《Pandemonium of a Lazy Soul》 Chapter 1 - Prologue A Cliché fight resumed with An unusual Talk "Curse you to hell demon!" Screamed a young man, with blond hair as he was holding a beautiful woman in his hands while kneeling in a pool of blood. The women had a hole straight through where her heart used to be, while the tip of her long white hair wet with her blood. She had the typical characteristics of every elf in a fantasy story, while the boy holding her was as human as possible, with his short straight, blond hair, with green eyes. "You know it is not a curse if you tell me to go back to my own home." Said the man opposite the boy. The man was not human as he had 2 horns, 1 black and 1 white while having an extremely black skin with red eyes, adorning his grey hair. "Why did you have to kill her Ez?" Asked the boy while gently laying the women down and picking his sword up and running up to the demon. "You were too distracted and worried about protecting her rather than our fight, so I helped you out. Now come let''s fight properly Arthur" replied the demon as he ran up to the hero, with his claws. Sword met claws, both clashed as shockwave was emitted, tearing apart the land near them. While throwing both of them back "Now this is how a final battle should be. Hahahaha!" laughed the demon, as he ran back to the hero and threw a punch to the Arthur, the hero in return dodged it and threw his hand not holding his sword at Ez. This kept going on, while the land around them turned into a warzone for natural disasters as elements were conjured by both parties to aid the fighting. The zone outside of this was littered with corpses and blood of various races, with no survivors to be seen in the surrounding. Well as you might have guessed this our typical hero versus demon battle, but there is a small twist in it. "Bang" "Well seems like I won Arthur." Said Ez as he laid on his blood while Arthur leaned beside crumbled pieces of walls and floors. "What did you ... gain from all this... Ez?" asked the Arthur while slowly losing his breath. "You instigated a war against the United Races alliance EZ, including your own race for what reason?" "Well..." sound of trying to breath "I just felt like it, I wanted to..." gasping for breath "...enjoy a fight, against the whole world." "WHERE DID THAT GET YOU?" Shouted Arthur "You eradicated the majority of your race, and destroyed everything we BUILT TOGETHER!!!" "It got me where I wanted it to be, besides you won''t remember any of this once I hit restart" Replied Ez while smirking. "RETURN" shouted Ez while earning a confused look from Arthur. "What are you sayi...." everything turned dark as what Arthur was saying was cut off. A figure could be seen rising from the bed. ''Yawn'' "Well that game was fun." said a voice from the mist. "Now I just need to add a few more content to the storyline to make it more exciting." Said the person in dark, his feature not exactly visible Well as you guys expected the scenario of hero versus the demon lord was just a game designed by the said figure you are now seeing. This game is not the typical game humans could ever design, its much more sophisticated than that. When people first see this person''s room, the first thing people think about him is a shut-in. *Knock, knock* "come in said the person in dark" The door slowly opened causing light to enter, while a silhouette of women could be seen. Her golden hair in combination with her beautiful face can make any person who seen her become the happiest man in this world "Lord wants to see you now!" demanded the heavenly beauty with a sweet melodious voice. "Please extend my appointment time, I am sure there are many more people waiting to see him, Juliet" replied the voice of Ez. "Can not do that. He has set apart all his appointment and delayed his holiday by 10 minutes just for you today so that you can finally stop using that excuse to not meet him" replied Juliet smirking at Ez, who started to visibly sweat. "Damn, no more tricks left in my pockets. I guess its finally time to meet him again" Ez said as he rose from the floor and walked towards the door entering into the light. He had curly black hair, with dark brown eyes. "Let''s go, Juliet" *snap* A sound of snap was heard and both of them disappeared from there. *snap* the sound was heard again as two people appeared They appeared again in an empty white room, with a person standing there, who looked similar to Ez, in fact, no scrap that he looks exactly like Ez only more mature and tall, with a modern white suit, in combo with a black tie. As soon as Ez appeared he noticed another tall and mature him standing there. Earning a frown on Ez. "Why are you using my appearance, can you not look more like yourself, with a white beard, and white robe in dazzling white?" "Why the heck should I always wear and look like what those guys draw me as in painting? I want to be modern too. Screw those artist drawing me with wrinkles and white robes, why not draw me as a young man in casual shirt and jeans?" asked the person in an annoyed voice "Probably because any person who sees that will be more inclined to not acknowledge you as God" responded Ez Yes, what you see here is a conversation between God and Ez. "Well whatever, now onto your matter. Are you finally ready to make your choices?" inquired God in a calm voice. "Do I have to? Will you grant the wish of every ignorant person?" "Yes you have to, and no I won''t just grant the wish of every ignorant person, only grant it when an ignorant, persistently annoy me for 20 years, of your 60 years life, asking for the same thing. I mean what was your request? Ah yes ''please God when I die even if I say I don''t want to please transmigrate me to a different world.'' I have to say you are the one who dug your own grave here" "Damn, I know that but it was the hormones of a teenager that was reading and watching nothing but novels and anime, at that time, which grew with me till the age of 35. I was nothing but an ignorant fool, please ignore it and let me live in a corner of heaven for eternity." "You know your stupid pleading for 20 years was soo annoying and now that I have to listen to you pleading now as well. Fine instead of constantly transmigrating to different worlds I will give you a lenient option, just go to one world and when you die you can come back." Ez spends some time thinking "Sigh, no choice then fine. Deal accepted. " "Now what world would you like to go to?" "I don''t care just send me anywhere" sulkily replied Ez "In that case why don''t you go to this certain world I left in the care of some deities long ago. I haven''t checked on that place for a long time, you can enjoy yourself and can give me a report of what''s happening there as well when you come back." "Yeah fine." Suddenly Ez''s head perked up "Wait, deities, what do you mean deities? I thought you looked after all the worlds yourself, with you omniscience?" Suddenly God excitedly replied "Well I thought why don''t I leave one world to fend for itself and see what happens. But I couldn''t bring myself to leave all those poor beings without a guardian to look after them. So I created the world a few billion years ago, started the evolution process and created a few deities to look after and protect the world and its people while I am not looking." "How many deities?" asked Ez with growing curiosity, since this is the first time he ever heard a world left alone by God to fend for itself. If it could survive this long without his care that itself means the deities must either be quite strong or there are quite stable resources in the world for the world to prosper for this long. "Spoilers" Cheekily smiled God "Where is the fun if I told you everything? Now I have to get going as I have a holiday to enjoy, so Juliet here will take care of the rest." Smiled God before he vanished. "Darn it, he was using bilocation to talk to me! I thought you said he delayed his holiday by 10 minutes to talk to me?" Ez turned towards Juliet and asked her "He delayed the holiday he was in by 10 minutes to split himself and send part of him here to talk to you. While the one half of him enjoyed the holiday the other half was working. A holiday is the only holiday when all part of you is resting and enjoying, not just one half. Now enough of your babbling tell me you want anything before you get kicked out?" "You know for an angel you are the most ruthless angel any mortal could ever see?" Mocked Ez "Please don''t waste my time Ez, I don''t have to waste my time arguing with you. I have to make sure to go after the Lord to make sure he enjoys his long-awaited holiday." Replied the angel with growing anger visible in her voice. "Fine, what are the conditions of getting some powers?" "Any power of your choice will be the nullification of the contract to have a guardian angel." "Darn it" scowled Ez. Suddenly a thought passed through Ez. "What happens if I were to transmigrate into a body of someone would I not get that person guardian angel and a power?" "If you were to transmigrate into a body without any power you will have 2 guardian angels. 1 for you and the 1 for the original body, however choosing any form of power will nullify your contract with all forms of a guardian angel, so no guardian angel anyway. However, if you were to transmigrate you will forsake 2 guardian angels, so it''s reasonable to have an equal power worth 2 guardian angels, therefore I can provide you with 1 power and some addons for it." "Alright, I will have that". Suddenly a black sphere appeared in front of Juliet, Ez grabbed hold of it and spend some time visualising his power and its modifications. A few moments passed as the sphere slowly turned grey before it floated towards Juliet. "Ok, finally you are done you can go, as per the deal nullification of 2 guardian angels. Now of you go I have to spend some time enjoyin... *cough cough* working during the holidays" Replied the stony-faced angel who finally smiled. "You bit*h, you are planning to leech off on His holiday while calling it work? Scr*w y..." Shouted Ez, but suddenly his voice got cut off as he disappeared out of Heaven. "What an ungrateful Soul? I wasted 20 minutes of my working time and he calls me a leecher. Meh sucks to be him, having to get kicked out of heaven and having to work hard as a mortal" Juliet spend some time laughing at the fate Ez, before taking a sunglass, and a suitcase out of nowhere and disappearing. Chapter 2 - Episode 1 A Good Food keeps a transmigrated Soul happy Now you might think that being given the chance to transmigrate/reincarnate with a power of your own choice is the best thing that can happen. Well, it is unless you are already a citizen of heaven. Having to transmigrate/reincarnate mean, you have to fight through struggles and hardships, even with all the cheat, you might have you still have to spend effort to think and always work hard to be strong. Being in heaven means going on holiday 24/7/Eternity, you can get anything you want, go anywhere you want, do anything you want and never get bored. If you get bored you can create a mini world/game and transmigrate/play in it, like I was doing before Juliet came to get me. Or you can watch and read different series, anime, movies, novels and mangas, and never have to wait for an update as you can import the latest chapter or episode from the future. Taste the most delicious food that worlds might spend fortunes on as a snack, or just create a delicious food yourself with a thought or snap of a finger. You get the general idea of what heaven is, basically get whatever you want, whenever you want for eternity. Only a fool might pass up the chance to enter heaven, as to enter heaven itself is quite hard. But once someone enters heaven, other than angels and sometimes God, it is rare that souls leave outside of heaven, and even if they do they return pretty quickly within 10 or 20 years. The longest a soul stayed outside was 19 years and 3 months and that was because she was enjoying her transmigration in a primitive world, ruling it. But she too got bored after 10 years and only stayed for 9 more years just to make her disappearance seem natural in that world. Well, that is another story. Anyway as I was saying leaving heaven too long is rare, and that too for a long time. Therefore I devised a plan. knowing I will have to go out of heaven for a long time will come, since the second I entered heaven. I planned to delay my transmigration as long as possible till the moment God goes away on his holiday, as he rarely uses his omniscience during his holidays, as his angels will use their partial omniscience on his holidays to look after worlds while he is away. So when he goes, I know he will be too eager to enjoy his holiday, so he will ignore the two steps I am going to make that will let me come back to heaven quickly. 1st step: Get rid of those pesky guardian angels that reports everything to God, by wishing for a power. I had to make sure no angels are watching me so wishing for a stupidly crazy power will make sure of that. 2nd step: After arriving transmigrating suicide instantly and go back to heaven. This was my foolproof plan yet here I am wondering what the hell went wrong? One second after I arrive in this body, I use my soul to destroy the nerves connecting to this body''s brain to my heart, causing it to go erratic and let the body I am in die. But after a few seconds nothing happened, I tried different ways, like stopping my heart, disrupting the pressure in my lungs to collapse it, but none of it caused me to die. Instantly I arrive at a terrifying conclusion, and I slowly opened my eyes while praying that he is not there. "It is rude to tell me not to be here Ez" smirked God while wearing a beach short and a sunglass, still wearing my face. "Your plan was perfect Ez, just a small thing you didn''t consider" laughed God as he looked at me Knowing its pointless to lie and hide things from him I asked him "What went wrong?" "You forgot I am also capable of reading from your emotions. Your soul for a split nano-second when I was about to leave, produced a joyful reading. I thought why the hell would you be so happy for me to leave, then I figured there was a loophole in what I said. I never said to you when to come back did I? That gave you an option to suicide and instantly come back to heaven while at the same time fulfilling your request long ago." "Iceballs! I knew I shouldn''t have felt happy" swore Ez, suddenly Ez thought something "Still why are you trying to stop me from dying?" "You see I wouldn''t have stopped you from dying, but you see I gave you a job as well, to report the condition of this world to me after you come back. But since you arrived in this world for the past few minutes the only thing you have done is trying to kill yourself." "You have go to be kidding me? Just because of that one small request I have to spend time here?" "Yep. To make it easier for you to gather the information I even transmigrated you to the body of a prince. But now I don''t need you to gather information as I already have it since I came here." "Does that mean I can go back?" Ez asked with a cute voice as this often works with this old man. "You know the price of disobedience well Ez." Replied God "But that only applies to mortals who haven''t entered heaven, not for a soul like me." "Yes, but you forgot you too have a physical body now. Since you transmigrated here you became a mortal, and you disobeyed a direct order so that means punishment. Kakakaka" Laughed God "And I know the perfect punishment since Juliet suggested this to me, but I made some changes as I am nice and all." "Your punishment is 25 years in this world, now if you are to die before the 25 years are up via suicide, get murdered, accident, being unhealthy, or any form of death, you will have to transmigrate again but this time, you will lose your right to enter heaven, and have to pass through judgement again. And you know how hard it is to enter Heaven." Ez''s face paled considerably as he replied: "Please God, you can''t be serious that''s way too much for me to do." "You should be thanking me, Ez, Juliet originally told me to let you survive for 75 years and if you fail to instantly reject your right and make you go through judgement on that spot. But I know its harsh punishment thus even if you fail to reach 25 years here you still have a chance again in next place. Besides this is a recording I left in your soul just before you left heaven, for me to change it means stopping my holiday for a while and I am too lazy to do that." "One day I will dip tat ice face pigeon into purgatories molten lava, and make her suffer when I come back I swear" spat Ez "Kakakakaka I will pass the message to her, as my gift to you I will rewind time to the moment your soul entered this body, and to prevent any damage you caused this body and any havoc caused by the deities noticing my presence next to you, as they don''t know I exist. Enjoy your life and let us meet when you come back." Chapter 3 - Episode 2 The headache of All Transmigrators Time rewound to the moment just before my soul entered the body. If I knew this would have happened I would have chosen an isolation power that will keep me away from the world for 25 years instead of this thing. Thinking of the future with this power is giving me a terrible headache as a soul already. I stood above the body and sighed. Well, no point in delaying might as well get started the survival for 25 years. As I entered the body I controlled myself to enter into a deep sleep with the body. This is to stop any flood of memories causing me to have a massive concussion with nausea as well as distortion that might happen from the merging of unfamiliar memories of a new soul with the stored memory of this body. The brain of a human body is like a temporary storage device like a memory stick, while the soul is the main storage unit of all living beings. The soul can keep track of all memories even the ones forgotten by the body is remembered in the soul. Usually, a persons body will have the same memory stored in their brain and soul, therefore, no problem occurs. But when a foreign soul enters a body the brain reads the souls memory and try to integrate that memory into the brain, while the soul does the same from the brain. The memory in a human brain is stored by forming a connection with certain neurons out of the 100 billion neurons. The different forms of connection form the memory of a human being. While the memory of a soul is vastly different, and superior, thus being able to remember everything the body has experienced. It is similar to mobile phone recording a video and being able to playback everything in HD. However, once the memory has been copied whoever has the longest memory stays superior. That is why it is dumb to enter the body of a being that has lived longer than you, as you will find yourself slowly turning into that person, as his memories are greater than yours. However, I won''t have that problem as my length of memory is quite long due to the long time I spent in heaven. Due to the brain needing to form so much connection with the neurons (about billions of connection) in the brain to accept the new memories such as the smell of new things, taste of exotic foods, experience of different senses, the brain will go overload and may cause nausea, distortion and sometimes shut down for a short while. If the person attempting to transmigrate is a new person it may even cause the physical body death instantly. However since this transmigration was done by God there should be no such consequence, however not wanting to take the risk I enter a sleeping state where, you can view the memory of the person fully, and understand where I am in. After a few hours of sleeping, I woke up understanding where I am, and what sort of situation I am in. If earlier I thought this might have been transmigration set in easy mode with my power now I understood this is a major f.up mode I am in even with my powers. Why the hell did I even bother giving up my guardian angel for this world? If I knew this was the kind of world I was going to be and I was going to be major screwed up by God then I would have instantly rejected my powers and asked for the 2 guardian angels. Screw than pidgeon with 2 wings for not explaining anything properly. The role of a guardian angel for a normal person is to protect them from dangers and sometimes providing miracles in their life. However to a soul like me, who is been to heaven and seen God I could have commanded the Angels to do anything for me. It is like having an unbeatable endgame boss as your minion and not just 1 angel but I declined 2 angels for a weird power like this. What''s done is done. I have to get a plan together to survive for the next 25 years. The owner of this body is a prince. He is the son of Emperor James the 2nd, called John Field. The surname Field is not from his father''s side but his mother''s surname. In this world, royalty and nobles usually had lots of kids and lots of wives/ concubines. And long story short people found it annoying to have every single kid the same surname so they decided to let every child have their mothers surname. But when one of the children inherits his father''s position or the father sees potential in him/her to see him as a successor he/she will inherit his/her father''s surname. Thus having your fathers surname meant a lot in this world among the rich, noble and royalty. Having your fathers surname meant you don''t have to pay respect to your father like a stranger and directly call him father like a family, also it meant you have a right to get at least some of your father''s riches even if you don''t directly inherit your father''s position. John''s mum was part of the royal bodyguards of the emperor, and she was beautiful, while the emperor was a charming man, and you know what would have happened. But she passed away 11 years ago when she lost control of her power and rampaged. The power system in this world is unique. Everyone in this world is born with a special power or unique gift called ''Award''. There are different types of award ranging from controlling the weather to being able to enhance their speed to run like a certain speedster, to even there being weird awards like never getting a spelling mistake. However, the problem is if you don''t wield your award properly there is a chance your mind can be corrupted and go mad. John''s mum Stella had the award of berserk, this award lets the user become stronger, faster and heal faster the angrier they are. The only side effect of this award is that when you are not angry you are weak, so you need a constant source of anger, thus you need some time to reminiscence old memories and get all hulked out. However Stella once tried to use her award in an urgent situation without getting angry, and this caused her mind to snap and rampage. In the end, her own teammates from the emperor''s bodyguards had to slay her. The emperor mourned for the loss of one of his bodyguards, and partner, while her teammates never could escape the fact they killed their best friend, teammate and a mother, and left her single son alone at the age of 4. They knew how ruthless the family of nobles, royalty and the rich can get if a kid at the age of 4 is left alone, especially when Stella has no family of her own, it''s like sending an innocent lamb into a cave of tiger. Thus they begged the emperor to have someone look after and protect the boy until his award is revealed. So John came under the protection of the emperor''s head butler. He looked after John and protected him for 11 years, till now. Apparently, the 1st of January is the day his award is being revealed therefore the day the head butlers protection ends. And today, if this memory serves accurate, is the last night of the year, 31st of December. I bet due to that old guy''s laziness he couldn''t even bother to give a different orbit to this planet and probably copied and pasted Earth''s solar system here, with minor changes. Therefore causing there to be only 360 days in a year, with 4 seasons, which caused 12 months each having 30 days. I even suspect him visiting this planet on one of his lazy days, and couldn''t bother to remember and learn the names of the original months, and thus changed them all to the ones on Earth, where he spent most of his time in, without anyone noticing. What the hell is with him changing the originality of this world. Chapter 4 - Episode 3 Every Hero needs an Award Everyone has an Award, but that raises the question of why isn''t the power balance of this world not in constant turmoil. As someone will always have a strong award that can raise a challenge to the throne? Well, it seems there are two reasons why this isn''t the case. Reason number 1: A strong army. Having a strong award doesn''t always mean you can challenge an army, especially the emperors'' Royal bodyguards who have their strong awards. Reason number 2: Not everyone can awaken their award. Everyone has the potential to have an award, but the problem is no one can awaken it, without a Memorial stone. No person can awake their award without Memorial Stone. You might think as long as someone goes through a traumatic event they can awaken their Award, but no, this is not how it works. To awaken one needs a memorial stone. Therefore this leads to a question how do you get one? Pay a price and you can get almost everything in the world, memorial stones are the same as well, albeit being a bit expensive, memorial stones can be bought by anyone that has the money. Although the price to buy one is the same as buying a private jet back in Earth. So this leads us to what is a Memorial Stone or what is it made of? Trying to inquire the source of Memorial stone is capital punishment in every part of the world, so no one other than the emperor and few high nobles know what a Memorial stone is. Anyone who knows what Memorial stone will be hunted down and their fate remain to be known. Every 5 years memorial stones are bought to the empire. The first right to use it goes to the emperor''s children, followed by the nobles, then the Emperor''s army. The decision to use it to awaken your award is given to every prince or princess at the age of 10. However, it seems like the head butler strongly advised John to reject the offer to use it and only use it at the age of 15, when he was offered one at the age of 10. Being the na?ve kid he was he trusted butler Smith and never used it at age 10. But as he grew older he got frustrated when his other siblings started to show off their powers while he could only watch on from the side. Couple that with his rebellious attitude when he is in his teens, he often questioned the decision of the butler and even argued with the butler often. This caused John to often avoid the butler and not talk to him. However John wasn''t a waste or useless prince, in fact, he is the kind of boy you will call as teacher''s pet. Always trying working hard to learn and finish his homework set by his teachers rather than spend time enjoying with friends. The main reason for that is John was a loner. His siblings often stayed with their maternal family, they rarely came to stay in the palace until the age of 10, where they officially have to live in the palace. However due to John being looked after by the emperor''s butler, he was always living inside the palace, surrounded by older people, and not going out much as the restriction for leaving and entering the palace is strict. After the age of 10 when other prince and princess came to live in the palace, John found it much harder to talk to other kids. As living with adults made it hard for him to talk to them, along with him, not awakening his powers gave the kids even more of reason to avoid him. Thus John watched as each day his siblings, and the adults all talked about going out or enjoying their time with their friend, he too yearned for them to even ask him to come and join them. He wanted to go out with friends, he dreamed of going with them, so he decided to get their attention. He knew he couldn''t impress them with an award as he hasn''t awakened them, so he decided to work hard in his academics, getting perfect marks in each subject set by the royal tutors. He did get their attention but not the attention he wanted, they avoided him even more of after each year''s result was posted. He didn''t know why but finally one day he understood, all of the young prince and princess get scolded by their maternal family each day telling them to work hard like him and not fool around. This caused the kids anger, and they could not direct it at their elder so they directed it at him, but they could never hurt him due to him being in the palace ground so they avoided him like a plague. For this reason, John wanted to awaken his award and the cause of his argument with butler every now and then. He didn''t want to seem like a misfit freak, all he wants is friends. Thus John waited 5 long and tedious years for him to finally awake his award. While others wanted to awaken their award for power he wanted an award to use it as a reason to make friends. But before he could even awaken his award, his life was taken away from him. All he remembers is that he was awoken by a sound near his bed before a hand grabbed and blocked his airway. He tried to move the hand away but the other hand of the assailant subdued him. He suffocated slowly and painfully while pushing against the mattress of the bed to get up and make some kind of noise. He knew he will die if this went on, so for the first time in his life he pleaded to the so-called deities that have been there to help those in need, but they never even responded to him. Till his last moment, his only wish was surviving for 1 more day, just to awaken his award so he can make friends, even if it''s for 1 day, he will have someone to call a friend before he leaves. But no one came other than death and her eternal darkness with it, but death left him as well, and the last thing he saw was a small light. "What a tragic life? All he wanted was friends, yet the people among him wanted his ruin. Compared to him my life on earth was 100 times better. The least he should be given is another happy life." Mused Ez. "Sorry John I am going to use your name from now on, but I am not going to carry on with your wish. You wanted to make friends with everyone using your award, but I came to survive, but I will make everyone who ignored your hand of friendship regret." Murmured Ez while still lying down. Chapter 5 - Episode 4 Does the Champion make the Afro? Or does Afro make the Champion? So this body''s killer has a scar in his palm. When he held his arm over John''s, no my mouth, I could feel a scar in his hand, I should review that part of memory again to see if there are any more clues I can use to identify him. As expected there is nothing, he covered his face, with the night aiding him there is no way I can spot his face in the dark. So the only clue I got is to look for a scar on a palm among the people living inside the palace. The most obvious people an assassin can hide is among the guards of the palace, who has easy access in and out of the palace. But the problem is that most trained soldiers inside the palace wear gauntlets as part of their uniform. Besides that, they get changed and rest in the barracks located outside the palace. But I have to make sure that once I am looking for the person who killed me in barrack then I have to quickly find him or he will either escape, attempt another assassination or the person who send him might kill him. Going in and out of the palace every day to check on the guards is not possible, as the palace has strict rules about entering and leaving unless you are part of the squad who patrols around the palace. So how can I find the killer without alerting him? Wait I don''t need to find him, he will come to me on his own in a few days. When he comes to know that I am still alive he will come to finish the job. But what was the motive of the person behind him? Who cares, when I awaken my award tomorrow, I will get that scarred hand to cough up everything he knows? I hate thinking. Suddenly Ez or John froze "Tomorrow, awakening of the award" I forgot a piece of important information the award ceremony. The memorial stone was called memorial because once someone''s power was awakened through the memorial stone, it either wrote or showed a visual demonstration of the power awakened to everyone present. Thus the reason, most Award users are part of the emperor''s army as most award users are awakened in front of the Emperor. This is a major problem, they will know what my power is. If the memorial stone as much as writes or shows a visual demonstration of my power then that means they will know what I am capable of, that shouldn''t happen, even though my power is useless at letting me survive, if the emperor comes to know about what my power can do I can kiss my freedom goodbye? Should I run away? Yeah getting in might be easier but getting out of this palace is impossible without an award "What should I do about my power?" Ez started to panic as he held his hand on his face, to help him think. "Wait, the power that''s it" My power might not be an award necessarily, as it''s a wish so maybe I don''t need to awaken it. I can maybe already activate it. "Let''s try" Ez slowly closed his eyes as he imagined activating his powers, but nothing came to him. He tried again, but nothing happened other that night slowly ending its reign over the world. Darn it, guess I have to go through awakening. But how do I stop the stupid stone from showing my power? Should I cancel my awakening? No, I can''t, as soon as that assassin learns I am alive he will come for me, if I don''t have at least an award then I am done for. Ez spent rest of what left of the night thinking how to stop the awakening ceremony but came up with nothing. Morning arrived, Ez dressed up even before his maids came in to dress him up. He for the first time looked since coming in this world looked into the mirror. What he saw was a thin and frail, teenager with black eyes and small black afro looking back at him. His smooth olive skin reflected in the mirror made him smiled a little. "At least I am an afro, that is the only consolation I have." He wore his white shirt and black trousers. He tucked in the shirt leaving the collar open from the bow tie. He wore the black cuffs of his shirt while leaving the vests behind and put on his suit. He walked out of the room into hallway drizzled with sunlight entering from the windows. He walked straight towards the dining hall, where breakfast will be ready and served in 30 minutes. He opened the door to the dining room and saw that it was empty, but all the plates and cutleries were set out 1 hour ago. Not a speck of water could be seen on the cutleries as most of it has been dried with a cloth and rest must have evaporated with the sunlight coming in from the window. He took a seat on the long curved table that has enough room to accommodate 10 people and waited while thinking. After a while, the door opened and a familiar person feasted to John''s eyes. Dressed smartly without a speck of dirt or crease in a shirt or on his black suit. Tall and well built, but old with hairs on his head and a small white stubble. "You forgot your vest, go back and get it on John. Today is your awakening, therefore dress smartly before you go in front of the emperor." The gravelly but recognisable voice of the butler was perceived by John''s ear. "I am old enough Smith, I don''t need anyone to dress me up or tell me what to do from now on" John answered back. Seeing how confident John was in front of him and not listening to him Smith replied "Remember John, the moment you set your hands on the memorial stone, my protection leaves you. If you want to go like that and incur the attention of any nobles that are feeling picky feel free to." Smith replied as he sat on the chair at the edge of the table. Smith observed John, while John sat there ignoring Smith''s advice and thinking about what to do for the awakening ceremony. Smith noticed that the timid boy that was usually in front of him has changed, he also saw that mark of red on his right cheek. Suddenly the