one that I didn''t even bother to learn the name of. After all, it was useless to learn what would soon be consumed. ''Heh'' Iughed in my head, watching the doors slowly slide open to reveal a frightened messenger. His head was soaked with sweat as his eyes opened wide to show the great fear he had of me. I had done nothing more than permeate the room with my aether but it seemed that even this was too much for him. They really were pathetic, huh. "M¡­ my¡­ lord, this messenger has a message for you from the¡­ the¡­ holiest kingdom¡­ if you would allow me to read it." I shook my head, gesturing for one of the soldiers at the right toe up and grab the letter that was addressed to me. With a careful gaze I read it, the contents more or less summing up to and I quote¡­ Pay tribute innd, money and valuables. Else your kingdom not survive the night. "Heh¡­" Iughed out loud, the hrity of it getting to me. I guess my prey had arrived sooner than I thought. This would be fun, I could go ughter some bastards who thought it appropriate to hold MY kingdom ransom. I blinked at that thought, maybe I was getting too into this role. Being happy that there were people to ughter. Yes that was a bit too far, however I just shrugged my shoulders. It didn''t bother me too much that I was going towards this route. After all¡­ it was fun and most importantly I could see Aoif smile, she always loved to be in battle, to fight. I red back down to the messenger, his eyes flickering down to evade my own in shame and fear. "A threat, not even a veiled one or one with clear purpose just one of violence for what? Money" Iughed, stepping from my throne and walking to him. My mouth found its way towards his ears as I whispered my next bunch of words. "I dare you to bring those soldiers to arms, see how far that will get you." He seemed thoroughly spooked. His eyes widening as he got up and walked away. I could tell that there was a threat on his tongue but he held it in, his own survival instincts warning him of further action. ¡­ I was hyperventting, my heart pounded audibly in my ear. Fear, fear was all I felt from that¡­ that man. No he couldn''t even be called a man, a devil. Yes he was a devil, no man could have ever been like that. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. He was a devil, possessed, this kingdom must be destroyed. A devil, he must die. I''ll call upon my lord, yes the lord will work and banish this devil to the ends of this realm. He will die. Die. Die. Die. "Heheh¡­" "hahahaaaa!" Yes he will die but first I need to get to my lord. I hurried from the castle, watching as the guards moved the various gates and allowed for me to leave. Though not before giving me looks of disgust. Heh, they would regret it, I would kill them all, the devil possessed worshippers. They would all die. "Hey! Watch where your going bastard." Huh, what was this, another devil worshipper and he seemed to be yelling, perfect. I was just looking for something to relieve my stress. I unsheathed the sword at my side and watched as his eyes went wide. "You will not deceive me devil. Now die! Die! Die!!" I stabbed him in the neck before running off, oh¡­ the sweet blood. It called for me. ¡­ Minutes passed by as I sprinted down the streets, my smile filled with blood. I dashed passed the guards and soon found myself in a cavernous cave. Thousands of soldiers waiting intently for my report. "You!" I yell, bring me to the Lord. He sighs, before turning and leading me to the oh so gracious lord. Ah yes, finally the heathens would die. I opened the cover to the tent and found the lord waiting for me, his face set into a perfect image. Ah.. so perfect.. so pure. "Gill¡­ report, did you send the message." Without even looking up he ordered me. Oh my precious lord ordered me. I better do good. I wonder if he would praise me. Yes¡­ yes he would¡­ if not, if not then¡­ then what. My thoughts were getting sluggish. Thest thing I saw were the royal eyes of my very own lord. Ah'' the pleasure of dying to my lord. It was overwhelming. ¡­ I woke to find myself staring at the military doctor. His eyes were impassive, the sses on his nose glinting in the soft light. "A minor concussion and aether poisoning. Luckily for you nothing much other than that. A couple days rest and you''ll be good." "What? Aether poisoning. Was it that self proimed king?" I asked in response, my teeth gritting at the thought of that child. He must have been barely fifteen yet was so powerful. "A king? Ah¡­ you mean the one you were sent with the message. How was it? Were you sessful?" I watched as he hopped around, his feet bouncing around th weren''t as he asked question after question. The impassive face that he greets patients with gone reced by a friendly one reserved for close friends. I smiled at his antics yet I didn''t say anything, instead opting to sit up and pat his shoulder. "Can''t tell you, not until I report to the Lord" "Ah¡­" his face fell, "afterwards?" "Yeah, of course" With that I left, my body aching from the immense pressure that I had endured earlier. Now that I think of it, how did I even get back here? Thest thing I remember even doing was leaving the throne room. After that¡­ it was nothing, just a nk period. It was weird but weirder had happened and I was not opposed to just forgetting the discrepancy. Especially as I was approaching the Lord'' tent. Idly I noted a speck of blood on the walls, most likely an idiot felled by the fists of the Lord. I snorted inughter, truly some people were idiotic. Turning to the side I let out the somnort and any other emotions before I pull open the cover and walk in. "Ahem-" I interrupt, my fist held up to my mouth as I cough. "My lord, the message hath been delivered." "Good, the response?" "Uncooperative, it seems he wanted war. The faker even said that he weed war." A small smile cracked on the Lord''s face before he turned his head fully to my direction. "Good, take rest now, Gill" I nodded and left the tent, my feet carrying me towards somewhere. I did not know where yet I knew I had a destination. Many thoughts ran through my mind, yet none of them seemed to voice themselves. There was just his discrepancy that seemed to take a spot in my brain despite the effort I took to throw it away. ''Haah¡­ I''ll just go talk to doc¡­ might be fun'' I thought to myself, remembering my promise to him. With that thought in mind I finally had a direction and within moments I was there. A push of the covers and I found myself in his personal office. Wooden everything, signifying his love of nature filled the room. I sighed and smiled while shaking my head before sitting down on a chair. My eyes closed as I waited on doc toe back to his office. It wouldn''t be a long wait as soon after I had closed my eyes he was back. "Ah~ Gill, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit so soon?" "You wanted details, I''ve already reported to the Lord and he did not oppose my sharing with you the details. ''Well actually he never said anything about not sharing soo~'' I finished in my head. "Ooh, is it juicy then. Details! Details I want them." The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!