butlers'' aura changed his eyes squinted as he looked at John''s cheek. There was an awkward silence for 10 minutes while they waited for food. Even after the food arrived Smith kept on observing John, without touching his food. All the while John casually ate his food as he usually does. After wiping John''s hand on the napkin John got up. "I am going out to wash my face" John walked out of the door adjacent to the one he entered. As soon as he left the butler got up and went to where John sat. He touched the seat where John sat for a few seconds and reflected on the slight change of behaviour of John. Then he proceeded to walk out of the dining room towards John''s bedroom. He opened to door and observed the room, finding nothing suspicious he was about to leave when he suddenly saw John''s maid, Metilda. A 25-year-old young woman, who has been taking care of John for the past 11 years. "Good morning Sir" lightly the maid bowed while greeting him Smith nodded and left when he suddenly perked up his ears and heard Metilda murmuring "What is with Lord John today? It is just an awakening ceremony, why is he so stressed. First, he messes up his bedsheets then he dresses on his own and forgets his vests." Smith stopped walking and went back into John''s room. "Metilda!" "Ahh, I am sorry Sir, I won''t say that in public about Master John" panic was thrown on Metilda''s face as she knew she has been caught talking behind her Masters'' back. Butler Smith nodded and asked seriously "The bedsheets in the morning how were they laid out? Show me" "Huh" Metilda was confused and almost didn''t believe what she was hearing "I said show ME!" the butler''s voice raised and the colour of his eyes changed to red. "Yes, sir. Sorry" Whimpered Metilda as she frighteningly threw the bed sheet around as she found it in the morning "Like this sir. This was roughly how I found it" Metilda replied as she waited for a reply from the butler. Butler Smith observed how the bed sheet was pushed to the end of the bed almost as if the leg has been pushing it back to the end of the bed. He slowly walked forward touched the part where John''s foot would have rested in the bed and felt it. His hands shivered for a moment before he clenched it. *thud* the butler turned back to see Metilda lying on the floor eyes rolled back while the fright in her face is clearly shown. The butler loosened his hands as Metilda face turned back to a normal peaceful sleep. He sat Metilda up and went out of John''s room. He waited for a while before saying in a serious and piercing voice quietly"Inform his majesty, there is a new player in the game." Chapter 6 - Episode 5-The Royal Ignorance "Argggh you know what let''s wait and see what happens, worst comes to worst, I may have to stay as someone slave for 25 years before I get my freedom." Mused Ez while he was walking his way to the ceremonial hall. When he came back after washing his face, he couldn''t find Smith anywhere in the room. From what he remembers from Johns memory, Ez was to go with the Smith who would guide him to the ceremonial room. Each person that is being awakened must be accompanied by another person. Since John is a loner and has no other relatives, he must go with butler Smith. Waiting around for 5 more minutes he saw Smith coming back. As soon as he saw Smith''s face he felt something was off. Usually, Smith would have a poker face on even when he is arguing with John, but today for the first time he saw the butler that seemed to be angered by something. "Let us go" Ordered Smith. Not wanting to irritate Smith, even more than he is now Ez followed him. The palace and its surrounding area are massive almost to the point of being able to fit in a large village in it. It is located in the eye of the capital, almost being isolated from the capital and having its own economy going, separate from the capital. This is done this way for security measures, along with the fact that everyone that comes inside or lives inside the palace is filthy rich and any trade done inside the palace is worth a huge amount of gold. Therefore, instead of having everyone carrying with them buckets of gold, they will have a different currency used inside the palace. The currency used inside the palace is called Platinum Chips or chips for short. It''s like chips used in the casino, where there are different chips with a different denomination so is the plat chips, where they have different denomination written on top of the chips. The denomination John is aware of so far are 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500. John has only ever dealt with chips in the single digits, and rarely saved up enough of pocket money to see his wealth come into double digits. He has never handled or seen chips with a 3-digit denomination, but he is aware from the conversation of guards that there are chips with values of 100 and 500. John often spent the pocket money he received back into his own studies, buying all sorts of teaching materials for self-study, notebooks etc. This was the reason why John excelled in his studies better than his siblings, as they spent their money in partying and going out. It was good to say that John was always 1 to 2 years ahead of them in the material they were supposed to learn. Starting from age of 10 everyone inside the palace must start completing their compulsory courses such as basic Maths, Language education, history, politics and pass the exams set by their tutor every year. No one can skip a year no matter how much of a genius they are. All materials required for that year are provided by the tutor. But any materials outside of that year must be bought with your own funds. Thus, the reason John spent most of his money on books. John wasn''t a genius, but he was extremely hardworking to the point where he is now ahead of everyone by almost 2 years. Although starting from the age of 15 everyone can drop out of their compulsory courses and decide what to do. 99% of the royal kids tend to drop out and do whatever they want, which usually tend to be wasting off. However, those who stick with compulsory courses from the age of 15 to 20 usually are considered extremely clever, however, those who manage to finish it at the age of 20, during the rule of John''s father has only been 2 people. Those who manage to finish those 5 extra years were always applauded by the emperor that he awarded them often with titles, land, wealth and even gave them prominent positions. Ez observed from his memories, the contents that John was learning. It was the teaching material for the age of 17. From the Mathematics side of things, it seemed easy for Ez. Language and history can be managed as well, but the problem is politic. If there is one subject or thing Ez abhorred, its politics, due to having to think and plan every step meticulously and often be 2 steps ahead of everyone. This was the reason it took him 100,000 years to plan his escape from the transmigration. This lazy behaviour of Ez is the result of having everything he needed without having to think or plan in heaven. The first few years Ez got into heaven he spent most of his time planning, thus got about 70% of his plan complete, with some research done, but after a while, he became too complacent and left it for later. Thus, the situation he is in. "This is why procrastinating is always a bad thing to do. No use in crying over spilt milk" thought Ez. He observed the long hallway, endowed with red carpet, ornaments and artworks worth a lot of chips. Soon he along with Smith arrived at the entrance to the ceremonial hall. For a name like ceremonial hall, the door is standard instead of being grand and huge. Smith turned the handle and opened the door. There was no need to knock, as all the people inside the room are considered monsters being able to hear perfectly if someone were to arrive outside the door. What greeted Ez''s eyes were the usual standard he usually read or watched from novels or shows, lots of people staring at him. The ceremonial hall was designed to look like a lecture hall. At the very back sat the Emperor, dressed grandly in a white royal suit, followed by nobles in every row leading down to the stage. From what Ez could see he noticed that most nobles clamoured to sit at the back closer to the emperor, to suck up to him. Therefore, leaving the front 2 rows empty. John followed Smith to sit in one of the empty rows at the front. He could feel a few eyes were on him. When he entered John observed the face of most of the noble. From what he could see, none of them was shocked or surprised. This meant 3 things: 1- The assassination wasn''t ordered by the nobles, 2- The one who ordered the hit is extremely good at controlling his emotions, 3- The noble who ordered the hit, must have been informed of John''s survival somehow. Knowing the bad luck I have it must be 3. There is bound to be a traitor where I live, otherwise, an assassin would have no idea of how to enter where I live, and navigate through the hallways, and enter my room quietly to kill John, and leave without alerting anyone. This means there must be an accomplice in John''s house. I must somehow smoke out that vermin, otherwise I might have to always be on guard, and fear for my life. Soon 10 other pair walked in and sat behind Butler Smith and Ez. Due to Ez spending most of his time thinking and cooking up a plan to survive, he didn''t get a clear view of who entered and didn''t notice the growing murmuring behind him. "Ehem" Soon everyone in the hall quieted down as the Emperor stood up and walked toward the front of the hall. As he walked past Ez, he looked past butler Smith at John, who seemed to be contemplating something, ignoring his presence. "As expected" inaudibly whispered the Emperor with a smirk on his face. Chapter 7 - Episode 6-The Usual Silence Ez felt a powerful presence looking at him, he looked up to see the emperor walking towards the front. His physique suggests that he should be in his fifties. But because of how well maintained and smart he looks and dresses he seems charmingly in his early 30''s. His pepper hair blends in well with his clean sharp face. He could still see part of a fading smirk pasted on his face, Hmm, that is quite interesting. The emperor taking an interest in me. It is an open secret to everyone that the emperor is known for his general lack of his interest in kids. He seemingly doesn''t care enough about his children, it was because of this Stella''s friends had to beg the emperor to protect John, and that too at a great price. So an emperor who could give rat''s tail about his children was looking at me to the point where I could feel his gaze. Could it be he found something unusual about me? But that is not possible, even though God is lazy during his holidays if he says he will do something he will make sure to do a thorough job when doing it. Along with that so far I have not acted out of character, except for not wearing that vest, so there should be no reason for him to be suspicious of ... Oh feather of Archangels, I screwed up big time. Not only did I forget to rearrange the bedsheet after the struggle I had with the assassin, but instead I gave a reason for Smith to go and check on me, by not wearing the stupid vest. He must have seen the way the bedsheets have been aligned in my room and concluded that there must have been an assassin trying to kill me. No wonder his face was furious when I saw him later. Wait does that mean they think I am an animated dead person because there is no way a scholar like John, who has no award to survive an assassination attempt. Then instead of killing me why have, they let me live. That means they have conclusive proof I am a living person, and they believe I must have survived somehow, or they are trying to catch the person who animated me and trying to find the motive using my actions. If it was me I would say the likely option is the second one. You have got to be kidding me. Not even been 24 hours and this body has been killed, raised back from the dead to be sent along to buy a ticket to visit death again. My bad luck meter must be exploding right about now from the overcharge. This is why I should have taken a guardian angel, stupid me and my procrastination. I should have just stayed here for a few years with my guardian angel and just went back to heaven the normal way. But instead, I had to try and attempt a shortcut. Now I must find a way to escape this situation or I am done for. Oh, hang on the memorial stone, that is it. Any award that is related to the dead is classified as necromancy award. Necromancers can raise the dead, even raise those who have awakened their award, and form a formidable undying loyal troop of award users. But anyone they raised who has not awakened their award can never awaken it, no matter if they have memorial stone or not. The memorial stone can prove that I am alive and not a dead person by showing everyone that I have an award. But the problem is my award itself. If they come to know of my award then I am bound to be the slave of the emperor. So, the choice I got to face is whether to not use a memorial stone and get killed by the emperor for a possibility of being undead or show my award and become a slave for the next 25 years. Obviously, the choice is being a slave, it''s a no brainer as I have no intention of dying. "I thank everyone for gathering here today for the awakening of the younger generation..." The Emperor started with his speech and went on for 5 minutes, concluding with "Now, I would like each of the 11 people to come forward one at a time and awaken their awards." Then he went off the stage back to his seat inviting another person with a white robe up to the stage. It was strange seeing someone wear a robe as most people here are wearing a suit (which is the result of God implementing his fashion sense in this world again I believe). He didn''t speak anything as he just waited there for people to come forward. The order to receive the awakening wasn''t set, as anyone can go up first. I decided to go first, might as well get this done and over with instead of worrying and stressing about it while the other 10 participants awaken. I stood up and went Infront the man. There was no need to waste formality on kneeling or praising the emperor, as the emperor along with the nobles are all more anxious in finding out what the awards awakened today are. The man then took out a small white square stone tablet, the size of a adults palm, out of nowhere and said without any emotions "Place a drop of your blood on the stone, after that hold the stone with both your hand.". then he passed me a needle to prick my finger. Once I placed the blood on the smooth surface of the stone I held it with both my hand. I don''t know if I should feel for some mysterious force or close my eyes or the usual clich¨¦ things that happen in novel or shows. So I stood there awkwardly for 1 minute while everyone was staring at the stone. After 1 minute everyone started to gasp and whisper to the person next to them, soon the hall started to get noisy. I knew this was the moment where the emperor probably says silence, and I officially start my journey as a slave. "SILENCE!" ordered the typically predictable emperor. "Magi Jacob are the results of the memorial stone true?" the emperor anxiously questioned the person next to me, so his name seems to be Jacob. I turned around to face him and nearly laughed. He was all serious a moment ago, and now his face is wide open with eyes bulging out. Recovering out of his shock he replied "My lord the stone cannot be false. I have never thought I would see this in my lifetime." ''Lifetime''? What is he saying? Has a similar ability to mine appeared before? For the first time since I dropped my blood on the stone, I looked down to it. What I saw stupefied me? It was the same stone with no changes. "He is Awardless my lord" replied Jacob, and his reply caused all hell to break loose in the hall. Chapter 8 - Episode 7-The True situation "Darn it" If the word ''Awardless'' means what it says then, instead of queuing for buying a ticket to deaths domain, I have just received special privilege of visiting death in express train with a V.I.P front row seat. Can my luck get any worse than this? Wait, but why is everyone looking at me sympathetically, although the Emperor is trying to hide his emerging relief, he too is partially showing a sympathy including the apathetic butler. This is not how the script should be moving. Shouldn''t I be killed off instantly or find at least the emperor or the butler on guard, after being suspected of being an undead? Why are they all relaxed, and showing a completely opposite emotion instead? Could it be that they don''t consider me as an undead? But that is not possible, why would they think I am not undead but instead managed to survive the assassination despite being extremely weak? Why would they think like that, unless... Oh so that''s how it is, that explains the emperor''s interest in me, and the relief plastered on his face after he found out I am awardless, amidst the sympathy. They think I have a backer. The Emperor has set something like a competition to choose his next heir, to his throne. This is because although he looks young and healthy he is counting what is remaining of his life span. Not much is known about what is happening, but there are often nights where everyone is awoken by the guards and palace maid''s running around like a headless chicken, saying something like ''quickly find the royal healers as his illness is acting up again.'', since roughly about 6 years ago. Ever since 6 years ago he has officially started what is known as the next emperor challenge. Any of the royal children can participate in this competition and emerge as the next emperor. But to join in the competition one needs a suitable title bestowed by the emperor or achieve or do something great that receives the recognition of many people. So far only two people have managed to participate in the challenge while numerous others desperately try to enter the game but failed and kept on trying. Usually fulfilling either of the 2 conditions is a task that should take years, but 2 people managed to achieve it within 1 year of the competition. The first is the crown prince also called the favoured son of the emperor. The emperor loves the crown prince due to the reason he is the only son of the late Empress, who passed away 20 years ago after giving birth to him. Thus, he interfered in the competition and directly gave the crown prince a title and achievement, to let him enter the competition early and get a head start, only 1 month after the competition started. However, this move of his greatly annoyed and troubled the nobles, especially the commandment nobles, so they thought since the emperor can interfere so, can we. So, they waited patiently for a participant that can challenge the emperor''s decision, and so they waited for 9 months before finding a person. He was called the 2nd prince, also known as the rising star of the empire. As soon as the nobles saw his talent many went and supported him, and thus forced the emperor to give him a title and achievement, which he was reluctant to give. Since then many nobles saw the advantage they hold if they supported the right candidate and chose a side between the 2 participants. However, many other nobles decided not to participate in this and stayed neutral. But some among them occasionally tries to support new participants that might have a chance to enter the game, especially the maternal family of many royal children. Therefore, the emperor must think I have a backer, who protected me from an assassin, he must have thought my backer and his opposers think highly of me and my chances to enter the competition, therefore my backer''s opposer sent an assassin after me. But since I was found to be an awardless he expects my backer to drop out from supporting me or wasting his resources on an awardless, therefore indirectly avoiding an upcoming competition for his favoured son, thus the relief on his face. But that too still doesn''t explain the factor of how they excluded me as being an undead? Hang on, what is the most obvious difference between undead and living? Heat. Of course, the undead doesn''t have body temperature while the living does. The butler must have somehow noticed my body temperature, but he never touched me or walked close enough to feel my body temperature. So that leaves me with the conclusion him either having an application of his award that can detect body temperature or ... Of course, my seat in the dining room. He must have felt the warmth of my chair when I went to wash my face. The butler has a unique award called the mirror. He can see through the disguise and illusion of everyone and everything. Nothing can be hiding in front of him as he is able to know a person''s true personality, behaviour and how they naturally look. So, he must have used it on me after he found it suspicious of John answering back, as John can argue back but never answer back or refuses. He must have seen the change in behaviour and personality, so he must have thought of me as an undead being remotely controlled by a necromancer. Therefore, to get the conclusive proof he must have felt the heat in my seat at the dining table and concluded that something must have happened overnight to change my personality drastically. Thus, he must have visited my room and saw the disorganised room and concluded a failed assassination attempt. Wow, I became careless for one moment and I was nearly drawn into a crazy political battle between the emperor and his nobles. I seriously must get rid of this lazy habit of mine, and start being serious about the situation I am in. Now the problem is this weird situation I am in. I should have my award unlocked but despite that my memorial stone is blank. Could it be one of those legendary clich¨¦ scenes where the protagonist power is too op that the appraisal stone can''t even show it? Hmm, must be I must try activating my power later when I am alone. But the question I must ask here is, is it good for me that they think I am an awardless or not? "Please quiet down!" The emperor ordered, he then faced Magi Jacob and asked, "Can you check if he is an awardless Magi?" The magi nodded his head and turned towards me and spoke: "Raise towards me any one-off your hand''s boy." Oh, this could be troublesome if I raise my hand, but I shouldn''t hesitate otherwise they will suspect I will know something about my award not coming up on the memorial stone. So, therefore, I did as he instructed. He felt my left hand for a while, then rubbed it, after a while, he sighed. He turned towards the emperor and replied "No reaction from the Magi particles my lord, which means he is an awardless" The emperor thought for a while before facing Smith "Smith you know what to do." The butler stood up he looked towards me and said, "Follow me John", then he walked out of the ceremonial hall, without looking back. Chapter 9 - Episode 8-A Shower of Sympathy "John, do you know what an awardless mean?" asked Smith as he sat across me in the dining hall. "I presume it means what it says, having no award." I replied back "Not just that being awardless means more than that, before that do you know the source of award." questioned Smith "No" Every power has a source, for example, the source of cultivation in normal cultivation novels is chi/qi/ki or the element that lets people use magic in magic fantasy T.V. shows is mana. Like that, I believe there should be a source for this award to. But strange enough I haven''t been able to detect what the source is when I used my soul to scan the energy source of this world when I arrived here first. So, this means the energy source of this world must be different from the typically encountered energy sources of other worlds. "No one knows who discovered it first, or who harnessed it first or even who named it. As long as we have known we have been aware of this element. It''s called the Principle particle. This particle once in contact with people will awaken their award." So it''s like being exposed to radiation and slowly mutating the gene to give special ability, like a certain green giant. This principle matter once exposed to the body mutate the body to give a certain ability. "But then why doesn''t everyone have access to award if everyone is exposed to it" "Because contrary to what people usually believe principle particles don''t exist in this world directly." "What?" Ok now I am stupefied, an energy source that doesn''t exist in this world can come here and give people superpower. "So is memorial stone a condensed form or principle then?" I asked since that should be the only logical explanation. Since everyone must use a memorial stone to awaken, but that leaves the question why was the notion that everyone one has a potential to awaken passed along, if there are people like me who can''t awaken their award? "Not quite, what I am about to tell you is purely theory and listen carefully, as it may be a lot to understand and take in" Okay now this is getting interesting "We believe Principle particles exist in another realm, that is ever so closely connected and bound to our world. We call this realm the Dream realm, because of it granting people all sorts of dream-like abilities called award. The particles can only enter our world through a special conduct, and we believe it to be our soul. But our souls are like closed gates in the realm where Principle exists, and to open that gate we need a key." Wait that is strange, as I feel no gates or realm thingy within my soul now or even when I first arrived here. Smith took a few seconds of break, before carrying on and asking me a question "Do you know what magi particles are?" "Yes, they are the particles that enable a magi like Jacob to perform feats similar to certain award abilities like shooting a fireball, or casting an earth wall etc." "Correct" nodded Smith "Unlike Principle particle, magi particles are of this world. Those who train to be magi can accumulate their magi particles and grow stronger and cast what is known as magic, to even be able to challenge people who have really strong awards. Magi have certain ranks as we have for award users." Once someone has awakened their award, they are capable of evolving/upgrading their power, 11 times. These 11 times are denoted as ranks. Someone who has just awakened his power will start with Rank 0. If he manages to upgrade/evolve his power once after he has awakened, he will be a Rank 1 Award user, and if he managed to upgrade/evolve again he will be a Rank 2 and so forth till the maximum of Rank 11. This is the reason why no award once awakened is never looked down or exalted upon. Because once, that award is upgraded or evolved in the right direction to the max rank it has the capability of causing massive destruction. But if it is evolved or upgraded in the wrong direction and it will cause no harm to even a fly. For example, an award like having nice handwriting once evolved/upgraded in the right direction can have an ability like killing someone off by writing their name down. A godly award like controlling the weather can be upgraded/evolved to the stage of only being able to summon soft clouds to sleep on. The only way to upgrade is to imagine the direction you want your award to go in, in a desperate situation or use it a lot of times and reach the threshold to rank it up. You can''t imagine the end result of your award straight away but must go through it step by step. For example, a person with an award that can generate electricity may want the end result of his ability to summon devastating lighting upon his enemy from far away. Thus, to do that for his first rank he has to evolve his ability to summon electricity outside of his body. Then next few ranks he can upgrade his range of summoning electricity outside of his body. Then next rank he can evolve his ability to make all electricity he generates to go in a downwards direction, instead of the random web-like direction of lightings. Then next evolution he can choose to evolve his electricity into lightning. Then for the last few, he can just choose to strengthen it. Thus, ending with the desired effect of the award. He can also choose to evolve his ability to generate electricity, to simulate his body cells or control electrical impulse in his body, to make him faster, stronger and quicker to respond and think if he has the necessary knowledge. The possibility for a single award is quite close to endless being only limited to one''s imagination and knowledge. However, if you were to lose grasp on what you are imagining your power to be (like being knocked unconscious while evolving your power), then the award will choose to go in any direction it wants, either to upgrade/evolve randomly in any way, thereby making an electricity award turn into a human lightbulb award. Therefore, it is important to make sure no one is around you to disturb you while ranking up your power. "Magi users have ranks from Rank 1 to 11, like an award user. But their Rank is primarily measured by their accumulation of magi particles, and secondarily their ability to fight an award user of the same rank." Said Smith as he awakened me from my thought process "We believe these magi particles to be very attracted and at the same time hated by the principle particles. The reason for that is because magi particles are the key to open the gates of Dream realm to let principle particles into our soul, thus giving us an award for freeing it. This is also the reason why we believe the Dream realm and our world is closely connected and inseparable. The reason we believe that principle particles hate magi particles is that, once someone awakens their award, they lose all their accumulated magi particles and their ability to accumulate their magi particle" "So how does that correlate with me being awardless." As soon as I asked this I could see sympathy cropping up in Smiths'' face. What is with all this sympathy showering me today? "John, magi particles can only be detected by your soul..." paused Smith. Why is this old man making so many pauses, does he want me to figure something out? Look old man I have no idea what you are trying to imply here Probably because of the clueless look on my face he sighed and carried on "The principle particle and magi particle have one thing in common..." "They both interact in the soul, while the soul act as a catalyst for them. What I am trying to say here is that John, there are 2 reasons for you being an awardless: One your soul is damaged or Two..." I interrupted him "I don''t have a soul." Chapter 10 - Episode 9-Now you see me, Now you dont "But that makes no sense, how can someone exist without a soul?" I asked Smith confusedly "I am not sure, but it is theorised that people who are awardless had their soul damaged or destroyed after they were born, due to your souls being extremely reactive to magi particles. If magi particles are not accumulated and controlled properly it can cause severe damage to your souls. Due to your souls attracting magi particles so madly upon being born without any control it caused the vessel which is your soul to break and sometimes even shatter. The reason you are still alive when you don''t have a soul could be because of the remnant fragments of your soul is keeping you alive. Usually, people who are awakened as awardless don''t tend to live long, living only for as long as a maximum of 15 years, by using legendary healing awards, before your organs start to fail, one by one. " Oh great, this is starting to scare me. I really should make sure, as soon as possible that my award is awakened. Otherwise, I am not sure what I would do with 15 years of a deadline when I need to live for 25 years. "John do you know how we came to the conclusion of you lacking a complete soul instead of finding another theory such as this being a unique disease or condition?" I spent some time thinking before I answered: "Could it be similar cases of people with multiple organ failures have appeared before?" "Indeed although it is an extremely rare condition, we can replicate this condition artificially, it appears in people especially in magi apprentices who somehow, lost control of their magi particle accumulation. Although those people tend to live longer for about 30 years minimum before their organs start to collapse. The reason awardless having to live a lot less could be easily assumed right?" "Due to their soul''s remnant fragment barely keeping them alive since childhood, during awakening, they force their soul or a broken vessel to carry magi particle and make the soul do extra workload like opening a gate to dream realm. This causes the remaining lifespan to shorten?" "Correct" Before he could talk I asked him a question that I have been wanting to ask. "Have you seen a person that is naturally born with a destroyed or damaged soul that hasn''t awakened then?" "People like you are extremely rare John. They only appear roughly once every 200 years. Most of the times they don''t awaken and tend to live till the age of 50 before their organs slowly start to give way. We have a special name for these group of people, they are called Soulless. Do you know what the most terrifying aspect of this condition is John?" "Slow and painful death?" "No, at first the pain must be a lot to bear, but after a while, you will get used to it, in fact, your body will put every last effort in attempting to survive, even if your mind wants to give up. But the terrifying aspect of this condition is that your body will just disappear from this world as if it never existed. You can be out shopping with your family and friends, and you could be separated for a while, and at that moment you could die and your body will disappear from this world. While this is happening, your family or friends will be looking for you. They will never know whether you passed away or if you just wandered off, or if something bad happened to you. Nothing will be left behind showing that you existed other than memories of you." I spent some time contemplating what he said before asking him "How long have I got?" "I would suggest you find any good healers, otherwise you won''t last for more than 5 years maximum. From the resources, you have even if you find a good healer you won''t be able to hire them. So the best thing to do that I suggest is getting the backing of someone who can find and hire the best healer in the whole empire so that you can live for at least 15 long years John." I should have expected this coming. He is basically telling me to go and tell sell out my secret backer to the emperor and then emperor will take care of me. But the problem is old man I don''t even have a secret backer. How the hell am I supposed to sell out a backer I don''t have. Wait why am I even worrying about this, I should be award user no need to worry. "Smith, can I ask you one last question?" I asked Smith while putting up with the most hopeless and lost face Smith nodded, "Why did you stop me from awakening at the age of 10?" Smith struggles for a few seconds to answer my question before replying "I have to go John but before I go I will tell you one thing. My deal with the emperor was to protect you till the day you were awakened, but even though you didn''t awaken you still attempted an awakening, therefore my protection for you ends today. However, due to the negligence of mine, I will help you out if you have any request I am capable of fulfilling." Saying that he left. Instead of usually walking back to his room he instead walked towards the exit. Knowing that he will never be here taking care of me, tear welled up my eyes. He extended his protection period just for me by forcing me to awaken 5 years later. Even though I argued with him and he knew I hated him, he still stayed by me. I wanted to tell him not to go and stay by my side, as he is the only person that is a family for me, in this world. I wanted to tell him to be my side for the last few years of my life at least. Chapter 11 - Episode 10-The Game begins As if. Who in hell believes you old man? Even though I am not as good as God in cold reading, I too can do a bit of reading from your face. The moment you acted like you struggled to answer me, you nearly fooled me had I not saw an admiring, unwavering loyalty in your eyes. From that, it is easy to conjecture that the father of this body probably ordered you. For what reasons I can simply deduct. It is known when Stella passed away her teammates persuaded the emperor to have someone protect John, till he awakens. However, what most people don''t know is that the emperor is a man who hates not being in control of everything. I know this from the moment I saw him in the ceremonial hall, from the moment he looked at me while smirking, till he asked Smith to guide me out, I saw it all in his face, he was so glad that the puppet (me) that was under his control for so many years nearly left his control only to be back tightly in his grasp. So possibly Stella''s teammates most likely forced the emperor somehow to give in and send someone to protect me, when persuasion didn''t work. This probably must have made him so mad that he decided to ruin the future of the kid, which Stella''s teammates so desperately tried to protect. From this, I have learned one thing. The emperor doesn''t give a damn for his kids other than the one he likes (Crown Prince). Oh well not my problem, he will have to face the consequence of his actions one day. As for the thing about soulless and concept about the energy source of this world, I doubt what Smith said. I know he wasn''t lying and he was being completely honest with me. But the problem is if there is a person in this world who knows most about what a soul is it would be me. I know my soul better than anyone, and from what I can see, it is perfectly alright. Besides what do people think a soul is, a potato chip to break easily? The soul is the most indestructible thing in any universe and worlds. Trying to damage the soul will only damage the body, and thereby shortening the lifespan, but it won''t leave a scratch on the soul. Even masters of souls who are called necromancers think they can easily destroy or control a soul are wrong. What they actually destroy and control is the shell connecting a soul to the body, which is called the soul shell. They create what is known as a fake shell, and animate a body without any soul, but it is still a body with a brain, where part of its memory is located. So the animated body will have a chance to be aware of who it once was, thereby achieving a fake resurrection. Sometimes they put pressure on the soul shell of a living person to make them think that they are controlling their soul. The soul shell too is durable and powerful but not as much as a soul is. A single soul of an individual is beyond dimensions and concept and contains unlimited powers and purest form of all energy source, Divine energy. It is very easy to use, if you are aware of your soul''s existence, and can leave your body as a soul. But the problem is if someone were to leave the body to use the divine energy their soul shell will break, thus having a mortal death. And the only person who can repair it is God and the citizens of heaven. Herein lies the problem, most of the time anyone who witness God''s true form or heaven with their soul (which everyone will always do when they leave their body in soul form), they would never want to leave or go back to their mortal life, as staying in heaven is much better. Thus the reason God always using disguise to travel or on holidays, as using his true form will cause people who lay their eyes on him to mass suicide to leave their body and attempt to go to heaven. This is why it is very dumb to sell your souls to demons or people who claim to grant you any wish. As you are giving away something that is infinitely valuable to buy something that is not even worth a can of coke. Once you have sold your soul away, and you die, you will lose the claim on your freewill as a soul, and forever become a slave for someone else to use your soul''s power. Even though I can''t use my Divine energy, I can still use part of a soul''s capability to scan for this world''s energy source. I can detect no such thing as a principle or magi particles, most likely due to those particles being different from the common energy sources. But I can detect another realm, which should be the dream world that is connected to this world, other than that nothing else. Using a soul as a catalyst for magi particle, and become a gateway to another realm for principle particle. I don''t think that is possible as getting a soul to do something passively for you without first having full control of your soul is impossible, no matter how talented or genius you are. To get a soul fully under control you have to have broken your soul shell at least once, and be aware of your souls existence. And breaking a soul shell means death. That means the people of this world has got their understanding of how their energy source works wrong. I can use my soul to get a full understanding of this world. But the problem is I have to get full control of my soul by leaving this physical body. Even though as a citizen of heaven I am able to fix my soul shell, the condition God presented me with before leaving are still present in my mind, ''if you are to die before the 25 years are up via ... or any form of death''. If I leave this body I will break the soul shell, therefore it still being count as a death. So that means I have to do this the hard way by trial and error. Maybe if I experiment on my award I can through that arrive at a hypothesis what this dream realm is, and what this so-called magi and principle particles are, and how it works maybe? I got up from the dining room and went back to my bedroom. I made sure to close all windows and curtains, and the door to my room. After that, I lied on my bed, pulled the sheet over my head and pretended to be asleep. It never hurts to be prepared especially in a world where there are all sorts of abilities suited for spying, especially when the emperor is curious who the so-called backer of John might be. After 15 minutes of acting around, I closed my eyes and focused. Then I imagined activating my power as I described to Juliet. Then I imagined the face of the butler, and said "Sync". Nothing happened for a while. That is strange, maybe it is because the butler is too strong or might have some kind of shielding device that is able to interfere with all kind of awards, as he might also face constant attack from award users who wants to control him, to harm the emperor or get something impossible done. That mean I should pick an easy target, but who? Oh, I know. I closed my eyes again, but this time imagined the face of Metilda the maidservant of John. "Connect" I said as I imagined the power activating. Nothing happened again. Hmm, this is strange, why is it that nothing is happening. For the next few hours, I imagined all sort of people in my head from the memory of John and tried activating my power, but the end result was the same. "You have got to be kidding me." Don''t tell me he actually got his timing wrong again. Time doesn''t exist for God and the residents of heaven. And due to that, they exist in the past, present and future at the same time, in layman''s terms. Due to that a million years for normal people is can be like 1 second for the heavenly residents, or 1 second for normal people can be 100 years for the heavenly citizen. Thus part of the reason, along with his omniscience, why God is able to listen to the prayers and requests of all beings in existence and act accordingly. The problem is that he has gone on holiday, and therefore deactivated his omniscience and purposefully diluted time around him to enjoy his holiday. This means he probably has already granted my wish/power, but by the time it reaches me, it will probably take a long time, 100 years or if I am optimistic 1-year minimum. Unless he activates his omniscience and becomes aware that I have not received my power, I am stuck here causing my life to be in constant danger by an unknown assassin. Hang on, I awakened and received no award, does that mean that the condition of a ''soulless'' is going to be applied to me now? That means I have a minimum time of 5 years left. I really wish I had a guardian angel to give me some good luck at least. This is seriously making me annoyed, this is what it feels like to have a bad luck streak. So far I have no guardian angel, no power, I can''t even use my soul to send God a message and I might die in 5 years if I don''t find a good healer. In three words, I am screwed. Unless I go back to the emperor and get him to and ask him for help, but that means explaining the truth about my situation, of transmigrating and having no backer. I doubt that he will even believe that as he probably thinks I am trying to cover for my backer. Imagining the smirk on the face of the emperor as he rejects me, and thinking he has everything under his control is making me mad, all the frustration and anger of these whole events of today, I just direct it at the ignorant emperor. He thinks that he is the true puppet master, being able to control everyone perfectly according to his will. But let me tell you what emperor, you have never seen me angry have you. You see Mr Emperor I would have ignored and forgiven you for all these silly things you have done to John in the past. But the problem is your attitude today at the ceremonial hall instilled a seed. A seed of curiosity in me. This seed has grown into a large tree in a matter of minutes you see. You see I want to see the expression your face makes when you realise all that you controlled was never in your hands but lost in the sea of chaos. What do you think will happen when an unpredictable factor enters the stage you created and ruined the play you worked so hard to direct? Oh the expression on your face I am going to love it. Let''s see what makes your heart falter the most? Your power, your wealth, your fame? No none of this makes your heart falter more than your beloved, the Crown Prince. You see Emperor if I had my power as a citizen of heaven, or the power that I made through my wish, I would have left you alone, and forgiven you no matter what you would have done to me. But now you see this has turned into a game of survival, and the thing I most love is games. So come let''s play. Chapter 12 - Episode 11-A Mad Scientist of the magical world "Are you sure about this John?" Asked and incredulous Smith. "You are aware that you have not got long to live right? Maximum 15 years give or take?" "Yes, I want to enter the competition for the next heir." I replied back. I know I haven''t got long to live. But I have to grasp every single chance to live as long as possible, till one of the 2 things happen: 1 my power finally arrives or 2 find a way to live till 25 years. And the best chance to survive until these two things happen is by entering the competition. Once I enter the competition field, then by using my influence as a participant I can maybe make the emperor cough up the best healers in the empire to keep me alive. Although I am not still sure if the condition of soulless still apply to me as I might be an anomaly, I won''t take chances as I am still not sure how the rules and laws of this world might work. Even though it is God''s fault for the situation I am in, I still have to keep up with his conditions, otherwise, I will have to face the consequence of losing my right as heavens citizen. The butler sighed for and was silently staring at me for a few seconds before replying "Okay I can sign you up for entering the competition, and I will send you a notice tomorrow of your willingness to enter the competition. But you know the rules of the competition. To enter you have to either get a title or do something that receives a great recognition from the people." After saying this he left. After yesterday''s fiasco, I spent the whole day planning on what to do, and after that I sent someone to get Butler Smith, to inform of my decision to enter the competition. So now I have to either make the emperor get me a title, or get the nobles to support me and use them to make the emperor to let me into the competition. But the problem is who would support a dying person to enter a competition. For all, they know I could just disappear one day and incur them a massive loss for supporting me. This means I have to make an achievement so great that it gets to the corner of every ear in the empire. But what can I do to get the attention of every single person, quickly? Military? No, the emperor will do anything to sabotage all missions I undertake to stop me from creating any achievement. Education? A route I can take is completing the compulsory course from the age of 15 to 20. However, due to the unpredictable condition of my body, I don''t want to gamble with my time. That leaves with a choice I don''t like to make. I really do hope that I complete 25 years of life sentence so I can correct the mistakes that I committed using my soul power. Otherwise, I will have all these sins put on my shoulder, for my judgement if I fail. There has been a life form that has always evolved with all humans. No matter if the humans are at the peak of the highest technological era, or to the peak of the highest magical era or civilisation who has reached the peak of both areas of science and magic, no living being could ever escape this life form. As this life is capable of evolving with both magic and getting past the defence of science. If the question has been asked what has always been the natural enemy of humans then it will be Virus. Humans have developed or encountered virus in the void of space, or in the densest area of mana where no being can enter, or in both places. And I have seen the results of what these biological natural weapons are capable of, even wiping out a whole civilisation or race, is the least they have done. Although this world neither follows the rules of science nor the rules of mana, I have to figure out and create a virus that can attack spread themselves, so quickly that it will be hard to contain the virus, and get the manpower to heal the people. I could have created a virus that would have been immune to healing from both awards and magi, but to do that I need to understand how those two particles work, which I don''t currently know. The knowledge of this world about those two particles is partially wrong, so I don''t want to create a virus that I end up having no control over. So to do that I have to create or choose a virus from my memory that spreads itself extremely fast, and cause an attack to the body that causes them to be incapable of moving. Hmm, which ones should I use? How about Rioxin D? Rioxin D, it is a pretty weak virus that cropped up around 2150 of Earth. All it did was invade the hosts'' red blood cells. Then when the red blood cells duplicate itself at the end of its lifespan, the virus to duplicate itself using the blood cells. Then using the invaded blood cells, the virus absorbs the glucose travelling in the bloodstream, this causes severe fatigue to the body, as the body doesn''t receive enough energy, and sometimes have even caused severe organ failures and cardiac arrest. But the attack doesn''t end there, when a blood cell invaded by a virus reached its end of life, it will duplicate like all cells, but during this duplication the virus in the cell causes a chemical reaction with the blood cell to release a specific toxin. This toxin remains in the body and causes the release of white blood cells to attack the toxin. This causes white blood cells to be busy from defending other invading diseases and infection. Which then end up causing the host of the virus severe illness and other diseases on top of extreme fatigue. However, the reason why this virus wasn''t treated as much of nuisance was its rate of affecting the target was pretty slow, during the time the virus took to affect the target and cause these specific reactions, specific antiviral drugs were developed to attack these viruses. Another reason was that the technology of Earth was advance so much at that time that these types of virus were seen more like an annoying fly than of a threat. However, before doing any of this I need to gather lots information, like the ratio of award/ magi healers in each area of kingdom compared to the normal citizens, along with where the most and least impact would be in the kingdom once these viruses took effect. After that, I have to look for equipment to make both the virus and its cure. I have to make sure that making of the antiviral drug has to be extremely inexpensive and be available to the whole empire. Then once the virus has been spread and start to affect the kingdom to the point where riot would start, I can come to the stage developing a cure. Chapter 13 - Episode 12-The News "My lord I have news about the soulless." said a man in dark attire. The lord who was just addressed looked at the man from the papers lying on his desk, and signalled him to speak, then he went back to reading the paper. "The soulless has decided to enter the competition." Replied the man not even slightly bothered his lord his doing something else. Suddenly the lord stopped what he was doing and looked up. Slowly a smile crept up his face. "Oh, very interesting." ... An old man was lying down on his garden, enjoying the sun basking on his skin. Suddenly a leaf rustled among the trees. This distracted the serene smile on the old man''s face as he frowned. "It better be important news or you know what will happen" Warned old man as he didn''t even bother to look in the direction of the figure in the tree who was terrified of the warning. The messenger only hoped his message was pleasing to his lord''s ears. "John has decided to enter the competition?" "He what?!" Astonished at the news received the old man sat up. Then suddenly he turned towards the trees and asked: "Who is John by the way?" The messenger nearly facepalmed, hearing his lords reply. ''What is with this overdramatic reaction if you don''t even know who he is?'' ... "His Imperial Highness, you called for us?" A man in black armour asked as he and his fellow members of the squad knelt before the emperor. "I have news for you and your teams Seban" Replied the emperor with his static face. The group of 6 people suddenly perked their heads up. Seeing this the emperor laughed ''Look at you fools, where is the pride is and dignity you showed me 11 years ago is?'' "John decided to enter the competition." "What!?" The shock was plastered over everyone''s face. "Oh I thought you all will be happy to hear this, he might even have a chance to enter the competition you know? I thought I would inform you guys as you were the ones who killed his mother." ''Bastard'' thought every single one of the people kneeling down. ''John, just wait until we are done with this bastard'' thought Seban, the captain of the squad, as he glared at the floor with anger and rage. ... Inside a room, a man can be seen sleeping among the company of 2 women. Suddenly someone knocked on the door. As if the shadows were stretching a hand came out of the shadows. A well-built and tall man. His brown hair, with his small stubble face, slowly came out of the shadow and opened the door. "His highness is sleeping." Said the man that came out of the shadow. "I know Tom, I have been informed by his majesty to inform you something." Tom squinted his eyes. "Do you remember the person who has been ...?" "Just say it and stop dragging it on. I don''t have time to waste on you." Annoyance and anxiety flashed through Tom''s eyes as he interrupted the man, while he kept looking back at the man sleeping amongst the women. "John, the Soulless, has decided to participate in the competition." The messenger replied without being bothered by the reply from Tom. He knew that Tom hated staying more than 5 meters away from his Lord. Tom nodded thoughtfully before closing the door and walking back to the shadow near the beds. "Whoever he is, he won''t lay a hand on you, my lord." Said Tom as he finally disappeared into the shadows. On the footboard of the bed, a name can be seen. ''James the 3rd'' ... 2 people were having coffee in a restaurant. A young person who was charmingly beautiful with his long silk smooth blond hair, and blue eyes. The person sat opposite him was not as charming as the young person, he was old and mature, and seemed to be in his 30''s but the pressure and seriousness he induced around him were visible. Then soon a waiter came forward to the young man and said: "Your highness one of your siblings has decided to enter the competition." "Leave it, someone always decides to enter and then quits midway. You don''t have to tell me about every single sibling of mine who decides to join the competition unless he/she actually qualifies for the competition." The waiter struggled for a few moments, as if he wanted to say more but wouldn''t dare to speak. Seeing the struggle of the waiter, the man opposite the youth asked: "Who is it?" "John" replied the waiter, as he finally looked at rest after saying the name. As soon as both of them heard the name, they stared at each other. Then the youth spoke "Last struggling''s of a dying person." The older person shook his head "I don''t think so." The youth''s expression changed as he listened to what the other person has to say. But seeing the silence, he replied "Are you sure? He so far has shown no talent in anything except his studies. It''s more of grasping at the straws that I can see." "No Jack" Sighed the older man as he continued "What I see is more like the cub of the Tigress has finally decided to poke its head out of its cave, and see the world, after soo long." Chapter 14 - Episode 13-Cooking is not my Speciality but Eating is It has been 4 days since I arrived here. The first day was spent trying to awaken me and planning what to do next. 2nd I informed the butler of my decision of wanting to join the competition. 3rd day I informed my teachers that I will be suspending from my future studies, although they tried to advise me against, seeing my extreme progress in studies. After that, I got the documents from butler Smith outlining my participation in the race to join the competition. Then I went to the library for the rest of the day and night, to do some research for making the virus and its cure. Although the materials for making the virus can''t be found in this world I can find some replacement materials. I spent so much time researching that I spent sleeping in the royal library. Today I have decided to visit the empires administrator office, to get a general overview of where each resource for the empire is generated, the trading centre of the empire etc. I walked along the corridor leaving the wooded door to the library and entered the hallway to the administration office. After walking for 10 minutes I reached the area. The place was really noisy, I could hear shout and orders of people even with the doors closed. I walked into the office, the place was massive. Almost as big as a football field, although most of this is occupied by neatly arranged and labelled shelves with dusty documents. This is to be expected as all information regarding the logistics and statistics of a massive empire is processed in this room. There seem to be about 30 or 40 people working here. I walked to a desk that seemed relatively free of sky-high documents, and with a plaque that says Admin Manager. There sat a man in his 40''s, with messy blonde hair and eyes that are surrounded by black bags. "Excuse me?" The man looked up from his work. He noticed me and frowned. "What is it, John?" If it was another world, calling a prince by his first name would have earned the ire of that prince or princess. But in this world, unless you receive the surname of your father, you won''t be addressed as a prince or princess. And him recognising me is quite normal as I was the only child ever to be seen in this palace since the age of 4, other than the crown prince. "I need some documents outlining the general trade centres, logistics, population, wealth and other things of kingdoms under the empire please, also if possible a map of the empire if possible as well?" He scrutinised me for a few seconds before replying "Can I know why you want these documents?" "For the competition. I have decided to start a business and I need to know the general outline of what is happening inside the empire, as I have never been out." He observed me for a few more seconds before saying "All right, but all documents shouldn''t leave this room, and no copying down or anything on the document must be written down. Also, you can only look at them if I am watching you." That is to be expected as each document is very important, and if it goes into the hands of the wrong people, using it against the empire might make it easier. As for the reason why he didn''t suspect me for not using an award, is probably because the news that I am soulless has probably be made known to everyone in the palace and maybe outside world. "That is fine, I just need to understand the general outline of the empire." "Stay here, I will bring a chair and the document over." After saying that he left. I waited for a few minutes before I saw him again, dragging 2 trolleys stuffed high with the documents. Then placing the trolley near the edge of the desk he went off to get a chair. He placed the chair at the edge of the table then he sat down without bothering to ask or talk to me about anything and carried on working. He never even introduced himself. Shrugging I sat down and started flipping through the documents one by one. The brain and soul are so closely interlinked due to having the need to store memories of whatever the body does. Because of that, I am easily able to recall any memory of what I see due to having 100% control of my soul, even if my brain stores some information in the subconscious or unconscious mind. Therefore instead of reading through the documents, I just skim through them, without arising the suspicion of the admin before me. Hours passed before it started turning dark outside, and I was halfway through the pile when the admin stood up and informed: "My shift is finished John, if you are not finished and are going to stay up all night then I will inform the night shift manager." I nodded before another man came to take the seat. The previous manager said something to the night shift manager before he nodded and glanced at me. I presume all these managers are serious and non-talkative. Similar to the previous manager he too started working on some documents, as slowly people left the room and the night staffs started to pour in. I spent the rest of the night flipping through the documents before I finally finished just before dawn. I looked up to the night manager and said "I have finished. Thank you for your help." The night shift manager nodded as he got up to take the 2 trolleys worth of documents back to wherever it went. I got up to go to my room, to read everything properly I glanced the hours I spent here. Suddenly I felt lethargic and felt as if there were sharp pins of needles stabbing my legs. Darn it, I keep forgetting that this isn''t my soul body, and need to move about, as sitting still for hours is bad for the body and its blood circulation. I seriously need to get into my mind-set of eating regularly and doing all the thing that regular human body does. Otherwise, forget the condition of soulless, I might die of my improper treatment of my body. After a few minutes of stretching, I went back to my room. On the way, I popped into the kitchen to get something to eat. All I saw was some weird food lying about, which I recognised as this worlds vegetables and nothing else here. But taking the vegetable I decided to make some vegetable soup, as my stomach hasn''t eaten anything for the past 24 hours, I need to make sure I need to eat something light. I spent half an hour cooking before the food was ready. As usual, all food tastes bland to me. Probably due to me eating foods that were considered, legendary and worth dying for, as a snack every day of my life as a soul. I went back to my room and made sure to close all windows and doors before putting up a chair against the door. I have guarded my room every night to make sure, that at least I can put up a fight when he comes again. So far the assassin hasn''t struck again, I wonder why? I expected him to come back to complete his job as soon as he found out he failed. Chapter 15 - Episode 14-The Food that Melted the Frozen Heart Wait a minute, Smith never explained to me the role of memorial stone. Did he purposefully divert me, so as to avoid answering the question of what memorial stone is? Why is he so secretive about memorial stone? Even so how did he divert me? Did he use his award to somehow manipulate my behaviours to what he wished, so he would never have to answer that question? I would have never noticed it if I hadn''t reviewed the memories stored in my soul to read the documents. This means the source of memorial stone and its origins are kept in really high secret for a reason then. I should investigate on this later. I have spent the time I was sleeping to go and review the memories of me reading in my soul. From what I have read each kingdom under the empire is pretty much self-sufficient. Therefore the empire doesn''t need to provide them with anything for each kingdom, which means the empire is controlling all these kingdoms either using a secret resource that would entice these kingdoms to come under the empire, or by using raw strength to force them to come under or even both. But now since I understand the general situation of the empire I need to find a way to transfer the virus out of the kingdom, without leaving any kind of trace back to me, along with that I have to make a Rioxin D and modify it. The modification of Rioxin D I have to do is to make it that once the virus invades the body it will take about 10 days before it starts its attack, next is to make the ability of virus multiply faster and stop their ability to evolve. This is so that if they can multiply faster they might even evolve to the use of the antidote and get out of control to cause the end of this world and its creator, aka me. I went out of my room earlier than usual, as I heard sound of plates and cutleries clattering, as the cooks in my house got ready to prepare the food for me and everyone else. I waited in the dining room for some breakfast while thinking about a way to make some money. The only source of money I got is the pocket money I receive every month for being a son of an emperor. That only amount to roughly 10 chips. From everything John has saved up so far I only have roughly 30 chips or to be precise 32 chips. I need to find a source to make money, but what can I do to make some money, while at the same time not draw too much attention to myself. While I was thinking the server came in with food. They looked at me sitting in the dining table. They usually don''t see me as I only come in after the table and food is prepared on the table. There was an awkward silence as the assistant wasn''t sure whether to ask me to move away while he prepared the table or to not ask me and prepare the table while I am sat there. I spoke up not wanting to waste any more of my time "Don''t bother to set the table to be fancy anymore like you do for nobles. Just bring the necessary cutleries and plates for me to eat on the table and clean the table and cutleries after I am done. Only set the table if I have guests." "I can''t do that my lord. We were always told and taught..."the server was about to reason me with why they were doing this so I interrupted him before he could even start his lecture. "I don''t care what you have been told or taught. I don''t want to waste my time every day for these useless formalities. Inform the other servants and maids, from now on the not waste their time trying to do fancy things and just to try and get things done, except when there are guests. I won''t repeat myself, so I presume you understand and will try to make others understand, if not then I will have to take some action." The servers face looked conflicted, but he nodded his head and set the cutleries and plates down, then served me food. The breakfast today was a few stuffed pancakes that had cream stuffed in between, along with some fruits, few choices of caffeine drinks, and a bread with some kind of green spread pasted on top of it. I ate some pancakes and some fruits. I left the coffee, tea and bread with the weird filling colour untouched. I turned to the server and said, "From now don''t serve me any coffee or tea. And try not to make too much food next time. I don''t like it when food is wasted." I said that as I stood up. It''s not I hate drinking coffee or tea but never liked the taste of any coffee or tea no matter even if it was the legendary coffee made for God. I lived most of my mortal life without drinking coffee or tea, as well due to not liking it in the past. As I was leaving the server asked me "Lord please wait." I halted and turned towards him. His face had a slight fear in them as he saw a completely different lord to the one he served for the past 15 years. His lord always came on time for food, and never bothered to complain about food or how they worked in the past. But since the day of his awakening he didn''t bother to come for food, and today when he came he made some new rules for us to follow. The servants of the house had to rely on their master if they wanted to survive. If their mastered fired them, then they will have to go out of the palace to find a new job. A job inside the palace is much better than any jobs outside, so the servants always tried to get on the good side of their master. "What is it?" I asked him as I saw his scared face. "One of the new chefs wanted you to taste this new spread that he made and give him your opinion." The butler said as he pointed at the untouched food. "What is the spread made of?" I asked "I am not sure my lord. The new chef made new recipe this morning and he won''t say the contents of the recipe. We all tried it before you my lord to make sure there was no harm. It tasted really good and the head chef asked my lord to try it." The server replied "I see." The new chef probably wants to impress me and thus get some kind of bonus or promotion. But if all of them tasted it to the point where even the head chef wants me to taste it, it must be really good then. But the problem is all food taste like crap to me, oh well lets just give it a try. I took the piece of bread an gave it a try. The server waited to see the teary or surprised expression that was going to appear on his lord''s face. When they all tasted the spread, they all nearly cried, thinking they had been eating such rotten food compared to the spread all their lives. Few of the chefs even wanted to quit their profession for making disgusting foods all their lives compared to the spread. Surprisingly his lord made no such expression. Could it be they used they wrong spread instead of the godly spread? No that can''t be, the head chef even personally made sure to prepare the spread and bread. But why is the lord not happy with this food, when even the head chef, who has tasted one of the best foods in the empire, cried before this spread. Even after eating the whole bread his lord made no expression. The server got worried thinking how to reply to his lord. But suddenly his lords his lids flew open, with his eyes almost bulging out. Although it was different to the expressions they had made, he is still shocked by the taste. The server sighed a relief. His lord closed his eyes before opening them and asked him "Ask the head chef to see me now." "Yes lord" I replied before running of to inform the head chef the good news. I opened the door to kitchen as I saw the head chef standing there anxiously while rest of the chefs were preparing the breakfast for the maids and other servants of the house. Seeing me running the anxiousness on his face grew. I stopped to catch my breath before saying "The lord wants to see you." Hearing that the head chef shot of to the dining room. Chapter 16 - Episode 15-Last minute changes I waited in the dining room for the head chef to arrive. He came running in, his face filled with anxiousness and excitedness. I waited for him to regain his breath before asking him "Tell me head chef, among you chefs how would you review the spread?" Hearing the unusual question, the chef replied, "My lord even if the taste of what I have been cooking for the past 35 years of my life were to add up the taste wouldn''t even reach the footstep of the taste of the spread." I nodded smiling before asking him another question "Where do you think I can buy this kind of food and how much do you think it will be worth?" "My lord the only one who is able to make something even similar to this is the royal head chef of the Emperor. Forget the price, the chance to taste something like this might not even come once in 1000 years. That is why it is important that we send George who made something like this to his majesty''s royal kitchen, to groom his potential. I was hoping you would consider helping me with that, as that would give him a brighter future." I nodded at what he said "Ask him if he is willing to go? If he is I will send a letter to butler Smith to come taste the delicacy. Then he will decide the rest." "Yes, lord and thank you my lord" the head chef thanked me, for opening a path for George and not hindering his path by keeping him confined in my house as my personal chef, as many of the other nobles does. I smiled as I saw the head chef walking back to the kitchen joyfully. Before I wasn''t clear on my path to making money but now I am clear in what to do to earn money. After the ordeals in the morning I went to the office room of Collection dealers, where dealers worked. The room had some couches to sit while waiting, and few desks with chair on either side of the desks, for where the dealer along with the customers sat I presumed. There were roughly about 10 dealers inside right now, who were attending few of the customers. The roles of these dealers inside the palace is to get anything needed inside the palace for anyone. If the chefs need food supplies, or the librarian needs some new collection of books, or the gardener needed some fertiliser the merchant dealers were who they go to. They acted like delivery men in basic simple terms. They were one of the few people who were able to enter and leave the palace as they wished but had to be subjected to rigorous search of their items along with themselves. The room was not that full yet, as it is still roughly 8 in the morning, people were still busy eating or the lazy ones are just about to wake up. People would probably start coming in to place orders in 2 or 3 hours. The dealers came in this early to sort out their paperwork''s from previous day before new customers came in. I chose a person randomly and sat down to give my list. The dealer frowned seeing someone disrupting his paperwork, but still carried on asking, "List please?" I passed him a list of things I wrote down that I needed. He looked at the list, then took a paper to write down some calculations before saying "That will be 2 plat chips, you can also add another 5 chips to get them delivered to you personally with added protection and insurance, otherwise you will have to come back here later to collect it." Thinking about the things I needed I rejected the offer of protection or insurance as it wasn''t worth it. He then took a parchment saying read it before signing it. I read the agreement, nothing was standing out other than a deposit of 40% needed to be done first, the rest can be paid after the things have been delivered and inspected for no damage. I passed him 1 chip and took a copy of a contract which also had a list of items I ordered written on it. I then went to the property management centre, to look for a certain place to buy in the empire. I entered through the door to see a room covered with the map of the capital, with detailed accuracy. While at the same time there were a few papers stacked on top of the only desk in the room filled with maps. There was a man in his late 50''s sat there looking bored. As soon as his eye laid on me it lit up with excitement. He stood up to greet me. "Welcome to the retail office. What would you like from me today?" asked the man whose name I didn''t even bother to look at on the name plate. "I would like to buy a building in the merchant district, if possible quite close to the female shopping centre and away from any food shops." "Hmm give me a second" the man said as he went to look at the map behind me, then he looked at the area of merchant district located in the capital, he pointed at few areas that were numbered, then he went to look through his documents on table while murmuring the number he pointed at. "42...42...Got it. Right we got 2 buildings meeting your criteria, would you like to go there personally 3 days later or look at a projection of it." "Projection please." I replied, while at the same time understanding that the guy in front of me must be a magi. That is to be expected as people who are in the palace must wait a while to get their passes to go out sometimes if they don''t have the right seniority level. So, the person in the property management centre must be able to show the property somehow without going out, therefore being a magi and learning illusion magi must be the best way to do that. He closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them and touching my forehead with his hand. Suddenly I was in a busy street with markets for clothing and other sections. Suddenly someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I heard a voice "This way." The old man in the office guided me to building that was detached from other shops at the end of the street. It was a big shop. Just enough for about 100 people to come in before feeling stuffed. The building only had a ground floor with no basement or floor above. The inside of the building was empty and devoid of anything except 2 rooms at the back leading 2 medium sized storage room. "This building was sold by its previous owner to our retail office outside of the palace after, he left to stay with his kids somewhere else. It used to be store that used to sell cosmetics for ladies. This shop did well for that old man for 20 long years before he left. This building..." "Can I see the next shop please?" I interrupted the old man not wanting to hear him blabber on the history of the building or the price of it. I just want to decide between 1 of the 2 building before I hear about the house. Otherwise it will just be wasting my time to hear nonsense when I won''t even buy it. The man looked annoyed and dispirited before changing the scenery again. This time it was the same street as I could still see some of the shops I saw from far away, but closer this time. The building he showed me this time was a small one compared to the previous one. This one being able to fit about 40 people in. The inside of the shop was split in 2 section. 1 section took 75% of the room while the last one was at the back of the room, split off by a wall. There was a door leading out to a small patch of grass outside, which were overgrown. "Tell me about this building." Seeing the old man silent I asked him for the history of this house as I liked this one and it suites my need more than the other one. "This used to be shop that used to sell garden necessities, flowers and plants to people. But due to the constant smell from fertilisers, the surrounding shop owners pressured the owner of this shop into selling it. Although before selling it the young man did make quite the money from this place due to his customers mostly being ladies, and this shop belonged right in the centre of the ladies district of the market." The old man then went on to rant about the history of the building, what material was used to make it, how long since it has been built, how the previous owner got this building etc. "How much will it be for this building then?" "That will be roughly 30 chips, no bargaining as this is a prime location, in the market area, any business started here won''t end in loss. The only reason its not sold out is because it was put up for sale just 2 days ago, and many merchants who are able to afford this building, invests in better business than in female products, so they are not interested in this building in female market district." The man said as the illusion slowly faded back to reality "Can I add some modifications and equipment''s to the buildings?" I asked him after he finished his long explanation "Yes, but additional charges will be applied depending on the modification and the type of equipment''s?" "Ok, here is what I want." I said as explained to him the things I wanted to add on to the building, while he took a note of what I was saying. After a while of calculating the costs of everything he said, "The modification and equipment''s will cost you 17 chips, together with the price of the building that is 47 chips." I nodded my head before taking out my notice of wanting to participate in the competition I got from butler Smith. The old man took the notice from me and read it, before he looked at me in shock. "You are the soulless John?" The man gawked at me in surprise for a few seconds before saying "Sorry for that kind of behaviour, but you are kind of famous now in the palace. I couldn''t recognise you as I got a promotion here last month." This man really likes to talk. "I believe I can use this document to cover for my price?" "Yes, this document enables you to cover for any cost up to the price of 100 chips incurred during the elimination round of the competition once, according to the benevolence of his majesty." The elimination round is the round before the actual competition called, as each royal children tries to eliminate any of their opposition to get a chance to enter the final competition. Although it was a waste using this buy something for only 47 chips this is the only thing I need to buy other than some small things that can be covered with my pocket money. "Please sign here, as you have technically payed the full amount, this building is yours to own. The modification and everything will be done by tomorrow latest." I signed the documents indicating that I have bought the house along with the list of additional equipment''s and modification which will be added later. I left the room content after finally taking my first although rather last-minute plan of my survival. Chapter 17 - Episode 16-Repaying Debts quickly is Important before they start Accumulating Interest. "Have you forgotten to inform your servants the basic etiquette that must be present in a dining room John?" Smith asked as he observed the dining room that was plain and not what it was like when he lived here with me. "I don''t like to waste my time on useless things Smith. I only observed these things in the past because you were adamant about it." "It is not waste of time John but..." "Smith I called you here as one of my servant wanted you to test something for his majesty not talk about these minor things." Saying the word majesty triggered the full attention of butler Smith. Seeing the curious and expectant eyes of Smith I called in George to bring in a plate with some slices of bread with the spread. I took one slice and indicated Smith to have one. Curiously Smith waited until I started to eat a slice before he too took a bite of a slice. Suddenly his poker face was filled with all sorts of positive emotions such as surprise, bliss, dreamy etc. But after a few seconds he retained his emotions back in to reveal his static face. "What is this? Why does it taste like the food cooked by the royal head chef?" "This is a unique spread made by my servant George. My head chef tasted it and wanted you to help him groom his talent further." "You want me to have him trained or work in the royal kitchen, to further his talent?" "Yes" Butler Smith-P.O.V Butler Smith was puzzled for a few seconds ''Why does he not keep a talented chef like that with him, instead he is asking me to help him take away one of his luckily found treasure? Does he think his majesty might reward him for helping him find such a good cook or something? Or does he think I will put a word for him to his majesty, to help him out somehow? He is so na?ve. I controlled the smile emerging on my face. No there is something more. If a noble was willing to invest in him, then there must be a reason why. John is still willing to go forward with the competition, that means the noble, that supports him from the shadows, never relied on, or never wanted to rely on John''s award. So what is it that the noble who is supporting John wants him to do right now using this chef?'' "What is it you want in return for finding and giving his majesty a rare talent such as George? If it is anything reasonable his majesty will give it to you." "No it is fine Smith. Helping his majesty and giving him my talents are the least I can do for his highness." ''Is he truly na?ve or pretending to be one? None of that is effective in front of me John, when my award can let me see your emotions clearly'' I used my award to read John''s emotions from which I can deduct what he is thinking. ''Hmm interesting. You are calm as still water. You have been like that since that day.'' "That won''t do John. If you won''t receive a reward from his majesty then rumours might spread, that anyone helping his majesty will go unrewarded. And his highness is a man that loves to help those who helped him 100 times." I want to see what you so desperately want that you would try to attempt this roundabout way of doing things. John looked perplexed for a few seconds before saying "Smith there really is nothing I want. I have everything I need here." "What about your co..." Damn it. He nearly made me say it. So, you want me to ask about your ''condition'' to lead me and corner me into getting his majesty to help you with your condition. "...mpetition? Don''t you need some kind of help with it John? Ask and I will do everything in my power to help you with that, as long as it''s a reasonable request." I want to see how this is going to go. What are you going to do now? Smith P.O.V end I spent a few minutes thinking before saying "Actually I do need help with something." I carried on "I am opening a new shop in the female market district. I just want that to be advertised everywhere in the whole market district, behalf of his majesty. I want everyone to know that I am opening a shop there. Will you be able to do that?" Seeing the victories smile struggling to be contained in Smith''s face he said "Of course. In fact this is least we can do. Is there anything more?" I shook my head. "That is all I want, there is nothing that I want other than that." There is a limit to everything. If I go overboard with my request then he will use that as a reason to not carry out any of my request. "If that is all I will take my leave." Smith stood up "Also boy get ready, tomorrow morning at 6 am, meet me outside the royal kitchen. If you don''t know the way, ask your head chef, he will bring you there. Bring a sample of that spread of yours for the head chef." Saying that he left, without even looking back. It was usually the head chef who prepared the main course of their meal for their masters while the other chefs just prepared food for other servants in the household or the side dishes. Asking the head chef to guide his way was saying to me that I can wait for my breakfast after the important things of his majesty have been done first. Seeing the arrogant way, he walked, thinking he outsmarted me and won, while I just grinned. Chapter 18 - Episode 17-Awaiting the Great Beauty A man came to the merchant district to buy some tools needed for his occupation only to find out that it was busier than usual. "Hey what is with all this crowd today?" He asked someone in front of him. "The emperor''s messenger just announced to everyone that one of the royal children is going to open a new shop in the female district." "Do you know which royal child it is?" he asked with eager eyes. "I don''t know, but since it is in the female market district, it is definitely one of the female heirs. Otherwise why else would otherwise everyone gather here?" It was public knowledge that all chid of the emperor are beautiful, especially his daughters. All his majesty''s daughters were known to be renowned beauties in the empire. This often caused wherever they go to be often crowded by men trying to at least witness them before they die. "All right thank you" The man said before running of to the female district. "Hold on, don''t go there young man. That place is so crowded to the point where the outer edge of female district is inaccessible due to people." But his advice was lost in the sea of noise among the market district. From this it was possible to see how much admirer and fans the daughters of the emperor had. But even admirers and fans wouldn''t let them pass the elimination round of the competition and enter the main competition. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seeing the crowd gathered outside the shop, restrained by the police, I smiled. I took a board and went outside to hang it under the sign of the shop. The board read ''Opening discount for the first day''. Seeing me come out the crowd outside went silent. I hung the board under the name of my shop, which read ''Luxury Meals''. The shop that I opened was a restaurant. There were 2 reason why I picked the female district to open my restaurant: One-To make everyone think that it was one of the great renowned beauties of the empire that was opening a store, after the royal messengers advertised a royal child was opening a shop in the female district. Thus, gathering a crowd so big that they will all come and see what the store is. Two-This shop was made targeting the male customers that are dragged around by their female partners for shopping. Which man wouldn''t be tired after being dragged around to shop with their partner? Then imagine that man smelling the sweet fragrance of food after being tired. He would be compelled to buy something from here. "Oi kid when will our princess arrive?" Asked a man among the crowd "Princess? What princess are you talking about?" I replied after turning back to answer him "We heard the royal messenger saying one of the princess were going to open a shop here." He answered. "No, the messenger said one of the royal children was going to open a shop, and you assumed it was one of the princess." Hearing what I said the expression of the people in front changed quickly to shock from expectation. "Then which royal children is going to arrive?" Unable to believe what he heard he asked. "No one is going to arrive because I am already here. I am John Field, son of Emperor James the 2nd, and this is my shop ''Luxury Meals''." Hearing this many of the people at the front got angry and started moaning. Soon the started shouting and cursing at their misfortune, and among other things directing their insults at me. Not bothering to listen to them I entered the shop. I walked through the door as I observed the interior. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The front of the shop was made from transparent glass that enabled one to see the inside from out but stopped them from seeing the outside world from inside the restaurant. Thus, making the inside of the shop dark, if there are no light available. The floor was made out thick glass which went over the water that had some unique colourful coral surrounded by a beautifully enchanting fishes. The water had a tinge of blue luminosity to slightly give a shade of light in the dark shop. The shop was again illuminated by the light coming from the garden outside which was beautifully laid out with all sorts of unique flowers that attracted all sorts of insects to them. However, none of those insect dared to enter inside the shop. There were 10 sets of table with 2 chairs available on each table. The table were made from a special black glossy wood, that had strips of cyan glowing at the edge of the table. The chairs were a pairing match to the table as it was made out the same material as the table while the armrest of the chair had the cyan glow. There were no decoration on the wall or anything, as it was plain black. The room carried on forward until it reached a section where it lead of to the kitchen. However, before that there was a desk that separated the kitchen from the hall. The desk too was made out the black glossy wood, while it was cared with lots florals which glowed with gentle colours matching the atmosphere of the shop. There was a rectangle glass plastered on the desk, which had the menu of the restaurant carved on it, which too glowed in gentle colours. Overall the atmosphere of the shop convened was gentle and serene. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Oh, nearly forgot." I turned around to the glass wall that lead outside and activated a switch. This caused a sign to appear outside, which could be read as ''Rules to follow'' and ''Open''. Under the ''Rules to follow'' sign it read: 1.Pay first, then eat. 2.One person per chair, maximum of 20 people. 3.No kids under the age of 10 without any supervising adult, and evidence must be shown to prove you are above the age of 10. 4.Any damage caused inside the shop must be paid. 5. Membership must be acquired if you want to participate in special events set by the restaurant or want personal ingredients to be cooked. The ingredients cooked will be charged depending on the mood of the owner. 6.No food is to be wasted, and when you are finished eating either leave or order more. 7.This restaurant has the right to blacklist anyone, the owner finds annoying. 8.Food will not be served outside of opening time. Privacy can be requested to block people from outside seeing you. 9.This shop welcomes everyone. 10.The owner gets to decide how much serving you can have and when you should leave. 11.More rules to be added later. Only those who are willing to follow these rules can enter my restaurant. Next to that under the Open sign it had a different sign saying, ''This shop sells very expensive menu unless there is a discount going on.'' As soon as the open sign was on the police outside slowly directed the crowd. Majority of the crowd left, after finding out that no princess was coming, and it was the shop of another royal child. Still some were curious and wanted to enter. They felt strange seeing so many rules they had to follow, but from what they could see from the see-through glass outside the shop, the restaurant looked dark and gloomy inside. Soon, someone turned the handle of the door leading to the restaurant and entered. He saw that what they saw outside was just vastly different from what they saw from inside the shop. "Welcome to Luxury Meals." The person that greeted him was young teen, that was standing at the other side of the shop behind a desk. Chapter 19 - Episode 18-101 guide to spend your money The empire had a normal currency, outside of the emperor''s palace. Instead of chips like they use inside of the palace, they used notes and coin. The cash was divided into 4 stages: copper coin, bronze notes, silver notes and gold notes. It was done this way to differentiate between the poor, rich, richer and the richest person in the empire. The copper coin are only used by the low-class citizens of the empire e.g. the homeless, beggars etc. This is to mainly stop the beggars or homeless from annoying the rich for money, by coming into their district and infesting there hoping to get some money from the rich. They can say they don''t have any coin and drive them out of their district. The Bronze notes doesn''t necessarily mean notes made from bronze but rather notes, with a tint of bronze in it, that has the imperial seal with the current emperor''s face in it. These are also often found among the stable income low class but also some of the middle class. 100 copper coins make 1 bronze note. Like bronze note there are Silver notes. These notes are most commonly found among the middle class e.g. a blacksmith, police, soldiers, merchants etc. 100 bronze note makes 1 silver note. Then lastly there is the Gold notes. It is only found among the high class like successful merchant, nobles etc. 100 silver make 1 gold note. And it is 1000 gold notes that makes 1 plat chip inside the palace. The merchant district mainly trade with silver notes. As most of the customer in the merchant district are middle class. But there are often some shops reserved just for the rich to flaunt their wealth, and to get items that are worth the quality. Those shops only deal with gold coins, but these shops are only located in the wealthy area of merchant district. The man walked forward and looked at the menu. There were only 3 things listed in the menu: 1.Vegetable soup-50 Gold 2.Marinated Steak-100 Gold 3.Cream Fruit Salad-50 Gold Seeing the price and the name of the dish the man shouted in anger "What the hell is your soup and salad made from? Even the steak of beast cows cost 5 Gold in the Food Palace." "You will see why when you order one. Besides these are not the price for today. Today these will only cost 1 silver for the soup and salad, while the steak will only cost 5 silver due to the discount. Just try them and you will see why they are priced as such." The man was apprehensive to try one but remembering the 1st rule of the shop and the price he said he gave in to temptation. "Fine here is 7 silver, I want all 3 of them." The man took 7 silver notes from his pocket and reluctantly pushed it forward. I took the cash from him and deposited it in drawer made in the desk for the silver notes. "Wait 10 minutes and please select a seat and enjoy the view and relax." I replied as I walked into the kitchen. When I first made my own food I forgot 1 fact, that the food I make will be vastly superior to what anyone else can make using the same ingredient, even if it tastes like shit to me. This is due to 2 reason: 1st reason I have cooked so much legendary food and other things over the course of millenniums, that cooking these trashes is like instinct to me, to the point where I know exactly what to add, how much to add in order to bring out the full flavour of each ingredient once I have understood what the ingredient is. 2nd reason is I have almost full control of all my body''s senses. For example, in the real world measuring out exactly 10 grams of sugar is a close to impossible feat, unless you have an equipment that can measure out exactly 10 grams. But even that machine might be wrong because if you measure the sugar in nanograms it might be out by 1 or 2 nanograms. However, souls are able to naturally measure out everything to exact unit like it is their natural instinct. If a soul takes hold of an apple they will able to give the weight of the apple exactly like 36gram and 500 zeptogram, and they are also capable of taking away exact degree of mass from the apple to get it the right weight they want. If they want to get rid of 500 zeptogram then they will just slice of 500 zeptogram of an apple. Because of this my body''s senses naturally adapted to do this unknowingly once my soul entered this body. All though not as perfect as my soul I am able to measure out everything to the nearest milligram. But given enough time my body might slowly adapt to control my senses to measure out as close as possible to even planks value . The first time I realised this was when my head chef gave the spread to taste. Although the spread tasted nothing but crap to me, I recognised the flavour of the spread was similar to vegetable soup I made for dinner the day before. Then I remembered that I never washed the pot that I used to cook the soup. Chef George most likely came in the next day early morning to clean and get everything ready for the rest of the chefs, as expected of a new chef. He must have noticed an unwashed pot with remnants of my soup. After being allured by the smell in the pot he must have tasted it and became shocked, with the taste. He knows all the chefs in there and their capabilities and knows that none among them must have been responsible for this soup. Then out of his greediness and frustration of being ordered around by other chefs as a new chef, he must have diluted my soup into some kind of spread which he made. He must have decided to dilute it in the spread to make sure no one, especially the original cook who made the soup, noticed that he used the soup to make the spread. He must have thought ''if I impress them with this then they will give me the respect I deserve.'' But too bad for him due to the full control of my senses especially my sense of taste I was able to discover the flavour of my vegetable soup amongst the main ingredient in spread. Discovering that it was my soup that was used to make the apparently legendary food that is only capable to be made by the emperor''s chef send me into a shock and realisation, that I could run a restaurant to gather the necessary fund for my virus project. The reason why I didn''t punish chef George was simple. If I had revealed it was me who made the food, then the emperor will come to know about it, and he would have stopped all my attempt in opening a restaurant. I am pretty sure from observing the reaction of head butler that if the diluted remnants of my soup caused him to make that kind of reaction from tasting it, then once he tasted my original soup he would have never let me carry on with my plan of starting a restaurant. Besides by sacrificing George I got free advertisement from the royal palace, while those fools think they profited off me. While they were simply scammed by me. Besides George got the best form of punishment, soon he will realise what kind of monsters lives in the royal kitchen. As even the worst chef there is 100 times better than my head chef, and a kid who is believed by everyone to have such a great talent will soon show zero talent and will crumble under the pressure put on him. Chapter 20 - Episode 19-The Unreal Expression of Foods Yesterday I had the collection dealers order some equipment for kitchen, the tables and chairs along with the desks. Then I got the property management centre to refurbish this place like this after buying it. They were so quick to do this because of magi''s at their service. I entered the kitchen and heated the already prepared soup up and poured it on a bowl, along with the fruit salad on another bowl. Then I heated the pan and just followed my instinct to cook the steak. Soon the steak started sizzling with the fat in it. I took it out a prepared it in a plate. I took all three of the dishes to the desk and placed it in a tray and took it out to the desk. The man was already stood by the desk trying to lean forward as he smelt the fragrance of the food coming from the kitchen along with some other people who came in later on. They were all enchanted by the smell of the food. "Your order is ready. The man finally opened his eyes expectantly as he grabbed the tray out my hands and smelt the food. Drool slowly started appearing around his lips and the people around him as they smelt the food. "There is a number on the centre of the table and the side you are sitting on shows whether you are ''a'' or ''b''. In future if you want to make more orders just tell me your table number and letter so I know which order belongs where." I explained to them the way I arranged my restaurant. He just nodded as he just ignored what I said and sat at the closest table. The other customers followed him as they waited for him to start eating. He was confused with what to start on but decided to go with the soup. As he took the spoon to dip in the clear delicate vegetable soup. He scooped it up as the viscous soup ran down the spoon. Instead of bringing the spoon to his mouth he leaned forward to bring his mouth to the spoon, and slowly sipped the soup of the spoon. The people watching him also imitated him as they too imagined sipping the soup. Soon tears started coming out of his eyes. He cried until he swallowed the soup. Then with trembling hand he finished the rest of his soup amongst his tears. Next was the steak. He slowly brought his trembling hands to the knife to cut the steak, only to realise the steak offered no resistance to the knife as it just peeled off like hot knife meeting butter. He took the slice and placed it in his mouth. As soon as he bit onto the steak he felt a burst of energy exploding into his mouth. The explosion of flavours caused his eyes to bulge in shock and his face froze in whatever expression it was making. He carried on eating the steak like that until the end. Next he moved onto the fruit salad. When the spoon entered the fruit salad, it released a sweet fragrance that caused everyone in the store to be in a trance. Unlike what he was expecting the spoon didn''t feel any resistance or any weight when he used it to pick the salad up. As soon as the salad entered his mouth, it felt so comfortable that he felt like he was about to fall asleep. The salad was like eating a cloud, so relaxing and offering a peaceful dream. The cream released a flavour of sweetness that made him want to eat more, but he didn''t want to awaken from his peaceful sleep. This contrast of emotion made him feel stay in the boundary of dream and reality for a while until he swallowed the salad. The fruit salad took the longest to eat taking 10 minutes to finish eating. By the time he was finished eating, stood up feeling refreshed after a good night of rest. He came up to me and passed me more silver notes and said, "More please." "No more for you, for now, please go back or wait till everyone here has made an order." Suddenly the crowd awoke from the trance and rushed to make the order. Having heard the explanation of the first person while they were waiting for the chef to start cooking they understood the price of the menu. The felt angry at the exorbitant price. Most of them left after hearing about the price, without bothering to check out the discounted price. But few remained thinking might as well see what is so special about 100 Gold steak, then later the ones that remained go hooked by the smell produced from the kitchen. But now from watching that person eating it they understood the reason why the cost was in place. Food like this was for kings and nobles, having even a chance to eat was once in a lifetime. Soon the small crowd made a line while I took their order one by one. Since there were only 17 people, my first customer made his order again. After waiting for 20 minutes they all received their food in the order they made in the line. After having the 2nd serving the first person to come started having a conflicted expression. He seemed bloated but he still wanted to have more. As he came up to me to make a takeout order I rejected him saying. "I can give you takeout, only if you provide your own ingredient. And you know the rules for bringing your own ingredient is." "Then how much is the membership?" He asked out of desperation. "1000 gold." Hearing the cost, the man nearly fainted. I explained to him the reason why the cost was so high. "Once someone gets membership, he or she will be able to make an appointment to book a table here. Along with that they can skip any kind of queue formed here at that time. Members also have other certain special privileges, such as being able to choose 1 meal from the menu for free once a week." Dejectedly the man walked out. Soon the rest of them finished their 1st serving to order their 2nd serving. Since there was no one else I took their order and money. After finishing their serving like the first person they came up to ask for takeout only to be rejected liked the other man. They wanted to argue with the chef but none of the dared to for 2 reasons: One none of them wanted to make the chef angry and be blacklisted so they all walked out of the shop hoping that one day, they will earn enough to come eat here at least once more before they die. The second reason is the most important one...he is a Royal Prince. If they as much as make him angry the least they can expect is their death. So far I have managed to only make 2 gold and 52 silver. Making money shouldn''t be my goal today. Today my goal will be to get as much customers as possible. The customers that comes in today are the people that will advertise my restaurant, to a wider population. Since there are no more people and it is only 11am, I will wait for a while. At 1 pm I will move onto plan B. The second reason I picked female district. First reason only got me 18 customers, lets see how many customers second reason can bring in. Chapter 21 - Episode 20-Planning while eating The shopping district gets really busy in the noon time, especially today. This is because today is Saturday, the day everyone gets out for shopping. Every government establishment here have a half day on Saturday followed by Sunday being holiday. Because of this most people as soon as they finish work on Saturday 12pm, they go out to shop so they can relax in their homes on Sunday. The female district had many females coming and going, and among them carrying their shopping were men, their husband or possibly their fianc¨¦. Most of the men came here as soon as their work finished at 12 with their wives, this caused them to be dead tired, going around shops looking at the same things. Suddenly all the men could smell a mouth-watering fragrance, slowly followed by their wives. Even though their female partners were reluctant to leave their shopping, they understood that their male partners were tired and needed something to eat. So, they slowly followed the fragrance to its source, to find an unusual shop in the middle of female district called ''Luxury Meals''. Many entered the shop, with so many rules and regulation, although apprehensive about the warning of the price. What greeted them when they entered was a beautiful restaurant that made them feel like they are floating in the water. It soothed their tired mind. They came forward to find a board saying ''Discounted Price of Meals''. Although the discounted price for all 3 meals came to a total of 7 silver, many of them didn''t want to spend as 7 silver for the low class is like ¡ê700, for the middle class its like ¡ê70. But few of them came forward to see the original menu to be shocked at the original price. Many of the women wanted to leave as soon as they say the original price but their partner held them in saying ''Lets just give it a try'', ''If the food is not worth it we will ask for a refund'', ''I will treat you'', ''We will just buy 1 item from the menu and share it'' etc. Many of the men were hungry and tired and they just didn''t want to walk for another 30 minutes to reach the food district and buy from there when they could just buy from here. Worried that they might lose more of their shopping time many women gave in to their partners rant. Soon some of them came up to order, the young teen in front of them just smiled as he took orders from each of them while he assigned a table and chair number for each order. Soon after 10 partners came up and all the tables and chairs were occupied the teen shouted "All tables and chairs are full. Please wait for all the people sat down to finish their meal before making more order." He left after saying that. Not wanting to wait for that long many people that were standing wanted to just leave, when their partners started feeling annoyed. But not even few seconds passed everyone were enchanted by the smell coming from behind the desk. It reminded them of the most delicious food they ever tasted. It was like they could almost taste what was being cooked by the smell. Slowly people started coming close to the desk to smell the aroma even more, including the people sat down. After about 5 minutes the teen came out of kitchen pushing a trolley filled with plates, for each couple. A situation similar to what happened in the morning came again. All the people followed the people with food to their table, and watched as they ate the food, while imagining it was them eating it. What followed was a variety of expression for each table, as each of them ordered either the salad or soup and rarely some of them the steak. Soon finishing what they were eating many of them stood up to make another order. Many of them were sharing the meal with their partner, so none of them felt like they had enough and left them feeling unsatisfied. As soon as they came up to order more the boy shouted, "The people who have already made the order please go back and come after other people have finished making their order." Soon many of them regretted not ordering 1 meal for each of them before. The crowd who were surrounding the other table awoke from their trance and started queuing to make order. Many of them seeing the expression and the smell emitted by the meals, ordered all 3 meals for each person not willing to share it with their partners. That was the day many middle-class couples lost all their savings. Seeing a queue form outside of the shop, formed by people who wanted second serving, many passer-by to joined them after hearing the review from them. Along with that many of them were able to smell the delicious mixed aroma of the soup, salad and steak coming from the restaurant. After the second batch finished their meal they too joined the ever-growing queue to get seconds. Soon after the first batch finished their second serving, and as they were thinking whether to order for takeaway, as they were bloated from eating too much, the teen at the desk shouted to them "No takeaway unless you bring in your own ingredients or have a membership. And no wasting food, if you waste food you will be blacklisted." Hearing the teen giving them order many wanted to ask how to get the membership. But as soon as they heard the price of the membership they wanted to beat the kid up. Seeing their enraged face, the boy calmly said "You want to beat me up, go ahead. But don''t blame me for what happens when you get blacklisted from the shop and get charged for assaulting a royal prince of the emperor." Hearing he was a prince many of the enraged couples and people in the queue were shocked. Soon the people in the queue started murmuring and passed the news till the back of the queue that the teen in the shop is a royal prince. Many of the enraged couple ran quickly from the shop not wanting to anger and royal prince and face the consequence. Many hours passed as the queue kept growing and growing till it reached one end of female district. Half of the queue was filled with people going for second serving, while the other half was filled with couples who wanted to taste the delicious food described by the people in the queue, and adding onto the fact the smell from the restaurant, and telling them the original price and the discount going on many didn''t even want to leave the queue. Many people even came from other district informed and urged by their friends or neighbours that have visited the restaurant to visit it. But alas soon it reached 8pm. This was the general time where all shops were closed in the market district as the owner wanted to go home early to enjoy their weekend. Many in the queue despaired not being able to eat anything. As they were about to go back home dejected the people in the queue in front suddenly started cheering. Asking what it was they were informed the prince informed them that he was going to serve all of them till the queue is finished even if the chef has to cook till next day. Coupled with the fact it was Sunday tomorrow, many got the motivation to wait in the queue no matter how long. All that were planning to return stayed in the queue wanting to taste the food that they might never again taste in their life. Seeing the commotion and people still waiting in the queue many patrolling police officers were drawn to the people. One of them asked "What the hell are you guys doing here at 11 pm? Shouldn''t you be going home to get some sleep?" Hearing about the ridiculous description of the food in the restaurant many officers were shocked. The patrolling officers tried to persuade them to go home, but suddenly they were reminded by someone in the crowd that the restaurant was run by a royal prince. Knowing it was run by a prince, they left place. They never want to anger a prince especially if it''s a prince of the emperor. They planned to inform their superior when their shift is over about the strange queue caused by the prince. The ever-growing queue and second eaters lasted until 8am in the morning. Many owners who left last night were shocked when they came back in the morning to find out the restaurant was still running and had a queue till morning. Many of them joined the last batch of queue to taste the food. Alas they could only eat one serving as many of them had breakfast at their home before coming. Often times people came for third or even fourth serving. When the joined the long queue by the time they reached the restaurant they felt they could eat again. Many people only left after emptying all their savings they had. The refreshing taste of food kept many people coming back till they emptied their pockets, causing them to even put sleep aside for eating. After 8am the queue was finally gone. Ez smiled as he walked out of the shop carrying a board. He took out the board saying, ''Opening discount for the first day'' out and replaced it by the board in his hand saying, ''Opening Discount over, prices back to normal''. I could have closed the shop early and went back to bed early, but that meant losing that many potential customers. No, they shouldn''t be called customers but free advertisement. I am sure the patrolling officers must have alerted their superiors of the unusual queue. Coupled with the fact that the spies keeping eye on me by the emperor and other nobles -that wanted to see what a soulless that enter the competition could do with his new restaurant- must have reported back to their masters of the unusual queue. I don''t even have to wait that long most likely in the next 24 hours the whole capital will be informed of a restaurant, that made people lose sleep to queue. I don''t even have to worry about the small-time thugs and people that want to disrupt my business, as they all are scared by the title of Royal Prince, alas for them they don''t know that I am a poor prince without any backing. Even the other noble faction, not supported by the emperor by now must have been alerted about my attempted assassination, and my mysterious backer, by their informants in the emperors faction. Soon I won''t even have to worry about thugs sent by nobles to close down the business, as they will be afraid of who the mysterious noble supporting me will be. No lower nobles don''t want to piss me off to find out that they pissed off one of the commandment nobles. For a while, until I develop my virus, my protection will be the so-called mysterious noble who is supporting me. Chapter 22 - Episode 21-Cooking Miracle Wow I never expected to earn this much. I had earned about 248 gold and 85 silver. This will be roughly enough to cover my ingredient cost for the week. I have roughly 20 more serving of normal ingredients left, I never expected people to like my food this much, but that is to be expected, food like this is once in a lifetime opportunity. And their body probably craved for more of this after eating all the crap food in their life. Now I need to start using my high-quality ingredients such as meat of beast cow, instead of serving my customers meat of normal cows. I could have served them the meat of beast cows, and other soup and salad made of other high-quality ingredients, but that would have probably bankrupted me on the first day itself. Even the meat of beast cow per steak costed me 2 gold and selling that for 5 silver no fool other rich and loaded people will do that. Besides I gave them the opportunity to taste food that they will never taste in their lifetime. But what am I going to do with the remaining ingredients? Ah, I know. I soon started cooking all the remaining 20 ingredient in en-masse. After cooking all of them I paced them in containers I bought for emergency use such as this. Then I took them one by one to the shops around my store and gave it to the owners. I am pretty sure after eating it in the morning they will probably be craving for more. Not only can I get them to like me by doing this, but any other people that is in their shops will probably be hooked by the smell of the food. Another way of free advertisement. Along with that they will probably be craving my food so much that they will support me if anything happens, in order to get free food from me. As the pricing menu even shocked them, what they earn for month can barely buy the cheapest item on my menu. They were all pleasantly surprised when I took them the food. I said it was my gift for them for trying out my shop in the morning. They were all hooked and happy. I returned to my shop it was only 9:30 am. I stretched for a bit, before cooking something with the high-grade ingredients and eating it. Although it tasted bland to me, it''s much better than the crap that they cook for me. Suddenly after 5 minutes of eating, my body started glowing, while emitting a fair amount of luminescence, whereas my hair kept growing about 20 cm. I could feel my body''s cells being recharged and getting stronger. The tiredness I felt from not sleeping for the past day just disappeared and was replaced by feeling that I could run a marathon. Somehow I also felt that something in me is slowly healing as well but using my soul sense I couldn''t identify what it is. What is happening? Could it be because of the food? If so why did it only happen to me when all the people ate the same thing? Wait could it be because I used beast ingredients to cook, and somehow managed to conserve magi particles in the ingredient? A similar experience have happened before according to the memory of John had in childhood. He once was invited when he was 7 to eat the food of the royal chefs beast food. At that time most of the chefs'' food was only able to get about 15% of nutrients and magi particle preserved, but suddenly the current royal chef made some kind special technique to preserve 30% of nutrients and magi particle. John could still feel the difference between eating a 15% energy preserved food and a 30% food. When he ate the 15% it felt that he just ate a tasty meal, but when he ate the 30% preserved food, it made him feel revitalised but not in the league of what I just felt now. But this is strange why am I able to get a reaction like this, could it be I was able to conserve the magi particle and nutrients in the ingredients while cooking, without losing any of them. In this world there are normal animals and food grown as food. But occasionally some of these animals or food mutate and transform into what is known as Beasts. This is because these animals or plants or grown in a magi particle rich environment forcing them to evolve slowly with the help of magi particle, absorbed in their bodies. Once they are evolved, their whole body is coated by one of the natural elements, such as fire, water, earth, air, lightning etc. Even plants are not an exception to this. This coating is there as a lair of defence for them. Once mutated they can pass this mutation to their offspring. This is an exception only to animals and plants and not humans. Once they evolve not only the difficulty in controlling them increases but their natural taste increases too. Along with the taste, these beast ingredients are highly packed with nutrients almost 10 times the amount of what normal ingredients have. These nutrients are not simple form of nutrient, as they contain magi particle in them that eating them revitalises the body and cells. Eating these kind of food is good for everyone especially magi. These kind of beast food help increase their magi particle accumulation, and for normal people consuming magi particle without awakening magi particle in their body helps vitalises the cells and increases their life span if consumed long term, and even has the potential to awaken as a magi. But unfortunately, in the process of cooking them most of the nutrients and magi particle are lost, such that once cooked all chef loses about 90% of the nutrients and magi particles in it. The emperor has chefs that specialises in conserving these nutrients and magi particle as much as possible, either by using an award that conserves the magi particles or being a magi that has extremely good control of exterior magi particles. However, those chefs still lose about minimum of 70% of nutrients and particles. No one knows why these particle and nutrients just disappear during cooking. All they know is that any beast ingredient has to be handled extremely careful. Now people might think to get the full effect why not just eat the ingredient raw instead of cooking and losing all the nutrients and magi laced particles? Well the reason for this is eating ingredients raw is like eating a bomb. Once a cattle or plant becomes a beast cattle or beast plant, it is surrounded by one of the natural element. But when it dies to become an ingredient the elemental protection of it is switched of. But when someone eat the ingredient raw it causes some kind of reaction that activates the elemental protection of the ingredient, while inside the body. The ingredient then turns to use everything inside the body as a fuel to further its elemental protection, by absorbing the nearby muscle, blood etc. Therefore, destroying the body from the inside. However, this is negated once the ingredient is processed, there were countless research done why this was happening and so far no conclusive reason is found. But it is believed that once the meat is processed whatever in the meat that causes it to activate its natural defence is lost when being processed thus being safe to consume, however by processing or cooking the ingredient, the ingredient loses most of its nutrients and magi particles. But why am I able to cause such a drastic effect, when cooking when even the royal head chef couldn''t? Could it be my instinct in knowing how to cook has naturally brought out the full potential of the food without losing any magi particle and nutrients? Then this in itself is a scary ability along with my ability to control my senses. This means that any food I make with higher form of ingredients has the possibility to bring out its full potential. It is good that I tried the food first, now the 50 gold and 100 gold feels to cheap. Lets change it to 500 and 1000 gold respectively. Besides being able to eat the food that even the emperor can never eat is a golden chance. My future customer would understand if I changed the price. Chapter 23 - Episode 22-Scars are just another kind of memory After sorting my thoughts in order, I waited for 30 minutes before my glowing skin slowly started to turn back to normal. The glowing skin could possibly be the side effect of having so much magi particle in my body. There were often people from yesterday coming back to my shop but seeing the ''End of discount'' sign everyone went back dejected. It was fairly empty and quiet till noon time. Suddenly someone came through the door. It was a man in his early 30''s with a scar across his face. Ah here come the first spy sent to test my food. He tried to smile but the scar just made it worse. Then he asked, "Where is the menu?" I pointed to the desk in front of me. He came forward to look at the menu, only to be scared shitless seeing the updated price. "What the hell? Why is everything in the menu so heavily priced? Are you making all your food in molten gold or something? Even the food tower most expensive dish is cheaper than this costing only 200 gold." The man screamed at the prices "It is your choice whether to buy it or not, I am not forcing you to buy it. Besides I had a warning written outside that it was going to be very expensive and all discount has ended. If you don''t want to buy it you can go out." I replied calmly ignoring his earlier cursing. "Damn. Can I at least get some kind of discount please?" The man begged "Acquire the membership from me and I will give you discount." "Fine how much is the membership?" The man asked hopefully "1000 Gold" "Screw this shit. Are you messing with me? Don''t ..." "Listen here dude I don''t want to know what other shops are doing, or how people usually run their business. You want to buy stuff from here then you follow my rules. Now do you want anything or not? If not the please get out!" I interrupted him before he could go onto one of those clich¨¦ dialogues usually found in novels. The man muttered something under his breath before taking out 2000 Gold notes. "All three of the items in the menu, please" "Why the hell were you making an over reaction when you were capable of paying in the first place? Crazy people these days." Scolding the man, I walked back into the kitchen feeling an intense glare on my back. I slowly started preparing the meal before placing each of them in a tray and taking it out. "Your order is ready." I said as I placed the dish in front of the man that seemed to be charmed by the smell. He took the tray while drooling to a table and chair. I wanted to see what changes might happen when changing the ingredient, so I observed him eating. He started with the soup and finished with the salad, while overdramatically expressing what each customer showed yesterday when eating each of them. When he finished the meal strangely his whole body started glowing and his head started to turn red with the blood flow. Suddenly his scar started to close in by replacing the dead tissue at visible speed. Till there was no scar remaining. Seeing this sight made me open my mouth in shock. The flip is this, when did cooking become so overpowered to the point of being able to heal, scars? Why did I never noticed any of this happening when I was cooking, in heaven? Oh, damn I was in my soul form to notice any of this, if I had noticed cooking can cause something like this I would have completed the full training course for being a master chef from heaven. The man feeling the sudden itch in his face touched where his scar used to be only to feel nothing but his new skin. He was suddenly happy before his expression turned to that of shock. Suddenly he stood up quickly to leave the restaurant. But when he reached the door he hesitated before leaving. After he left I spend some time thinking before I understood why his scar healed. Most likely his whole body was energised by the food to the point of even causing the damaged layer of skin to be revived and heal itself using the energy from the food. I only had a 10-minute rest before 3 other middle-aged people came in, 2 women and 1 man. Seeing their serious demeanour, I didn''t greet them or anything. I pointed to the desk when they made eye contact with me. Seeing that they came forward to look at the menu. Their eyes expressed their shock, but silently each took 2000 Gold notes from their wallet before passing to me. "Should I presume all 3 meals for the 3 of you?" They nodded to me before I went into the kitchen. I came out of the kitchen with the trolley filled with 3 trays containing their food, only to see that unlike the previous people they were not entranced by the smell of the food. As I got near them I could feel some kind of current of air flowing around them. Interesting one of them probably used the air magi to divert the smell, as soon as they saw one of them becoming enamoured by the spell. They must have thought it was some kind of drug. I placed the 3 trays on the table and looked at the apprehensive people that were reluctant to take the tray. Except for one of the women who seemed eager to try the food. Guess that is the one who smelt the food first causing the other 2 to be on alert. I smiled while the women finally couldn''t resist it and took the tray to the table. Seeing her the other two sighed but never stopped the air current as the took the tray to the table. Each of them sat an equal distance apart from each other. So, they are all sent by 3 different masters. Watching the expression made by the women who first took the tray, both of them were very reluctant to touch the food. But closing their eyes they suddenly took a pill out of their pocket and swallowed it. Then they to started eating. I presume the pill is probably some kind of magic pill that makes them immune to any kind of drug or mind control effect. They probably thought the women was got under some kind of mind control drug. But alas for them as soon as they tasted the food, they too started crying. 10 minutes later all of them started glowing like the scar dude. Before releasing a breath of hot air. Like the scar dude all of their eyes were filled with shock and happiness. All three of them stood up, to leave the shop to possibly inform their masters of what happened here. "Lets see what happens next." I mused before grinning. Chapter 24 - Episode 23-Dont underestimate your opponent, but dont overestimate them, either. Emperor James walked through the hallway towards torturer room of the palaces dungeon. This was where they tortured most of spies or enemies they caught, for information after finding them. As soon as he reached the room he saw butler Smith wiping his hands with a napkin. Extreme anger and disgust was drawn out on his face as a young man laid on the floor often mumbling "Please let me die, I don''t want to live." The man had no wounds in his body, yet he was shivering and curled up like a ball. Seeing the emperor Smith knelt on the floor on one leg while bowing his head down. "I have failed you, you highness." "How was he able to hide it so well?" The emperor asked Smith as he reviewed the information got from his agents. He had received information when John bought the shop and placed the order for supplies, and from it he concluded he was going to build a restaurant. However, he looked for any people John might have come into contact with that he would find talent in as a chef but found no result. Unexpectedly on the same day, John called Smith and informed him about his talented Chef George, even the emperor was impressed by Georges'' spread, that he had him put directly under the royal head chef to be trained. However, the emperor could make head nor tails about why John would give up his talented chef for some free advertisement. So, they all thought John had George make some spread to sell in his restaurant before he left. Because of that they purposely didn''t make it clear which royal child would open the shop, according to John, making a huge crowd gather before his shop. They thought once he ran out of spread he will learn his lesson, and admit his defeat. But unexpectedly it seemed that he opened a restaurant that sold something else, other than the spread. And along with that he had so many rules and regulation that caused most of them to walk away. It seemed he sold vegetable soup, steak and cream fruit salad. They never expected John''s shop to be so successful, right after its unpopularity in the morning, on the first day itself causing it to be busy and form a queue so big that it extended to the end of female district. People were even queuing for second serving, and this lasted till 8am in the morning. It was from the passer-by''s that they realised it was John cooking the meals, along with a massive discount going on. They waited for him to close down the shop, so the emperor agents could ransack his shop for what he was using to make the food. But it seemed he wasn''t about to close the shop down, even after opening it for more than a day now. So, they sent one agent in to test what was so special about the food. But he unexpectedly took so long to come out that they though John might have found out who he was and possibly poisoned him. But unexpectedly he came out, but the man that went in was not the man that came out. He was so energetic and happy, along with the scar disappearing from his face, no one knew if an imposter has taken his place. Only after proving his identity, he revealed that the food caused his scar to heal and was advertising for its taste to the whole intelligence. Later they found out that some of the other noble factions spies entered the shop, and similar to their agent, they were excited and happy as they left. After calming down their agent they got a detailed description of how he felt before, during and after eating the food, and what changes he observed. But the most shocking report was that agent saying that he felt his magi accumulation increase. Hearing that the emperor felt a bad premonition, so he personally called the agent and asked him to detail everything in the report to make sure. The emperor even had his magi accumulation tested to find about 10 days of accumulation was added. This shocked him. He knew this was going to get troublesome now. Having talked with his head chef, to hopefully find that John must have some kind of trick, but unfortunately he realised these were the signs of conserving the nutrients and magi particles in the ingredients. How could that bastard make food like that? Could it be the noble backing him? If so which one amongst the remaining 3 commandment is it? But that still doesn''t prove how he could cook like that? Of the 15 years of John''s life he had him watched since his mothers'' death, and no talent other than the one shown in studying was shown. Suddenly the emperor remembered the spread and the new chef George. He had butler Smith take him to the torture chamber. "Apparently this greedy bastard found the remains of soup when he arrived in the morning. Using the remains of the soup he made the spread. He had conned me your majesty. He never wanted any help for his condition, when he gave up this asshole for the trade. All he wanted was us to personally advertise for him to get the attention of other nobles and people keeping an eye on us. Is it possible to cover it up you highness?" Although he knew the answer he wanted to have some hope left. Shaking his head James replied "I am afraid not Smith. He has now got the attention of the whole nobles faction in the empire. They are all or will be aware of his food and cooking capability. Not to mention even if we try to cover it up his supporter won''t stand still." "What about using force to make him close his shop down?" "Once everyone gets the news that John is able to make food that is able to heal any exterior wound and increase magi particle accumulation, I am afraid that forcing him to close down and work for us will cause the anger of everyone out there, especially the magis. Along with that those old cooped up commandments waiting for death will rush to John, when they realise he is capable of nutrient and magi particle conservation." "Why not wait while the nobles fight amongst for John, and we swoop in to benefit from their fight?" Again, James shook his head while sighing "I wish it was that easy. I am sure you are aware of the benefits of eating food like that. Not only he is able to conserve nutrients and magi particle, all those beast ingredients managed to not lose their taste as well, and in fact seems to have so much taste to make even battle-hardened agents cry." The emperor paused to remember the first time he ate a high conservation ingredient. 8 years ago, his royal head chef made a huge leap from conserving 15% to 30%. However, when he conserved the nutrient and magi particle, the food lost its taste so much that it was like eating water. His chef nearly gave up his job feeling that he failed his duty as a chef, but only due to his pressure he carried on and became successful as an innovator and received the title Food Innovator. "This will cause all the commandments and powerful magis to want the benefit of Johns food. None of them are willing to anger another party, when they can just pay some money to eat in there. It is like getting two birds with one stone, they can eat as much as they want while at the same time incurring no risk or angering anyone else." "Why not take him out of the equation?" Butler asked, although he knew he was talking about killing the emperors son in front of his face, he showed no fear of being afraid of what he said. "It is too late. Due to the same reason why I or anyone else won''t be able to approach John with an offer to work for me or anyone else. When I said they will keep each other in check I also meant they will also keep me in check as well. They will especially make sure I will not have the monopoly this time, as I already have someone capable of conserving 30%. They must have surrounded the restaurant with agents from each noble family to make sure no one can take him away and benefit on their own. Smith when everyone can have a share of the treasure they will all stay calm, but if one person wants to be petty then they will make sure to supress him, if they can''t then they will make sure no one can benefit from the treasure. There is no profit but huge loss in trying to get John in their side. Besides I even doubt he will work for anyone else other than his backer." Suddenly he went silent for a while. Seeing his lord thinking about something Smith sighed "It seems like our hands are tied this time your majesty. He made a fool out of all of us, he hid his talent and bid his time to use it against us. I guess this must be the reason why that noble is supporting him, even after finding him as an awardless. But the question remain how that noble became aware of his talent before us?" "Hahahaha" Unexpectedly the emperor started laughing. Seeing this Butler Smith was curious. "Smith its not one noble that is aware of Johns'' talent, but two nobles." Smith suddenly reeled back in shock. "Indeed, how could I forget that? One of them approached John to take him in his side, while the other not wanting his enemy to benefit from John tried to kill John. But failed that night due to failing to see that John was protected by his benefactor. So that means if we find one of the two nobles, we catch the other noble." "Or just make sure Johns'' benefactor succeed in whatever he is planning, to the point the other party feels threatened by their success. Then when cornered he will approach us." "That is a dangerous move you highness." "But the only one we have. We just have to bid our time. Once we know the puppet master behind this game then we can start playing the game they started. We can''t blindly swing our sword in darkness hoping to hit the enemy, as it might hit out allies." Sighing the emperor turned back and walked out, only to hear a squeal behind him before everything went silent. Then after a few second Butler Smith came out following his Lord, with his hand dripping wet while he took his napkin to wipe his hand. Chapter 25 - Episode 24-Shopping for magi particles After the 4 spies left, it was followed by few hours of silence. I took this time to eat something for lunch and take some rest. It would have been really hard for a normal person to go to sleep after eating food with high energy content, but for me it is a piece of cake to fall asleep. I just laid flat on the desk of my store while using my hands as a sort of makeshift pillow. I dreamt of being back in heaven while sleeping for centuries as a sort of revenge for being made to work hard. Then I proceeded to eat and play/create games, while catching up with all the shows, novels and manga''s I missed in that time, while conjuring some legendary food and eating them as snack. But suddenly Juliet popped up on the screen which was playing the 25th remake of the King Kong movie set in the year 3237 of Earth. The King Kong transformed into Juliet as she jumped out of the screen roaring and beating her chest, then she proceeded to beat me up, followed by strangely saying "Oi kid wake up". Realising that it was all a dream, and someone was trying to wake me up, I woke up, while wiping the drool off my face. I saw that quite a few people were waiting in the room. They all looked annoyed at being made to wait. The person who woke me up shook his head saying "Are you awake now? Can we have something to eat?" "What time is it? How long have you been waiting" I asked in reply to their question. "2pm, we have been waiting for close to 10 minutes now. Can I please make my order now?" Wow slept for close to 3 hours. Man, I really want to just sleep, I miss the times when I could sleep for decades and not having to wake up for going to toilet, eat food or be woken up by anyone or anything. "Yeah. Choose whaaa*yawn*aaaat you want from the menu?" I said while yawning, I proceeded to hop of the desk stretching, while none of them at the front, even came forward to look at the menu. They all seemed kind of disgusted to come forward. Seeing my inquisitive look one them spoke up "Can you wipe the remains of your drool from the desk?" I looked back the desk and noticed that part of my drool was on top of where the menu was engraved. I took a towel and a small vial containing some form of cleaning liquid and cleaned the desk. After that they all came forward to order. I noticed that these people were all agent/spy materials, and there was a slight tension in the air among them. Seems like more of the nobles and influential people have been alerted. They are all sending their people in to see if the information they got is right or not. I smiled while I took order from them just remembering their order and table numbers, while not bothering to even ask their name, finding it useless to remember the name of cannon fodders. There seemed to be about quite a few people as the line extended outside my shop. I started cooking and brought out the food to them. They ate while those who were waiting in line were using their sheer willpower as trained agents, while some were using their air magi to resist the smell. But they all never missed the expression appearing on the face of people eating. Suddenly all those standing in line went full on defensive as they noticed the glowing effect appearing on those who have finished eating. After finishing their meal, the first group who made the orders, all went out to inform their masters reluctantly- due to, likely having not taken or given enough money for second serving. The second group of orders came up. They were bit anxious and excited at the same time. They were all only partially informed of the mission objective, probably given a simple order such as test the food here and see if it is able to increase magi particle accumulation. The same situation kept happening till the last one left until 5pm. So much money I really need to convert these gold notes into platinum chips, otherwise it will be annoying and not safe to carry around. I left all the plates and cutleries that were meant to be cleaned in the dishwasher. Although the science of this world is not on par as Earth, they replaced everything science could give with magi. Magi''s are capable of producing what is known as magi crystals. These crystals according to their size and colour are capable of storing magi. The stored magi can be performed using the magi particles that makes up the crystal. However, the crystals get smaller and smaller till they disappear when they are used. Using this magi''s started creating appliances with magi crystal embedded in it, as a way to make some money, for their research purposes. Once the crystal disappeared from an appliance they can buy a new crystal and replace it in the appliance. There are magi''s out there who are willing to sell some magi crystals for money. The menu board on my desk is magi appliance capable of engraving whatever I want on the board. Along with the ''Open'' and ''Rules and Regulation'' sign. I have also added a temperature adjustment appliance in the whole shop. I also have blenders, oven, microwave and stove in the kitchen powered by magi crystal, instead of using firewood like primitives. Even, everything that is found in the kitchen of a modern restaurant in Earth is here. Magi has advanced so far that people have invented transport similar to public buses, cars etc powered by magi crystal instead of coaches driven by horses or beasts. All in all, magi has replaced science in this world. Although not everything found in earth has been invented here yet (computer, internet, etc), most of it has been invented here to not make one miss Earth, if someone were to be transported here. However not everyone can be a magi here. To be a magi one needs to have talent, which shows how quickly a magi is able to advance in rank. Magi''s talent are divided in 4 tiers: No talent, Low talent, Medium talent and High talent. So, the accumulation done by a high talent magi in one day takes between 10 to 20 days for medium talent, while for low talent magi it takes 90 to 100 days, while for a no talent individual it will take about 1000 days. Everyone is tested for their talent as soon as they are born. Most people tend to be no talent, while the count of people goes down the higher up talent you go. The reason why talent is important is because all magi''s needs to accumulate magi particle in their body, to enable them to use magi spells. Once accumulated till a certain stage, they are easily able to keep up spells that were difficult to maintain in previous rank quite easily, due to their body passively absorbing magi particles to refill lost magi particles. So, as an example, a non magi will need to accumulate 1 magi particle and say if it took 1 hour for him to accumulate. Then after 1 hour he will become a rank 1 magi. So, if a rank 1 magi were to accumulate 1 magi particle per hour, and he needed 10 magi particle to rank up to rank 2, then he will be done in 9 hours. Then once he moves onto rank 2 he will need 100 magi particles to advance, but this time he will be able to accumulate 10 particles per hour instead of 1. However, a rank 2 magi will never have his magi particle count drop below 10 magi particle once he is rank 2, as his body will automatically replenish the lost particle as soon as it drops below 10. So if a rank 1 spell tends to use 1 magi particle per second, then in rank 1 using that spell will only last for however much magi particle they have accumulated. But once he/she reaches rank 2 he can keep up the spell indefinitely. However, say if someone is in rank 1 and he accumulated 8/10 magi particles. Then suddenly he is put in a life and death situation and had to use a magi spell that took 5 magi particles to cast. So now he will only have 3/10 magi particle, all the time he spent to achieve the 5 magi particles is lost. So, he will have to spent another 5 hours to regain the lost magi particle, instead of it passively regenerating. This the same for all the ranks, so if someone was in rank 3 and had 900/1000 magi count and used a spell that costed 900 magi then he will only have 100/1000 magi left (as the body always passively replenishes the previous ranks magi particles.). Thus, magis only use spells that is one rank below them always to fight unless it is a life or death situation. Due to this reason it is important that everyone is able to accumulate enough magi particle to reach rank 1 before they are even given a chance to be taught about magi spells. As attempting to cast a magi spell without any magi in body is like trying to use a phone without any charge, it just simply won''t work. However, the magi accumulation ratio isn''t always: rank 1-0/10, rank 2-0/100, rank 3-0/1000. It fluctuates and changes according to person, but the general pattern remains, that the higher rank you get, the harder it is to advance. However, life isn''t so simple like the scenario used above to explain magi''s ranks, as people are born with different capacity of magi particles. Someone with high capacity means that he would need to accumulate 1000 magi particles in rank 1 to advance to rank 2. Someone with a low capacity means he/she will only need 1 magi particle to advance to rank 2. Then there is the most common capacity needing only an average amount to advance in rank. Both type of capacity has advantages and disadvantages. Having a higher capacity usually meant he or she will be able to bombard their enemies with spell, however they won''t be able to control their spells. While people with low capacity will have a massive control over all the spells they cast and having extremely good control of exterior magi particles. However someone with average capacity is expected to have best of both worlds, instead, he/she will only have the worst of both worlds, being only able to cast a limited amount of spells without enough control over them. So, if a person with high capacity were to cast a fireball spell, he or she won''t be able to have enough control over the spell. They would just be able to launch the spell in the direction of their enemies and bombard them to death, with fireballs. While a low capacity spell user can compress their fireball to the size of a grain of rice, without losing any power or destruction and send it toward their target, without anyone noticing anything and killing them off silently. So, combining these two factors you get a variety of magi such: people born with higher capacity and low talent, someone with low capacity high talent. Due to this it became really hard to classify magis and their strength. So, the magi association laid out 2 requirements to classify magi ranks: one the accumulation of magi particles, two the magis ability to fight against an award user of the same rank. The magi association had an equipment being able to measure out which rank of accumulation a person was on, along with if he or she had high or low capacity or the average capacity. So, if someone were to reach rank 2 and wasn''t able to defeat a rank 2 award user then he won''t be classified as a rank 2 magi. John to was tested for magi talent as soon as he was born. He was found to be among the no talent, with an average capacity. Having neither a high nor low capacity, it was deemed better that he was not to be trained in magi art, along with the fact that John wanted to be an award user. Therefore, it was a deemed a waste of resource and time even if John was capable of reaching high rank, as his magi rank will be lost as soon as he becomes an award user. But fate was truly against John, as not only did he not have any award, but he is not able to accumulate magi particles anymore. The least magi particle can do when consumed by Ez, is that being able to make sure Ez is in top shape and increase his healing speed. Maybe it can delay his soulless condition for a while, before the healing caused by magi particle not being able to keep up with the destruction. Chapter 26 - Episode 25- The Daily life of Spies and secrets A man was stood in front of the window watching the clouds in the sky. He turned around and looked at the person in dark attire kneeling in front of his desk, that was covered in paper and documents. "Speak" "It is all true. The conservation of ingredients is so much that it increased about 10 days'' worth of magi accumulation of about a low talent magi, without losing any taste, in fact the taste of the food is good enough reason to visit there. Other than that, I don''t see why everyone is giving the restaurant such importance. The accumulated magi particles amounts to nothing in the eyes of higher ranked magi''s and talented magi''s." "That is where you are wrong Archer." "I am afraid I don''t understand, my lord." The man who was called lord walked towards his desk and took a sheet of paper and passed it to Archer. As he received the document he read it, appearing confused. So, the lord explained "As you can see the list shows the ingredients he bought. It can be separated into 2, normal ingredients and beast ingredients. From seeing the amount of normal ingredients, he bought we can assume he used that for the commoners, thus answering the question, why the commoners could never experience what many of the agents did. However, look at the beast ingredient he bought." Archer looked at the paper again "It is just cow beast. I still don''t get it." "That is expected. Now look at the price of the cow beast ingredient he bought." Listening to his lord he looked at the price. Suddenly his face turned black "That scammer, he bought the meat of cow beast for 1 gold and sold it to me for 1000 gold." Archer remembered the pain in his heart as he was forced to spent 2000 gold for what amounted to less than 2 golds worth of ingredient. "You are looking at the wrong picture here Archer." Seeing that Archer was going off rail he carried on "What kind of cow beast cost only 1 gold?" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "What type of cow beast meat cost only 1 gold you idiot?" The old man lectured his agent who was still trying to understand the paper in front of him while still sat on top of the tree. "Seriously if you still don''t understand the situation I am going to beat you up, for making waste my time. Who the hell took you in as my intelligence unit, if you can''t even figure this simple thing out?" The man sat on tree twitched his eyebrows as he thought ''You did you asshole.'' "I presume a level 1 beast cow?" He replied without revealing his inner thoughts afraid of getting pummelled by the monster in front of him. "What the hell do you mean by presume? It is a level 1 beast cow that cost 1 gold. So, what do you understand from that?" "That beast cow meat is cheap, John is a scammer, to not trust him with my money, and he is a great businessman?" The agent listed as many reasons as he could possible to hopefully get the right answer. However, he could see the elders face getting pissed off more and more as he was listing out all the possible reasons. Finally, when he finished there was a moment of silence before the old man shouted in rage "I am going to kill that idiot for not even training the intelligence unit properly. I told him to leave me alone of all affairs as I wanted to enjoy my peaceful free time, but he had to drag me into mess." The agent offered a silent prayer to his lord, as he could imagine his bruise faced lord calling him tomorrow, inquiring why his dad was pissed off again. "Fine listen to me you idiot and make that damn son of mine understand, if the soulless is capable of cooking food that is capable of accumulating at least 10 days'' worth of low talent magi particles, then imagine what he is capable of with higher levelled beast ingredients?" Suddenly the agent said out loud "Oh Shit.". After saying that he disappeared from the tree. "Also tell him I am going out for some food, and I am taking the new travelling board with me." The old man shouted towards the direction where the man disappeared. The agent ran even faster to inform his lord, after hearing the old man was planning to take the travelling board. Everyone knew the accidents caused by the old man when he took the travelling board -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Seban did you hear about John? Everyone is excited about him" The man asked as he came into the room where Seban was lying down. "Yeah" Seban''s mood deteriorated as he thought about all the commotion caused by John''s food and new restaurant. "Why are you upset about it? Don''t you see if he enters the competition then we can be free?" "Flint" hearing his name be called Flint stopped his rambling and turned to Seban. "Tell me why we ended up in this situation?" The smiling face of Flint shattered as he realised that everything they done to protect John for all these years was for nothing. "Flint, if he enters the competition we will be free, but what about him?" Flint sighed in depression as he knew once John entered the competition he was free to be killed. Even they couldn''t stop the commandments and the Emperor''s assassination attempts. They are mercenaries not soldiers or bodyguards. "Seban he has to enter the competition anyway, if he wants to live for long, with his condition." Flint tried to convince Seban that John entering the competition was inevitable. "Perhaps he could live longer, but I wanted him to die a natural and peaceful death, instead of being killed by assassin for the betterment of other people''s agendas or living in fear of being killed. I wanted him to have a better life than that Flint. Is thinking like that wrong Flint?" "Who knows man? But let me tell you something, I still don''t regret making that deal for John. If he wants to live like that then let him. It is his life; he can choose what to do with it and..." Flint paused before getting Seban''s attention "you would make a good dad." "Hahahaha" Hearing Seban laugh Flint started laughing too. Soon the other 4 came in to see what they were laughing about only for the contagious laughing to spread as well. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Tom did you hear about the new restaurant opened by my brother?" James the 3rd asked Tom as he walked around the garden while eating some kind of chicken popcorn. Tom nodded while he was walking behind his lord. Suddenly James faced Tom as he whispered "That''s great I wanted to go there, but annoying Smith just won''t let me, due to staying out past my curfew. What do you say about escaping the palace tonight to eat from there? I heard that the restaurant is open all day." "As you wish my lord." Tom nodded "Why are you always so serious Tom? I have told you many times to call me by my name. Just chill and enjoy life man." James scolded Tom as he started to walk back towards his room in the palace. "And I have told you many times my lord that I won''t address you by your name in public, or when there are people around us." Tom replied back as he silently put his left hand behind his back from which a small strand of black shadow escaped to fly off into the direction of butler Smith. "Seriously, you know when I become the emperor, I will make a rule that you have to call me by my name." James laughed as carried on talking without being aware that his closest friend just snitched his plan to butler Smith. "I am pretty sure you can''t just invent random rules in the courthouse, as the nobles and other kings under the empire are looking for a reason to oppose you." "Meh, dad will deal with those idiots." James replied without any care, as he reached his room, while grabbing a maid on the way to satisfy his desires. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Cason, do you think John has a chance to enter the competition now, due to his food?" Jack asked Cason, while drinking their tea. "From your expression you don''t seem worried at all. So, tell me what you think that makes you so unworried?" Cason replied back as he looked at Jack, interested in what his answer might be. "Well I think he won''t be able to enter the competition." "Correct answer." Cason replied while clapping his answer. "Care to explain why? If it is the right answer I will help you with the rebellion uprising in the north." "Obviously because no one in the court especially the emperor wants unreliable variable getting in their playing field. So even if the emperor, miraculously decided to award him a title, everyone else will object. Unless John''s mysterious supporter pulls the strings." "Correct again, but you ignored one minor thing. Even if that person pulls strings for John, it won''t matter because I doubt they have enough connections or resources to do that. If they had the connection or resource they wouldn''t be hiding behind the darkness." "Speaking of that person any clues about who it is?" For so long, it has been confusing everyone, that knows about John''s assassination attempt about who the mysterious backer was. No one likes needle that stabbed them to turn into a cleverly hidden dagger. So, everyone has been guessing and accusing each other secretly about who it might be. The commandment nobles who haven''t picked a side are especially in the spotlight. "No, he/she is elusive as always. No tracks or records showing how he communicates with John. No nobles so far has shown any signs either. This is slowly becoming a headache." Cason replied while rubbing his head. Chapter 27 - Episode 26-An actor is a fool for God The time currently was 7pm, I wanted to go back to sleep, but the damn spies had to come in every now and then just when I am about to take a nap. Why can''t they all just come all together? Suddenly there was a loud noise outside as if something exploded. I went outside to take a look to see that part of store, across me has been caved in, and there was some smoke and dust which covered up anything that was happening inside. He could hear someone saying, "Sorry about that, I saw a ghost entering your shop, I was trying to get rid of it before it caused you any harm. Luckily I destroyed it just in time. You are safe now." As the dust cleared he saw an old man patting the shoulders of the owner of the shop, comforting him, with his lame excuse trying to cover up his inability to drive a travelling board. The travelling board laid on the floor in an unrepairable mess. The man walked away from the shocked shop keeper as if nothing happened, before looking around, ignoring the crowd gathering around the destroyed shop. He saw my shop and walked towards it whistling, while I was watching him going in among the gathered crowds in front of my shop. No one dared to say anything due to the small badge resting above his heart on his black suit. A rose made with 10 different coloured petals, the unique symbol use to identify a commandment. "Oi soulless, are you here? I am hungry, can I have something to eat please?" Hearing him shout out for me I sighed before walking towards the store. I could feel that a annoying fly is going to harass my shop from now on. As I walked towards the store I saw an agent walking towards the destroyed building, while tightly holding onto his wallet. So, these are the clean up unit assigned to clean up after this nutjob then. "Are you even here? I saw the sign that the shop was open, so I came in. Feed this grandpa soon before he dies of hunger. You don''t want the guilt of seeing an old man die out of hunger in front of you. I promise I will pay and not run away with the food. Come out ..." "Can you please shut up? I am right behind you. I will cook for you so please just be quiet." I interrupted him before he could blabber my ear off. "Ah there you are, I want 2 servings of salad soup, a beast cow and vegetable cream. I was told these are what you sell here. Here is the money, quick make some food." "Its vegetable soup, steak and cream salad. Give me 10 minutes please." I said as I took the money of him. It was the gold notes with denominations of 100. There were only denomination of 1, 5, 10 and 50 for up to silver currency. But for Gold there was 2 additional denomination of 100 and 500. I saw several denominations of 500 in his wallet but, he never even took any one of them. Using only the 100 denomination to pay me. I am pretty sure if it could have fit in his wallet, he would have used even smaller denominations. I took the money to the drawer in the desk and left it there. As I walked towards the kitchen I could hear the old man climbing over the desk like a kid. "Kitchen is off limits old man unless you buy the membership." "I wasn''t following you to kitchen, I was planning to see the strength of these drawers, and how secure they are for research purposes. You see I am planning on making a new kind of appliance to increase the security of ..." The flip I thought I could be the most annoying person in the world, turns out there are people just like me. I zoned him out as I walked towards the kitchen starting to cook. Soon I could hear the old man attempting to sneak into the kitchen drawn by the smell. As soon as he got close to the entrance, I activated the button to automatically close the kitchen door. The kitchen slammed onto his face as he howled in pain. "I told you old man kitchen is off limits until you buy the membership. You should have just listened to me." "Oww mi noze hrtz" I could hear him speak outside crying out of pain. This old man wants to play then I will play along with him. Lets see who can piss each other the most, before one of us gives up. I finished cooking as I took 2 trays out to the old man who had 2 tissues stuffed in his nose to stop the bleeding. "What the hell is you door made out of? It almost broke my nose." "Beast bones of Level 5 beasts." I replied as I set the tray in front of him. "Who the hell uses the beast bone of a level 5 beast to make doors? Are you that concerned about your security? Then you really should think about testing out my new security system instead of putting in tough doors." "I will think about it." "Please do. I really need some funds for my project. My stupid sons think it is a stupid idea and won''t even give me enough money. They have even started to restrict my pocket money saying that I cause too much damage, and I need to learn the value of money. Talk about the biting the hand that feeds you. Ungrateful bastards." "I understand. Your food is getting cold old man. Hurry up and start eating before it goes cold." I replied, while nodding with a pained expression as I listened, acting as if I shared his pain, before gently reminding him of his food, with a smile. "Oh, thanks kid, nearly forgot about this. Damn I can''t even smell these, with my broken nose." The old man took the meal to a table and sat there eating. He wanted to say something with his food in his mouth, but as soon as he took the first bite of the soup, he carried on eating like an obedient kid, while a single tear dripped down both his eyes. His solemn mood was direct contrast to what he was showing before. After 15 minutes he finished 2 servings, while his body started to glow with quite a bright luminosity, he closed his eyes at this time. So that''s what happens when you eat 2 serving in a single round. The area around his nose flushed red, as I understood that his damaged nose was being healed. After few minutes of silence, he opened his eyes as he spoke to me in a deep voice "Kid give me 2 more servings." This time four denomination of 500 flew to my desk, I took it and I nodded as I went back into the kitchen. After 5 minutes I came out with the 2 trays, as I placed them on the desk. As soon as it was placed on the desk, it flew towards the old man who started eating. Admiring the huge capacity of the old man I watched as he kept on glowing. After a while he stood up and came up to me. His earlier playfulness was replaced with a very serious attitude a eyes. "I understand that, to bring my own ingredients that you need a membership." I nodded "How much for the membership then?" he asked "I see that you are planning to buy the membership and not just asking for the sake of it. So, I will inform you of the conditions for the membership. There are two conditions to acquire membership here: 1. Complete a request I assign you and 2. Pay the price for membership. The price for the membership is 10000 gold. Along with that you will have to renew your membership once a year, by following the same condition." The old man gazed sharpened hearing the conditions. "What kind of request?" Ignoring the fact that I raised the price of membership by 10 times and about the membership renewal, he asked me the important question. "It varies from person to person, and my mood, my need and wants at the time. However, if you are up to the task, the mission to acquire membership this time is simple. Convert all my money into plat chips and bring it back to me before this time tomorrow. If as much as 1 copper is missing from the money I give you or you don''t arrive here on time tomorrow, not only will you never get a membership here, but you will be blacklisted as well. Do you agree to this?" The old man nodded "Deal". I smiled as I gave him all my money amounting to about 50 plat chips, in a small bag. "Also convert you membership fee into plat chips as well, as I believe you failing the mission is next to impossible considering you are a commandment." The old man nodded as he walked out with the bag. While Ez''s smile slowly crept into a creepy grin as he left the exit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The old man arrived at the gate of the palace as he saw the guards were on full alert and that Smith, was anxiously waiting outside. "Did he run away again?" The old man eased his serious expression, as he talked to Smith. "I don''t know why Tom even informed me in the first place, if he was going to help his highness run away." "Do you know where to?" Hearing the question, the butler had a unhappy expression "Not far this time. To the restaurant." This time it was the old man who had a change in expression. Seeing his expression change as soon as he mentioned restaurant and bag in his hand the butler asked, "What do you think about him?" "He is a really crafty guy. I think he was able to either predict the reason I was there for or he is an extremely patient person, as he was capable of perfectly adapting to any situation I presented to him without crumbling under my intimidation and sudden change in behaviour. He even tried to annoy me with a request." "What about your personal opinion then?" Smith asked him "In my personal opinion, I think we should remove him out of the equation as soon as possible. Although using my experience he doesn''t seem that dangerous, but something tells me he is one of a kind of dangerous person I have never met and never wanted to meet. Think about it, he even fooled you for 10 years, this means he is not just patient but extremely clever to the point of planning everything. And how old is he to do all of this? And how old was he when he started planning all of this? I have a feeling that he is not simply a puppet controlled by someone, but rather the puppet master, who wants his puppets to think they are in control. Therefore, I suggest you and his majesty to start taking him seriously. If I am right then I fear that him being a soulless, and untalented in magi, was just fates way of saying, ''I have done as much as I can, stop him while you can'' " Understanding the seriousness of what Albert just said made the butler panic. Albert was often whom they sent to understand their enemies, as his behaviour and acting will fool even the most experienced of person, if not it will even lower their defence for a few seconds for him to understand them. Although his analysis of their enemies hasn''t always been right, but his intuition was something else. It has never been wrong. "It is too late for taking him out now." Smith moaned disappointedly. "I know, I saw the number of agents surrounding the restaurant after causing the commotion. Although they tried to blend back in as soon as possible, but it was too late." "What do you propose then?" "To be honest, I have simply no idea. Like I said, I have never met someone like him, so I have never been in a situation like this. It feels almost as if we are playing into his hands no matter what we do." Albert looked up into the night sky, before walking back home. Suddenly he turned back and asked "Can you change these money into plat chips please? Although I don''t like being near him, I love his food, and still want to go there for more." Seeing him turn back abruptly made Smith think there was something important only to be disappointed. He wanted to curse him saying ''Can''t you read the mood you idiot?''. But he sighed knowing the old man was back into his usual self now. "I am not even going to ask why?" "Oh, that is simple. The story goes like this I went into his shop to eat some food..." Chapter 28 - Episode 27-Stealing from the Rich to Give to the Poor I have to say trying to act in front of someone who is older than you is the same as when a child tries to lie when he is caught doing wrong, so obvious. I started preparing some food for dinner and was about to eat it when 2 people entered. I recognised both of them at once. One was the crown prince, James the 3rd, the other his most loyal and the famous bodyguard of the empire, Tom. Well, it seems the spoilt brat came just as I expected. The infamy caused by the useless spoilt prince is famous throughout most of the empire. This is one of the major reason why the royal court is split into 3 factions, a faction supporting the emperor and crown prince, one supporting the Jack and the last one staying as a neutral faction. I smiled seeing the crown prince and Tom coming closer to the desk. Both of them smelling the food in front of me. "That smells so good. Long-time, no see John. I haven''t seen you since you came for the meal at dad''s place ages ago." Seeing his uncaring attitude, John smiled. "Yeah, it has been a long time, your highness. How are you doing?" I asked back "Not that easy, Smith always locks me up in the palace saying, that if I go out I would cause trouble for dad. Meh, what does he know? All I do is just have fun, in the red street, I don''t even beat people up anymore. When I become emperor, I am pretty sure I would never be able to enjoy, so I am enjoying my life now. Even Tom thinks that I should go out less often .Tell me is it wrong to enjoy?" "It is as you have said, the only thing butler Smith knows is to annoy. Enjoy you life to the fullest your highness. So, what can I do for you today?" I observed both of them as I bad mouthed Smith. Only to see the prince agreeing with me whole heartedly, while Tom just glared at me, with his usual poker face as always. "I heard the restaurant you opened sell delicious food. When I last saw you 8 years ago I never expected you to want to be a chef, and an awesome one at that from the smell of the food. I came here to have a taste of your food, as I heard father and Smith talking about it." "What do you want? The menu is here." I pointed at the desk. So, it seems Smith and the emperor are running around like headless chickens now. "Hmm, why are there only 3 food here John? Do you not have more?" He asked me curiously, as he totally ignored the prices of the food. "I have only bought ingredient for these 3 items. However, if you become a member, then you can bring in your own ingredients and I will cook them for you." The prince nodded as he said, "That is cool, being a member and all makes you feel special. I will buy it after eating. I will have all 3 of them from the menu, one for me and one for Tom." I could see Tom''s reluctance as James ordered the food. Then Tom came up and paid the price without even looking at the menu. ''Oh, so it seems, Tom has already been informed beforehand.'' "Ok 5 minutes brother. Just pick a table and sit down." I went in with my unfinished food and came out after 5 minutes only to see James still standing there inhaling the fragrance coming from the kitchen, while Tom seemed unaffected. "Here you go." As soon as the tray left my hand it was grabbed by James as he rushed towards a table followed by a sighing Tom. They sat on a same table and started eating. The prince reacted like everyone else just crying from the taste, and unexpectedly few tears started pouring from Tom''s eyes like the old man from before, but he didn''t break down. Then it was followed by the steak, and dessert. Soon they were finished in 10 minutes, and started glowing, while the messy hair of Tom smoothed out to be silkier and smoother, whereas James'' hair started to grow longer by few centimetres. "This is awesome John. I have never tasted food like this. Compared to the old man in my dads kitchen you are really awesome. Damn, if I knew it was going to be this tasty, I wouldn''t have eaten before coming here. Tom we should just come here every day." Tom had a lost expression on his face, as he wanted to come here often due to how good the food tasted but considering the safety of his lord was his priority. So he just stood there without replying. "John, how much is the membership? I really want to buy one after tasting the food, and I want to see what you can make with some of the ingredients used by that old man." I informed them of the conditions to acquire the membership, followed by the benefits of having the membership. As soon as Tom heard that you have to fulfil a request of mine to acquire membership his expression tensed. "Oh, that is easy, as long as it is in this empire I can get anything for you. So, what do you want John?" James replied "Since it is you, you highness I wouldn''t make a hard request. My request for you will be to get me a copy of the ''Nobles and Kings of the Empire''." The book I requested of James was a book found most commonly found in the streets, informing everyone who the kings in certain kingdoms are, the nobles in those kingdoms, the current 10 commandment nobles, and the emperor. Basically, it was a book to identify the nobles living in the empire. This was done so that everyone can recognise a noble if he were to walk in front of you and give them the respect they deserve, according to their ranks. It can bought for as much as 1 silver from any bookstore in the empire, even in a backwater village. "Oh, that is easy, Tom always carries one with him. Pass it to me Tom" As soon as Tom heard my request his expression darkened, knowing that I tricked James. But hearing James'' order and his hands waiting out in front him for the book, he reluctantly took a thin book out from his suites inside pocket. He cursed Smith, remembering it was him that asked him to take the book with him everywhere to identify someone, just in case if the young lord pissed a relative of someone very important. But how did this bastard know that we carried one copy with us. This is a special copy made only for the 10 commandment nobles and the emperor. Taking the book from his hand James passed it to me along with 10 plat chip. "Here you go, by the way this is a special edition made just for me. This book not only has the list of all the current nobles, but it has the list of all their relatives. Smith gave it to Tom, saying he should check everyone who I get in trouble with it, and to stop me before I piss them off. In all honesty I don''t really need it as that rotten tomato doesn''t know how powerful our dad really is." "You majesty this is too much I just need a normal one. I can''t take something this expensive from ..." I put on a panicked and reluctant expression while he interrupted me. I expected him to have a special edition, since he was the favourite of the emperor, but I didn''t expect him to carry one with him. I thought he would have come back with it next day. But that would have given enough time for Smith and the emperor to make some changes to the book, unfortunately for them they screwed themselves this time. "Don''t worry, take it as my gift to you for making delicious food for me, also I got another one at home, that one was Tom''s." He said cheerfully while Tom was staring at me with murderous gaze I reluctantly accepted with a smiling face while fawning over the crown prince and his benevolence. "Oh, since you are the first member let me inform you of few things, before I give you your membership card: 1- All memberships must be renewed every year, the price for it is 10k gold and fulfilling a request of mine. 2-If you want to bring in any ingredients, then you have to inform me what you are going to bring in beforehand, and when you will bring it in. This is to give me enough time to prepare for it. 3- You have to buy some supplementary ingredients I say, with the ingredients you want. This is so I can bring out the full taste of the ingredient you want to bring in. 4-The price of the food will vary depending on the ingredients bought and will be informed, when you make the appointment to bring the ingredient in. 5-Payment has to be made first before I cook your ingredient. 6-I will take 30% of all ingredient bought in. This is so before I cook any food, I want to experiment with it to see, which ingredient goes with it best. 7-Any replacement card will cost 10 gold. But since your highness is the first member, and you gave me a valuable gift you don''t have to pay for it. 8-I have the right to add more rules in the future, and you are to follow them. Do you agree with all of this?" "Yeah, but it''s kind of long to remember." The prince said as he tried hard to remember the rules "Don''t worry it is all written down in your membership card." Hearing that he sighed before I took out a card and wrote something down. "Remember this card is only for you, and no one other than you can use it to make order." I said as I handed him a black card with gold border and writings. He observed the card for a few minutes before saying. "Hey John, what is this weird gibberish written here?" He pointed to what was written in the back of the card. I smiled as I replied, "That is your name, written in a code only I know, so if someone stole your card and came in with your card, I would know that he is using your card, and makes it impossible to forge another card." "Wow, that is clever and cool at the same time." He said fascinated by the gibberish written down. "Can I make an order for tomorrow then?" He asked me after putting the card carefully in his wallet. "Sure. What would you like to bring in and when?" "I want to bring in ..." He listed me several names of what I assumed was level 3 beast ingredients, all being meat. I closed my eyes, as I used my soul to review what I read about those ingredients, from a book in the library. Then following that I listed some ingredients for James to bring in. The total price for the whole dish turned out to be 20 plat chips. James paid upfront and promised to be back tomorrow morning with the ingredients. He left followed by Tom, who still had his murderous aura locked onto me, still pissed off with me, about tricking James for the book. As soon as they were about to open the door someone else opened it from the outside, it was the old man from before, with a pouch in his hand, laughing as he said, "Kid I have completed your mission, you better give me some offers as your first member! Hahaha!" Seriously I just want to eat my dinner now, and not deal with this annoying old man. Chapter 29 - Episode 28-Bartering goods "Why are you here useless buffer?" James'' expression turned to that of scowl as soon as he Albert. "Ah, the one and only useless prodigal son of the Emperor is here. Last time I checked this shop doesn''t offer women as part of their complimentary service." Albert insulted James without even giving him the respect of a crown prince. "You asshole just wait until I become the emperor. The first thing I will make sure is to have you beaten in the streets stripped naked." The prince insulted the commandment back, it was if this was common among them. "Ah so we have a feisty one here. Unfortunately, the balls in my court doesn''t roll towards men, like you and Tom." He laughed. Unable to make a counter the prince flushed red, while Tom just ignored both of them. "Anyway, I have got important things to do, I don''t want to spend my time lecturing on useless trashes." The old man said as he walked towards the desk as James looked at him with utter rage and anger. "Kid here is your money, I got it all back in 2 hour''s time isn''t it awesome? Do you have any special privilege for your first member? If you give me a privilege I will make sure that my whole family eats from here from now on and ..." "Hahahahaha" The prince interrupted Alberts dialogue, as he was handing me the pouch with the plat chips, with a burst of laughter. "Too bad old man it seems someone became a member before you did and received the first member privilege. Ahahahahaha" The prince laughed while showing off his membership card. Now it was Albert''s turn to rage "What the hell kid, how did he get a membership before me? I thought I was the first member." He screamed with an angry expression. "You were the first person to accept the mission, but his highness was the first to complete the task assigned to get membership, thus he gets the first membership." I explained while the old man still had an unwilling expression. Seeing how this would lead to, I carried on explaining the benefits and rules of the membership card, before he starts to convince me otherwise, while after mocking him the prince along with Tom left. I showed him the card asked him for his name while I wrote it in his card in some kind of gibberish nonsense, that I am sure no one will understand. I told him what and why it was written there. He took the card with a reluctant face as he ordered another set of meal. After the meal his expression brightened as he asked if he could bring some ingredients tomorrow. The ingredients where all level 5 beast ingredients, I closed my eyes for few moment before I told him what to bring with those ingredients. "Bring all of those tomorrow afternoon." I said as I finished listing off all the ingredients he would need as he wrote all of them down. "Wait! Afternoon? Why not in morning?" He asked me puzzled. "His majesty made an appointment with me for morning, as I am not sure what time he will appear in the morning I made all of tomorrow morning free, also I feel like I will be too lazy tomorrow morning to cook." I gave him a lame reason as the real reason was for me to cook and eat the ingredients I got from James. I am not sure what kind of reaction high level ingredients might present, if level 1 ingredient already illuminated the body. "Damn that kid is one step ahead of me, always." Albert cursed as he walked out. ''Finally, some peace and quiet''. I took this moment to heat up my cold food I prepared before, for my dinner and ate it. I took a chair beside the desk after dinner and started going through the book given to me by James. The book worked kind of like a tablet, as you can just scroll down to see the list of names of all people in the kingdom. As soon as I saw the detail of the first few people, I realised how stupid a prince could be. If this book were to get into the hand of enemy spies, it would literally be a disaster. Not only did it have a detailed list of all the relatives of the kings and nobles of the empire, but this book composed a detailed explanation of each person such as their likes and dislikes, any crimes committed by them in the past that was covered up, where they would love to go, their hobby etc. Every single person had a detailed explanation. It took me 3 hours to scroll through the whole tablet. Other than the emperor, main leaders of each commandments every single detail was written on the tablet, including mine, and it seemed to be updated information, as me running a restaurant was shown in here. I can soon expect someone sent by Smith to come in for this tablet. And I was right although my expectation was wrong, as soon as it was midnight, while the street was still deserted, someone did come in. He was tall about 2 meters, well built, with white hairs and a small stubble adorning his icy face. "Will you not close the restaurant even during midnight? Do you not want to sleep?" Smith said as he walked closer to me. "I have to make sure that I don''t lose a single customer just because I was asleep. What can I get you?" "1 serving of everything on the menu. And the book." Smith said as he glared at me. "Everything for a price Smith. The food will cost 2000 gold because it is worth that much, while the book will cost according to its value." I said as I looked back at him unaffected by the glare "The book was in your hand for the past few hours. If you were smart, whatever information you wanted to know you would have looked at it, in those few hours, you had." He replied while passing me the 2000 gold. While implying that I better give him the book as I have had used it enough. "Oh, are you threatening me. I would like to see you even touch me." I took the gold and put it into the drawer. "Did you know that young chef that you gave us was found dead? His post-mortem team said, he suffered agonising torture, that left no marks in his body before he was killed. We believe he was kidnapped by our enemies wanting to use him to poison his majesty. Besides that, I am pretty sure those guys outside looking after you, wouldn''t mind me and you having catch up time." He said as he walked toward a table and sat down. While I started trembling in fear and started sweating. I closed my eyes breathing few times, before opening them, and reaching for the table and motioned as if taking something before putting it in my mouth. Seeing me do this, Smith watched me curiously. "Ah they wouldn''t mind that at all Smith, as long as I am left in one piece. But are you aware of what a pain pill is?" I said as I slowly swallowed it. Hearing me Smith froze for a few second and kept staring at me like I was a crazy person. Smith suddenly understood what I was doing while he was walking towards the table. Pain pill, unlike what it sound was an anti-torture pill. It was something carried by all spies and agents. They use it when they are surrounded by their enemies and have lost all hope of escape. The benefit of this pill was as soon as the body even registers a minute amount of pain, it will cause the brain to cut all nerve connection with the body before causing death. "Now be a good grandpa and sit there while waiting for your food. If I as much as get hurt while cooking in the kitchen you know what will happen. Also, while you are at it, think off a good deal for the book." I said as I watched Smith sweating bullets. The spies and agents watching me from outside can view what is happening inside the restaurant like in a 144p quality video, using a rank 2 spell, but they can''t hear what is going on or clearly see. They can use a spell that is able to let them hear and see clearly, but that is a spell for rank 5 magi. And I am pretty sure no rank 5 magi would ever be bored enough to sign up as a stake-out agents. So, what did the agents from outside see. Smith walked in and said something to me, while I reply back. Then as Smith walks back, John is seen to be very afraid and frightened. But he closes his eyes and make a resolve and takes something from the desk where Smith was standing before. And swallows it. So, what would happen if I get hurt in the kitchen while cooking or if Smith actually hurt me if he was stupid enough? They would see me dead. If I died in the kitchen while cooking, they would think Smith forced me to take a poison and I died due to that, and if I were to be harmed by Smith, they would think I was killed on purpose. In both cases Smith killed me following the order of his majesty. Even if the agents can''t do anything about me they will make sure to at least take an arm if not outright kill him. But what would happen next is the best scenario. All high ranking magis will start hating the emperor for being extremely selfish at only wanting the best chef for himself, followed by the backlash of majority of the nobles, including his own supporters. Soon followed by unrest which can lead to many situation which wouldn''t end happily. All because of what not paying for an invaluable book, but they wouldn''t know that all they will see is the emperor want to be the only one benefiting of the chef, that is capable of increasing the magi accumulation of everyone, and increasing their lifespan, for himself. It wouldn''t have this much effect if Smith had sent someone else in his place to the restaurant. As the emperor could have just deny himself of any involvement. But everyone knows that Smith is the very embodiment of the Emperor inside and outside the palace. I finished cooking as I bought in the food. I saw Smith looking at me terrified as I took each step. "Eat up Smith. Let''s talk after you have eaten." Smith carefully took the tray from the table afraid that if anything spill over to me and I get hurt, then I might die. He ate the food, while temporarily forgetting the crisis he is in. After he finished he turned towards me and said, "What do you want?" From the question and glow he emitted I imagined him as some kind of wish fulfilling deity found in novels. I chuckled at the question. This was no more about the book, but about the downfall of the empire being discussed in a restaurant. The condition being Smith gave a good enough deal for John not to kill himself. "What do you think, and give me the right answer before, I accidentally prick the needle in my pocket?" I warned Hearing that I have needle in my pocket he abruptly stood up in shock. He remembered what Albert told him. Smith wasn''t convinced before but now he utterly convinced, that Albert was very, very wrong about John. Not only is John dangerous, he is crazy and mad too, to the point of using his life as a bargaining chip like it''s some cheap item found in any store. Smith has enough experience to spot liars, along with his award, and from what he knows John wasn''t joking about his life. Along with with that the conviction from his eyes, it says ''If I go down then I will make sure to drag everything with me to hell.'' "You want the title right I can get it for you right now?" Smith finally relented. All thought giving him title is the last thing they wanted, it is much better than the collapse of the empire, no the emperor. Smith was only loyal towards the emperor and no one else, not even the empire came before the emperor to him. Besides they will have plenty of chance to take him out or even better Jack will do it for them, once he enters the competition. It wasn''t that bad of a choice. Unexpectedly John shook his head. "Nah, I don''t really want it now. I will take the title when I want to." Smith brain short circuited for a moment. Smith didn''t know how to respond when he heard that. Especially the part about ''I will take the title when I want to.'' It was as if he was sure he will get the title when he wanted to, not even Jack would dare say that. Then he remembered what Albert said, ''It feels almost as if we are playing into his hands no matter what we do.'' "Then what do you want?" Smith asked seething with anger. "Hmm how about ... actually you know what I am bored and tired playing this game. Here." I said as I threw the tablet to Smith "Now go, I need my beauty sleep. *yawn*" I said as I climbed onto the desk to sleep. Seeing Smith still standing there and failing to catch the tablet/book as it dropped onto the floor I said while smiling "Leave old man before you piss me off." Hearing that Smith frantically took the book as he ran out of the restaurant towards the palace, all sorts of things going through his mind. Chapter 30 - Episode 29-Shine bright like a Diamond "Your Highness he is crazy! We have to do something about him soon, before it gets out of our hand." Smith screamed while pointing in the general direction of Johns'' shop. "Smith you have got to calm down. I understand, but you still seem to be in deep shock of what happened to you in the restaurant." The emperor explained calmly while sat on his throne, in the middle of night. "You DON''T UNDERSTAND! HE ..." Suddenly Smith fainted while two hands caught him. "Take him to his room." Albert said as he passed him to a nearby guard. After the guard left Albert turned toward the emperor and bowed. "I trust that Smith told you my reasoning before he left for the restaurant?" Albert asked the Emperor. "Yes. Coupled with what Smith just said I think we have released a loose cannon. Do you have any solutions Albert?" The emperor frowned as he massaged his head. "I do have one, but it is not really a solution." Hearing Albert the emperor suddenly sat up. "What we can do right now is let him do whatever he wants, while avoiding him and hope that this loose cannon fires towards our enemies." "And?" The emperor said hoping there was more to the plan "That''s it. Just make sure we do everything to avoid getting in his way, till he enters the competition. At which point we can just take him out. But make sure to delay his entry into the competition as long as possible, as he doesn''t have much long to live" "Why did you even come here, in the middle of night, with this crap plan in the beginning?" The emperor asked, as the plan suggested by Albert was just the most basic thing they could do. "Oh, that? I was told I am supposed to distract you, while my sons steal some of your Level 5 beast ingredients from your storage." ''I knew it, this man was up to no good coming here in the middle of the night'', "I am going to alarm the bells, I hope you are ready." The emperor asked Albert "Yeah I already had everything I needed ages ago. Those assholes wanted a share of my level 5 beast food, so I thought to screw them up big time. I told them I am lacking some ingredients and to steal from here, so those fools blindly trusted me, as I told them I would distract you. Keep them locked up here or even better torture them for me. Then in their darkest moment I will come to rescue them, and they will finally start respecting me. Hahahahaha" The emperor sighed as Albert disappeared while laughing, while the alarm went of in the palace. He felt his headache growing ''Why do I always end up with crazy people in my Empire?'' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The reason why I rejected the title is that without supporters or any form of backing I won''t even enter the competition as it is like offering myself in a silver plate to be slaughtered. As for the reason why I didn''t make a trade with Smith, was simple. I wanted to make them think, I am unpredictable and crazy, to the point of using my own life and the empire as a barter like it was vegetable found in stores. Imagine being able to get whatever you want only to reject such an offer. There are only two kinds of people who would do something like this: a stupid person or a crazy person. This way they will put up their guard against me, along with that they will never force my hand from now on and know that if they want something from me, then they should expect to give something in return. They will raise their security measures against me for sure because people always have their guard up against the unknown. After a while, they will think they have me figured out after observing me, like how I think, how I behave etc. Then they will loosen up as although people have their guard up against the unknown, however, to the known no one fears it. And this will be the time that I will strike them. One of the many times when you show your weakness towards your enemy is when you turn your back to them, thinking everything is over. The last and most important reason being I had no pain pill with me. Although I didn''t take a pain pill, my acting was enough to fool and trick that old dude. Poor guy, I thought he might have a heart attack. I knew he would be convinced by my acting, due to him relying on his experience and his award to spot and read a lie. But unfortunately for him although he is able to read my behaviour, it is useless against someone, who doesn''t uses their brain to think, but rather their soul, along with the fact I have a spent a good deal of centuries acting, in order to not blow my cover while I was in front of God. Not to mention having a near-perfect control of the body, it will only take the heavenly citizens, angels and God to spot me lying. Besides if I had asked for something, they would have given me, but later on, they would have investigated where I got the pain pill form, to attempt a revenge attack for supplying me with one. And if they find I never did have one, then they will never believe me when I actually use the same trick again, and besides that, I fear for my life. I don''t want to go through judgement again. Now I just have to bid my time, for them to grow weary of me. I let my thoughts wander as I finally entered light sleep. Some spies did come every few hours, but after eating their fill they all left. To the stake-out agents, this must be the best stake-out they ever had. Being able to eat the best food of their lives 3 times a day, while at the same time being able to accumulate magi particles. Soon it was morning 8 am, I woke up pretty excited to test out new ingredients. Only ingredients up to level 2 were sold in the markets, the rest were not sold but kept to be eaten by whoever captured them, for the benefit acquired from them. I decided that I would only use 60% of my skills to cook the ingredients brought in today. Without testing the full effects on myself I will only use 60% of my capability to cook, as making any of my future enemies accidentally too strong will be really stupid. I didn''t bother to make any breakfast as I wanted to experience the full effect of level 3 and level 5 beast ingredients, without being stuffed full from the high energy and nutrients. I only had to wait for 30 minutes as the crown prince and his bodyguard came in while I was brushing my teeth. Seeing me brush my teeth, while sat on top of the desk, the unusually joyful prince and his gloomy bodyguard stood there awkwardly, holding a massive sack containing what I presume to be the ingredients while waiting for me to finish. "2 minutes please" I demanded as I washed my face in the sink in the toilet near the garden. I took my paste and brush to a drawer in the desk and wiped my face with a towel. "Sorry for the delay. You seem to be really happy today prince. May I know the reason why?" I inquired for his happiness, although I seemed to partially know why. "Smith got out of commissioned by my dad for 2 days. He seemed to be resting in his home, outside of the palace. Along with that, it seems Alberts'' sons got arrested last night for attempting to steal from the palace. This is what I call 2 birds with one stone." I smiled as I saw the increasing dark expression of Tom. The last part was unexpected. I bet some kind of gimmick by that old man. "It is good that you are happy your highness. May I have to ingredients so I can start cooking?" They passed me the sack. I slowly dragged it towards the kitchen, seeing my struggle, Tom was forced to help me by James. I soon started preparing each ingredient and finished cooking after 1 hour. It took so long because the meat and ingredients took a while to be cooked. I usually have all my food cooked in advance, and just reheat them when customers need them, thus the reason for being able to cook so quickly. After 1 hour I moved the leftover ingredients that was for me to the side and went out to the prince to ask him something. "Will you be eating in or taking out?" Both the prince and Tom seemed to be unaffected by the smell, it seems Tom did something to block out the smell. "Eating in. I just want to eat as I haven''t had my breakfast yet." He replied. I nodded as I went in to bring each of the dishes out in 2 trays, for 2 people. There were: Spring vegetable broth with shredded cloud sheep meat, Sea Duck stew, Fire bird burger, and finally grilled floating cow steak with Parsley-Parmesan Salad. All the ingredients used to make these were from the ingredients of level 3 beast ingredients, including the salt, oil, seasonings etc. The fluffy meat of cloud sheep, the melting breast from sea duck, the spicy yet calming meat of fire bird and the floating cows drizzling oil all tempted their will power as they kept on looking at it, while swallowing their saliva. Soon both the prince and Tom grabbed a tray each and sat in a corner as they started to eat. Both of them started with the vegetable broth first followed by burger, stew and steak with salad. As they took the first bite from vegetable broth their bodies started emitting a dazzling bright light. Expecting something like this Ez, controlled his pupils to limit the light flow. But the two people eating the food seemed unaffected by the growing light intensity, as they kept on eating. Soon, their body started emitting heat along with the bright light. The light was so bright that Ez had to now turn away, so as to not be blinded, literally and figuratively. A device in Ez''s hand alerted Ez of the room temperature rising by 20¡ãC, as the magi crystal appliance tried to keep it in ambient temperature. After eating the 2 light bulbs, got up while coming closer to thank John who went back into the kitchen as they came closer. He told them that they were glowing too brightly for him to look at the, and they were too hot. The spies standing outside informed their masters as soon as both James and Tom started glowing beyond human possibility. After 30 minutes both of them stopped glowing. They soon realised the clothes both they wore had tiny holes here and there. Tom was shocked. ''These are clothes made out of level 1 beasts. To think the light emitted was so strong to the point of burning the clothes in their weak spots. Then what about the place where we sat?'' He thought as he looked to see the place where they sat, and their trays were perfectly fine. ''Interesting, everything here including even the trays seemed to be made out of level 2 beast materials.'' Tom couldn''t feel much change other than, they were filled with vitality and energy, but he did notice that both his and James'' hair grew by almost a metre. Each strand of hair was filled with energy. "John that was the best meal ever. It tasted so good. In fact, I want to make an appointment for tonight as well..."He carried on listing all the items he wanted to be cooked, most of them being level 3 ingredients. John instructed them for the ingredients needed to be bought in. Soon both of them left while promising to be back in the evening. While this was happening Ez was thinking ''It is good I further restricted my skill level to only 50% when cooking, otherwise it would have been bad.'' Then he walked over to the kitchen ready to use his full ability and skill to cook the meal to see what effect it will have on his body, when 50% conservation of nutrients and magi particle, was able to cause an effect similar to looking at the sun. Chapter 31 - Episode 30-Treasures are to be valued and used As soon as I finished cooking lasagne after, using all the ingredients, I took the dish to the storage room in the kitchen. Everything inside the storage room is stored below -25¡ãC, to make sure nothing goes off. I sighed looking at the ever-decreasing ingredients, I expect more people to start using the membership benefit to bring in ingredients soon, as they just witnessed what happened with the prince and Tom. I sat down on the floor as I started eating amidst the freezing tundra. As soon as I took the first bite I could feel the disappearance of cold hitting me. My skin started to glow in such intensity that it was almost like the same intensity after Tom and crown prince ate their meal. I carried on eating, while I still couldn''t appreciate the taste of anything. As I finished eating I noticed one thing, the light was so bright that it caused the temperature of the room the rise to almost 5¡ãC. The frozen ingredients all seemed to thaw, however this amount of light from my skin seemed to cause no damage or repulsion to my eyes, along with the high temperature caused by my body. It is a common understanding in physics where there is light there is a presence of heat. So, as luminosity increases so does the temperature, due to photons (light particles) carrying energy. So, more photons means more energy, thus higher temperature. Along with that the human body temperature is usually in the range of 36¡ãC to 37¡ãC. If the temperature goes 3¡ãC up or down it can be fatal. Yet my body which is emitting the amount of light, and temperature seemed not to be affected by anything. I could only find one reason for this. All my cells in my body is probably evolving to take in higher amount of energy, thus causing the quality of each of my organ, muscles, tissues, nerves, cells etc, to improve drastically. So, most likely now my body might be able to keep up homeostasis without much problem in temperatures of -30¡ãC or 50¡ãC, as long as I have enough energy to maintain. Soon I started noticing another problem. I usually use my soul to think and calculate, leaving my body to perceive the world and work on my body, I have even moved majority of the memory in the conscious part of my brain to the unconscious part, meaning no one could access them now except me, and no one will be able to find where it is located even if they search my mind, unless I want to. This is so that anyone with the ability to read minds or thought would find it impossible to read anything from me, along with the fact that, if anyone tried to wipe out my memories, it wouldn''t really work, as my soul is what I use instead of my brain. But the problem now is that I can see that the fog around me, caused by the drastic change in temperature, is moving slowly when I start thinking with my soul, and as soon as I stop thinking the fog starts moving around at normal speed. The only explanation to this would be, that my perception of time increased, this would mean what people would experience as 1 second is like 2 seconds to me right now. This could be most likely because my brain cells to have evolved. This could be problematic. Most people would find situation like this happy, as they are able to enhance their power in other ways. But not me. The problem with this power up most likely is that what would happen once my energy run out? Would my cells revert back to normal, or would I start going hungry for more food? Along with that I have to have a higher intake of energy than other people, this means if I don''t get my hands on a level 3 beast ingredient when I am hungry then I would have to consume even larger portion of lower level ingredients, which is not ideal right now, as I could go bankrupt do to that. If I try to hunt for those creatures myself, not only would I have to watch out for the assassin send after me, but also I have to find a way to harm those creatures, without using an award or magi, as I have neither. All ingredients are awarded a level according to the difficulty in capturing them. The higher levelled ingredients means, high difficulty in capturing/killing them, or those ingredients that are located in dangerous areas. Usually most level 10 and above beast ingredients could easily be captured by anyone with a rank 1 combat award or magi. But due to no one being able to cook them properly no one bothers to hunt for them, unless they possess a danger to them. This caused no one to pay the exuberant price the hunter that brings them in ask for, thus increasing the scarcity of higher-level ingredients. But it all changes now, due to me being able to cook for them. But I would have to wait a while before nobles, start sending in teams to hunt for those ingredients, before that I can''t take any risks, without letting the nobles bring in stable ingredients. For now, my priority is to experiment with my body, to see what effect happens when energy deprivation happen. I will have to wait and see what will happen once by body is denied energy, during lunch today. I went back into the kitchen and saw there was still no one in. Most likely everyone, went back to report to their superiors or are awaiting orders from their masters. I went to sleep and was soon awoke by Albert at noon "Wake up kid, don''t die before you make me my food." He kept on shaking me, with teary and emotional eyes, even when I opened my eyes. I sat up, as he kept on shaking me. "Where is your ingredient?" I asked him. "It is in the kitchen, I moved it there as you were sleeping." I nodded as I got up and walked towards the kitchen. The old man followed me into the kitchen. "Don''t touch anything here, as you will contaminate everything here." I said as I started preparing the ingredients. I soon started chopping up the ingredients to make some golden lobster broth. I could hear the old man talking about some thing in the background, I soon started to zone him out as usual and concentrated on the food. After preparing the broth I turned towards the old man who seems to be using air magi to shield from the smell, but that couldn''t stop the drool from his mouth. ''Interesting! A commandment using magi!'' All commandment had access to awakening their awards, and most of them did. But this man seemed not to have awakened his award. I thought the shenanigans he did with the floating gold notes and tray was with his award. But it seems that I was wrong. I took the broth in a tray to outside and placed it on the desk. The old man jumped over my desk and before he could take the tray I stopped him. "Kid what is it? Let me eat. I am hungry. I will die if I won''t eat soon. Will you take care of my family if I die?" The old man blabbered some annoying reasons, before I told him "50 plats old man. Pay first." The old mans eyebrows twitched as he was stopped for a silly reason. He placed 50 plat chip on my desk before he was about to take the tray. I stopped him again "What now kid? Do kids these days not know what patience is? Were you not taught how to respect dying peoples last request?" He shouted "Eat outside in the garden. I don''t want my restaurant burned to the ashes." The old man finally realised something, as he remembered the news he received early morning. He nodded as he quickly ran off in the direction of the garden, before I could stop him again for whatever reasons, with his tray. I observed as he ate the broth with unreal expressions going through his face. He to started to glow, but instead of the brightness increasing, it stayed the same as what I did for James and Tom. This time I could see through the intense light and see that his bald head started replacing the white hair, with red hair, and soon replaced his bold head was conquered by red long hair. His eyebrows to started changing colour to red. I guess that is how he was when he was younger. His wrinkles and saggy skin started slowly changing to replace smooth skin. He came in as an old eccentric man in his 90''s, but left as an eccentric man in his 60''s. Before he left he asked me seriously without any childishness "Kid are you able to cook higher level ingredients if I bring them in?" "Depends on the level, if a normal person is able to cut through those ingredients then I will be able to as well. If not I will require, tools made out of higher-level ingredients to cut and cook those ingredients." There are some ingredients that is too tough to cut with normal tools, that only those strong enough or with strong tools are able to cut through them. He nodded at my answer, before saying "I can provide you with the materials for the tools." "Then I can pay for the tools or deduct the cost from your future meals." I said "What do you need then?" "Knife, chopping board..." I listed them items I would need to be made from high level ingredients, while he paid attention to what he need to buy. He left after I finished listing. I didn''t put my hope up as to get tools made out of material with high level, as finding a person who can make tools out of high-level materials will be hard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While Albert was eating in and shining the various agents around the restaurant started using their communication crystal to contact their master. "My Lord you have got to see this." They all said as they showed the projection of Albert eating, and glowing. "What is so special about that shiny person, we already received your report in the morning about the crown prince and Tom?" The masters in the other side asked, not knowing what their agents was trying to convey. "It is Albert my lord." Many of them were curious, at what was happening to Albert. After the light intensity reduced, many of them were shocked. "Are you sure it is Albert agent?" They confirmed their masters question. "Yes." "What ingredient did he bring in?" They asked "We assume it is level 5 ingredient, due to his sons being in prison for attempting to steal level 5 ingredients from the palace." After that all connections were cut down. Soon there was a massive order for high level ingredients through out the empire. But alas for them, as they wanted to increase the safety of the empire, their ancestors drove out all high-level beasts ingredient-both plant and animals- out of the empire. After that the remaining ingredients left in the empire are low level beast ingredient. Now if they wanted to find high level beast, the would have to journey though the Unseen wilderness, Blood forest, Melting desert and many more treacherous and high death toll areas to find a high level beast ingredient. Even if they found one and managed to kill and get out of the treacherous area alive with it, by the time they reached back to the empire, the ingredient would have rotted. There was no ingredients higher than level 20 within the empire, and for those ingredients a massive competition was about to start, and the reason for this is one single restaurant. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "How many days of accumulation is it?" The Emperor''s voice sounded through the communication crystal. "3 months of low talent accumulation was added. Although that wasn''t much, you are able to clearly see why I gave it such importance you majesty?" "How many years younger did you get?" "It is not really me getting younger you majesty, but rather I feel that my body is filled with so much energy, that I am revitalised. I feel that as soon as I lose these energy I would, go back to being how I was before. Our hands are really tied now your majesty. He will now be treated as national treasure from now and be protected especially from us." The emperor''s frustration grew. The emperor threw a nearby jug of water on the floor as his face was flushed in red, with anger. "Damn him." "Your majesty all is not lost. There is a reason why I went in there with level 5 ingredient, without stopping all those idiots from watching me. In fact, we have reaped more benefit from this than we can imagine." Hearing what Albert said the emperor suddenly calmed down and sat down. "How?" "Now all nobles and high-level magi will make sure to stop him from attempting to even enter the competition. The reason being ..." "If he were to enter the competition they all know that he will have to eventually stop his restaurant, due to the responsibilities of the competition participant." The emperor finished of Alberts'' sentence Albert smiled as he said "Correct, thus stopping them from eating the food of eternal youth. Who would want to stay being old and weak? But there is only one problem now." Albert''s face frowned as he thought of the problem "They would make sure he lives as long as possible. After all, the goose that laid the golden egg is more important than the golden egg. That is fine Albert, we have solved a major thorn in our side for now, as long as we don''t step on the thorn it won''t do us any harm. Now the only problem we have to worry about is Jack. As far as I am concerned John, is a closed case." Albert shook his head "I don''t think so your majesty, would you think his supporter will allow for something like this to happen? When I asked him if he was able to make high-level ingredients, he didn''t even try to hide the fact that he was able to. That means everything so far is within their expectations." "But the question remains, what are they planning if they are not attempting for the competition?" The emperor asked back with concern. "I don''t know. We have to be on our guard from now on, I have a feeling they are planning something big." Chapter 32 - Episode 31-The Viral Plan Hmm, I see the effect of not giving the body enough energy is that I start feeling hungry and weak. My body uses a high amount of energy, but the quality of the work it does is unparalleled. But I have to make sure I am eating food with high intake of energy, otherwise, what other people would feel of not eating food for days, I would feel in hours of missing a meal. Until 7 pm the store was empty, I presume everyone is shocked at the regained youth of Albert and is gathered high-level ingredients. But I wonder, did his cells evolve like mine or not, due to not cooking it using my full skills? I have to see him later to know that. Using that free time, I decided to cook the level 5 ingredient. Although I know it is a double-edged sword, I noticed that my senses finally reach the point of measuring out and controlling everything in the range of microgram. I thought my senses would only grow stronger as I grow older, but this was to be expected as well, as my body when evolving was slowly adapting to the needs of my soul. If I am able to upgrade my senses to at least micro, I am able to fasten up the process needed to make the virus and skip lots of stages. Currently, I am only able to measure and control everything in my body to the milligram. Once I am able to reach microgram, I will finally have a way to defend myself, along with proceeding with my plans. I started cooking the lobster broth in the kitchen, using all my skills. Then I went back into the storage room again, with my broth. The room has finally turned back to its normal temperature after being abused in the morning by me. I sat down to eat, not really bothered about the cold, that I could feel. I soon started to eat the food cooked with all my capabilities. Unusually instead of glowing bright white light, my body slowly started glowing red. There was no heat produced this time either, due to the absence of light. But soon my body started expanding and contracting about 10 cm. It was moving along with the beating of my heart. After a few minutes it stopped. I could find my senses improving into the range of micrograms, as even my eyes were capable of seeing things that are as small as micro, if I focused, and bought it closer. My afro hair soon started to grow bigger, as I could feel the weight on my head. I soon controlled the hair to straighten it out make the hair lie on my back. As I straightened my hair it reached nearly a length of 1 meter. My body went through another evolution. It would seem the bodies of the people of this world are naturally attuned to a combination of nutrients, taste and magi particle, that as soon as a certain amount is consumed their bodies start evolving. I went out after eating and checked the time. It was only 3 pm. I went back to sleep on the desk, knowing that these are the only peaceful times I am going to be able to rest. At 7 pm crown prince came in again with Tom. "John, I heard you are capable of increasing 3 months of low talent accumulation, and more with high-level ingredients. You should have told me this before, as I would have bought in higher-level ingredients..." He started talking but as soon as he saw my afro hair turned to curly long hair, he turned speechless. "The flip!?" After a few seconds of silence, he carried on "Are you cross-dressing or something?" I shook my head and said, "No, this is the side effect of eating level 5 beast ingredient food." "Oh, I thought you were going to grow your hair like women." He said with relief. "I plan to do that, your majesty. You see every time I eat food I cook, my hair grows longer, and it is a bother to cut it, after eating every day. So, I thought might as well grow it." Hearing me say a logical reason for growing the prince nodded in seriousness. "I understand. If it wasn''t for Smith, I would have done the same. Anyway, here are the ingredients." He passed me the ingredients as I cooked, and they ate. After that, they made an appointment for the next morning with level 4 beast ingredients. By the time they left, it was 8 pm. As I was planning to rest suddenly a huge flow of customers came in, asking to buy the membership. I smiled as I saw them. I gave each of them odd tasks such as buy certain things, collect some ingredients for me and or show me a certain item etc. By 2 am all of them left after eating the food from the menu, and each being given a certain task. So, the nobles have finally started making their move. I started to feel really tired while swearing that I am not going to eat anymore high-level beast food until the empire has a stable income of high-level beast ingredients. Before my body evolved it was capable of working without much food for at least a day, but now my body requires constant maintenance of energy, that as soon as I missed dinner I feel very tired. I needed to have 6 servings of level 2 beast ingredients before I even felt satisfied. However, the only good thing about evolving was now my bodies performance is vastly superior to what it was before. My perception of time increased, so much that 1 second for normal people is like 3 seconds for me now. Along with that, I feel my bodies healing rate has doubled compared to normal humans. Everything, in general, was improved, including my senses. As I was thinking, Albert came in at 3 am. He asked for a normal serving of my menu. I could see that 2 or 3 of his hair has slowly started to lose their colour. So, it seems instead of evolving they only get temporary boost from my food, as they don''t take in the full effect of the food. He ate my food and said, he will be back tomorrow morning with level 5 beast ingredients. I nodded to him and after he left I went to sleep. I was woken up in the morning by James, for his breakfast at 8am, with his level 4 beast ingredient. I told him to eat in the garden as I didn''t want my shop burned down by their light. They went and sat in the garden and had their meals. After they had left I started brushing my teeth, and went for a shower, in the shower room, which was located outside near the garden, which was fenced up by bricks, so that no one can come in through the garden. After I came back I saw the old man waiting with his ingredients, impatiently. "Where were you kid? Do you know how long I have been waiting for?" "I need to do my daily necessities as well when maintaining this place for 24/7" I replied back The old man gawked "Wait you are planning to keep the restaurant open forever? I thought you were only doing this 24/7 thing only till you get customer flowing." I shook my head "No, I having nothing to do in the palace, so might as well do something in that time. Ingredients?" He pointed me to the kitchen. I walked into the kitchen followed by Albert. After I finished cooking he took the plate to outside the garden to eat. Currently, the state of my garden which had flower everywhere was now just replaced by an empty burned garden. Before he went away he made an appointment with me for level 7 beast ingredients, the day after. After he left slowly, agents from last night who was given certain odd tasks to complete appeared one by one, with proof of their mission accomplished. Each of them was given a membership card and explained the rules and benefits of membership. After they got the card, the all made an appointment for beast ingredient ranging from level 5 to 7. The final customer came and left at 6pm. All of them had appointments ranging throughout the next 2 days. I yawned as I finally looked at the odd items collected and bought to me by the agents. Little did they know out of their masters'' greediness for eternal youth, the whole empire was going to be attacked by a deadly disease soon. Chapter 33 - Episode 32-Annoying insects The advantage of getting those agents to buy it for me is that there will be no record or evidence framing me as the creator of the virus. The masters of those agents have no idea, what the other agents have been ordered to buy. Even if they figure out what I was doing they will need the list of all the stuff that was brought to me to frame me, which would need them to identify, which agents and which nobles did send their agents to me. So, in conclusion I don''t need to get my hands dirty to commit this crime. Days went past as agents came in every day to make orders for their masters, with ingredients. Slowly most people started bringing in beast ingredients of level 9, starting with the emperors agents, followed by the commandments, then the high nobles and kings, followed by all the other nobles. Occasionally I received orders from magis as well. 20 days later as I was lying down on the desk and about to sleep, Albert entered. He seemed to be the only man coming in personally now a days without sending agents to eat in here, even James and Tom stopped coming in after a while, as they too started sending agents to get everything for them. "Oi kid don''t fall asleep. Wake up. I got good news for you." Albert shouted while running up to me to shake me. "I am awake old man." "Ah, that''s good, phew. I thought you would fall asleep again." He sighed as he carried on "Listen kid as the Founders celebration is coming up, the emperor is organising the grand chef contest again. Chefs from all over the empire is attending, to compete and see who the best is. Luckily for you, as I am the head of information unit of the empire, I was made aware of it first. Do you want to sign your name up for it?" He asked me with expectant eyes "Let me ask you some questions first before I answer that. How many stages are in the competition?" "First there is the elimination round, set in each kingdom, to weed out candidates. Those candidates then are sent to the empire, where another round will be held to further weed out the top 100. Then there is the semi-final to pick, the top 10 followed by the final to pick the top 3 chefs. The top 100 will be given huge rewards amounting to 50 plats, the top 10 will be given a personal restaurant in a place of their own choice and the top 3 will be personally rewarded by the emperor himself. The reward for top 3 is still a secret but it is expected that the reward is not going to be less valuable than a Level 10 beast ingredient. He should be thanking me for telling you all this. Most people wouldn''t even know about this." He proudly declared. I nodded before I asked him another question "Who do you think is going to win? Who does everyone bet on?" "Well most people are just betting on the royal chef, some winners from last year. But I think you can easily win this." "There you go. That is my answer." I replied as I lied back down on the desk "Huh?" Albert was confused. He shook me up before asking me "What answer?" "I am not participating." I replied "But why, you can easily win this competition." He nearly cried and tried to persuade him "Exactly what is the point in joining a competition if I know I can easily win. Besides it is too much effort, going through so much process just to win some items worth level 10 beast ingredient." "Kid do you even understand the importance of this competition!" Shouted Albert in anger "If you manage to win this the whole empire will be aware of you..." "And then what?" I interrupted him "Do you not want fame and reputation? If you win this then you will get more customer. Beside you can easily enter the royal heir competition, with the support of people. So just join." He pleaded to me. "You think if my reputation and fame increase, I will get more customers? Tell me how many commoners out there have more than 100 gold? Then, tell me how many of them will be able to even buy at least the cheapest item on my menu? What use is more customers if they can''t even buy a single item from my menu? As for the competition, I have enough reputation and fame across the nobles, that is enough for me." Albert spent the next few hours trying to convince me, following me to kitchen even when someone came in to make an order. After that he left as he noticed that his hours of sermon had no effect. Before he left he said "Kid if you want to join just tell me. No matter what stage of competition they are in, I will make sure to enter you." I smiled as he left and went back to sleep while thinking ''Old man who are you trying to fool'' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "It seems he is not interested in joining the competition, your highness." Albert replied to James the 2nd as he got out of the store. James who had wrinkles earlier now looked much younger, and vibrant. "Never mind if he doesn''t want to join. Were you able to collect the recording device from his kitchen?" "Yes, I am about to view though them right now." Suddenly Albert disappeared and appeared in an alleyway, away from prying eyes. They soon started view through the device, of John cooking all sorts of food, in HD. "Perfect, now we know exactly what ingredients he adds with the beast ingredients to make it have a high conservation effect. Bring the crystal to Oliver, and Smith." "Yes, my lord." But Albert still felt uneasy Seeing his uneasy expression, the emperor said, "Speak your mind, Albert." Albert nodded and said "It''s too easy. Since the first time, I entered his kitchen to place the bugs, till now I feel that it is too easy. Knowing John so far, I doubt he will make it too easy for us. Not only us, but I found several recording devices in the kitchen, belonging to lots of different people/groups. Although it takes a trained eye to spot them, still I don''t feel like we were successful." "Doesn''t matter. We got the clip; we just need to analyse everything with the help of Oliver and soon we will be able to replicate it as well." Albert nodded as he ran towards the direction of the palace. Chapter 34 - Episode 33- The Secret Recipe "Damn it" shouted Oliver as he threw the 27th dish on the floor. All of them are failures. Forget being able to increase conservation to 5%, just the taste of it is beyond repulsive, along with the smell. "But how is it possible? Did you follow everything exactly as shown in the video?" Asked James the 2nd, who was standing near Albert, observing the royal head chef making so many failed attempts. "I did, I even wrote it down as instruction so that even a kid is able to replicate it. But it is still a failure." Said a frustrated Oliver. He too wanted to know how John was able to make, food like that. But he didn''t want to know it out of greed but wanted to know as to satisfy his passion as a chef. "Albert, did you make sure he had no magi or award?" The emperor asked in suspicion, this situation along with many other is forcing him to believe that John has some kind of award. Could it be he awakened before, thus the reason having no reaction towards magi particle? But that doesn''t mean his ability won''t appear in the memorial tablet. "I made sure of it so many times your highness. I even used a Rank 5 spell, along with inviting a detecting award user, to detect if he has any items to stop us form detecting his magi particles or Principle particles, or if he has already awakened or if he is a magi. But all tests proved to be negative." Albert sighed; he knew this wasn''t going to be as easy as they expected it to be. "But then how is he able to get a high conservation rate, but when done the same thing we get none, not even talking about the taste of the food?" The emperor questioned confused. "I don''t know your majesty." Albert sighed as he looked up to the ceiling thinking ''He outplayed us again. Just how far is he able to think and plan.'' "Hang on." Suddenly Albert split the recording devices'' screen in two and showed two projections of John cooking what appears to be Golden Lobster. "What is it Albert?" The emperor asked as he observed the video, while not finding anything noteworthy. "Your majesty, one video shows John making the Golden lobster for me, the other video shows John making the same thing for someone else. Do you notice anything?" The emperor looked at the screen and shook his head. Suddenly Oliver chipped in "The ingredients, they are different." "Correct. The ingredient are different although he is making broths for 2 different people. But why?" "No idea." Oliver shrugged. "I have 2 theories: 1-he is able to make food that is tailored for each person so as soon as someone eat that food their unique body reacts with the uniquely tailored food." "Not possible Albert. How can he do that when he has not even seen any of the nobles, when it was their agents collecting on behalf of them?" The emperor questioned Albert. "Butler Smith" When those two words were said by Albert, the emperor suddenly turned to the silent Smith, who was standing in a corner. "Of course, the book of ''Nobles and kings of the Empire''." He said as he remembered. But Smith shook his head "Again not possible, due to the book containing no details, about the rest of the commandments. Also how is he able to remember that giant book, which takes people at least 1 week to learn, in 4 hours?" "Remember what I said before, he is a pure rotten genius. Remember he was the only person so far in the empires history that was able to be ahead of his teaching material by 2 to 3 years, when he was only 10 years old. If he had carried on he could have probably finished the advanced courses even in 1 years'' time, when it takes others 5 years. Which one among us was able to do that when we were his age? Isn''t that why we forced him to awaken his award 5 years later, as we feared he might turn out to be more dangerous than Jack? Now do you think is it possible for him to have failed to memorise the tablet?" "I find it hard to believe there can be such a monster." Said the emperor in shock. "Then what about the commandments who wasn''t in the list?" Questioned Smith "He was able to get me because I personally went there to order the food. The others he would have naturally guessed their behaviours from the actions they do, such as the business they invest in, where they went for holidays, what they don''t agree with in the court, which is all public knowledge. Or he could have heard the people around him speak about them since childhood." "Shit!" Suddenly everyone turned towards Smith, who seemed to be pissed off. "Since he came to know about awards he always asked me about mine. When I told him, I am capable of reading other peoples behaviour, he always used to ask me what kind of people the commandments where. Although I didn''t explain in detail about their behaviour like Alberts'' which could reveal our trump card, I gave him a general outline of each commandment." Everyone''s face turned grim. "What is your second theory Albert? I still find it hard for there to be a monstrous genius like him could exist." Emperor James shivered as he thought about John who was able to read everyone like an open book. "Something happened or changed between the time he was making the broth for me and for whoever the other guys is?" "How long is the time difference?" Emperor asked "2 days. Hmm what could happen in 2 days" mused Albert as he went through all the videos of those 2 days. "There is nothing happening Albert." Smith said worriedly "No look, there is something weird going on." Everyone turned to look at the screen where John cooks, food and takes it to a room to eat. "Every day, 3 times a day he goes into the storage room with some cooked food and comes out 30 minutes later empty handed." "So?" Questioned Oliver "Think about it what kind of normal person is able to stay in a chiller that is -25¡ãC for 30 minutes without wearing any protection clothes and come out as if he just went for a walk, without even shivering, or even a shard of frost in his hair?" Asked Albert "I bet whatever is happening in there will lead us to the reason why he is able to make high conservation food. We just need to get our recording devices in there" He carried on "Hmm this seems more of a plausible theory. Smith arrange for some recording device and get one of the secret service to complete the mission, and make sure no one notices anything" Smith bowed before the Emperor before walking away. "Thanks for your input Albert, Oliver. We just have to wait for a while before we crack this code." Said James as he started walking away. Although he told no one Albert had one more theory that he didn''t tell anyone because he himself found it absurd ''What if John was able to naturally make such high conservation food due to his innate talent at being a great cook, as well as improve it by making it tailor made food for every single person according to their behaviour?'' Only if he knew he was so close to the truth with his last unspoken theory. Chapter 35 - Episode 34-Sales Division ''Good luck idiots, trying to find my secret. Even if you find out I make each of my food specially tailored for each person (along with the major secret being that you have to get exactly the correct/precise amount for each ingredient, in microgram, otherwise the ingredients wouldn''t naturally combine to work. ) I wouldn''t care, as you won''t be able to replicate it like me. The tailor-made food is just a coincidence. If crown prince James didn''t have one or had Smith edited the one James, brought in then, I wouldn''t be able to tailor the food for each person exactly. My reason for getting the book was mainly to understand what weakness or other things I could exploit from them in the future but using it for enhancing their taste is a bonus feature. There was a reason why when my control was increased to the range of micro-units, I started using different ingredients, as first, anyone who copies me wouldn''t be able to make it work, as they can''t naturally cut ingredients in micrometres or measure them out in micrograms, or time it in microseconds. The second reason higher level of senses brings out more different flavour in the ingredients, as I cut them up, measure them out precisely, or boil/cook them in the exact frame of second/time. This means I will have to change ingredients otherwise the different flavour brought out by the ingredients won''t combine with other ingredients, and this will ruin the whole food if even one ingredient is in the wrong place or measured out incorrectly.'' I thought all this as I watched the nth number of agent wanted to come with me to kitchen to see my cooking, when in fact he probably wanted to retrieve the recording device. After he left I stretched and went back to sleep. As I was in light sleep, I soon noticed the sound of the storage room slowly being opened. Oh, someone sneaked into to storage room, while escaping from my superior sense. When my body evolved my eyes, ear, nose and other senses naturally evolved with it. And to see someone able to mask their presence so much that it escapes my detection, he is either an award user or a really high rank magi. Both cases means someone sent by the emperor. But why is he going to the storage room? Did they already place a bug in the storage room? No that can''t be possible, because if they did they would have taken it when Albert came to take the other one. So, he/she is here to place the bug. But why in the storage room? Suddenly the reason hit me. I really wanted to laugh but I held it in as I pretended to sleep. Oh, this is funny, they actually fell for that crap. After cooking level 5 beast food, fearing that eating it might cause meltdown, similar to level 3 beast food, so I first went in there to cool myself down. But unexpectedly nothing of those sort happened. So, from then on I thought why not lure some idiots into that room thinking there might be something special hidden there letting me enhance my food. I can''t even believe they fell for that. After I ran out of level 5 beast ingredients, I started using other higher levelled beast ingredients that I have stored in the storage room. But instead of fully cooking them, I only cooked them, so they only release enough energy and nutrients in the same level as level 5 beast ingredients. And I used that to lure them into the storage room. I guess I would have to find somewhere else to eat my food from now on. Suddenly I heard the storage room''s door slam shut. Wow the security device really works. He/she will be stuck in there for quite a while now, unless they die. After 10 minutes I heard someone attempting to open the door from the outside. Oh, so the person inside had a partner outside. They came well prepared. I waited for 10 more minutes before opening the door using the remote access in my pocket. I pressed it secretly, as I can''t let them know I am not sleeping and I am aware of the intruders, as they could have more backups in here. 20 minutes in the frozen tundra might have been hell for that person. I just want back to sleep, while imagining all sorts of cold the person might have got. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Soon another few days passed and soon it was time for the Founders Celebration. This was a special festival celebrated throughout the empire, in commemoration of the first emperor who brought all the war-torn kingdoms together, to make the peaceful empire it is today along with the birthday of the Empire. The celebration lasted for 11 days. The first 10 days honouring the first 10 commandments of the emperor, followed by the last day dedicated to the first emperor. Each day is started with the head of each commandment coming up to make a speech and some kind of ceremony where they pay respect to the first emperor and commandment. Finished by the 11th day where the emperor himself pays respect. After the speech and ceremony, people can explore everywhere in the empire as there are lots of stalls, activities, events and competition going on during these 11 days. One of the main events this year being ''The Grand Chef'', which last happened 17 years ago from which the emperor found his talented head chef, Oliver. Many people were excited as not only could they witness the cooking of great chefs, but they are also able to eat some of the greatest food for free. Today was February 1st, other than the celebration there was another special event going on. It has been almost 1 month since Ez arrived in this God-forsaken world- literally and figuratively. During the past few days, he witnessed as agents came and left collecting their recording devices. While some of them came back while I was asleep to place a recording device in the storage room although not as sneaky as the agents sent by the emperor. I was woken up by someone coming in. It was a well-built man in his late 50''s. He wore a white tight fit suit, made of what I assumed to be a fabric from Level 3 beast material. His posture and everything screamed rich businessman/ merchant. He walked up to me while observing me and took out his hand for a handshake. "Hi, I am Jeff." "John" I said as I shook his hands. "I heard that you sell one of the delicious and most coveted food in the whole empire?" He questioned me while he took back his hand. "I do, the menu is here." I showed him the menu. As he looked at the menu I closed my eyes and looked through the pages of ''Nobles and Kings of the Empire'' for who he was. Jeff Richardson, the wealthiest man alive in the empire, capable of causing a financial crisis in the empire if he were to suddenly withdrew all his invested money. He is currently living in one of the kingdoms south of the capital of the empire, about 20 days of walking time. He is also the leader of the merchant association. In general, he has in the same league of a single commandment, but not in power but in wealth. However recently one of his nephews seems to have been afflicted of a serious illness. Although he could hire one of the royal healers from the palace to heal his nephew he didn''t. This is because the emperor never allowed his royal healers to go out of the empire, as there was no telling when the emperor might fall ill due to his strange condition. So that means, Jeff here decided to bring his nephew to the empire to heal him. "Everything on the menu." He said as I finally understood the real reason why he came to my shop. I brought the food to Jeff, he sat to eat it. After 10 minutes he came up and said "That was a great meal. I heard if you wanted to bring in ingredients then you have to buy the membership." He wants to use my food to heal his nephew. Cheap and efficient, don''t even have to bother waiting for the approval from the emperor, for the healer and pay the huge cost of healing. I nodded while smiling as I explained to him the requirements. "I would like to buy one, what is the task then?" "Before I tell you that, let me give you some background information about your task. Since it is the festival season I was planning on to put up a special discount. But I was planning to give this discount and offer to a select group of people." Jeff had a lost expression as he tried to make sense of where this was going. "Mr Jeff I would like you to announce to the whole merchant association of my store and its speciality. Then inform them that all who wields the membership of the merchant association is allowed to bring in a single beast ingredient of any rank, and I would cook it for them for the set price of 1000 gold, and the condition of having to eat their meal here, without taking it out. You have to announce it for two days at least. Do you agree?" Suddenly Jeff reeled back in shock. ''He knows who I am? So, then what is his plan with this task? Wait hang on, all those old fogeys, they are the kind of people who would do anything to get back their youth. That means he is planning a massive free advertisement among the merchant association because once they taste his food and see that he is able to revert their youth, they will then pay anything to eat it again. If my information is not wrong once a set time has passed after eating his food, the effect of regaining their youth reverts back to normal. Not to mention the taste of the food, once someone eats his food, then all other foods to people taste like crap.'' All the merchants from all over the empire arrived at the capital these few days for their business and the annual meeting of the merchant association they have here, every year during the festival. Sighing he asked, "When did you know?" "Before you ordered your meal." I replied back still smiling at him "Fine, I agree. It''s not too hard of a task." He bought out what seemed to be a crystal "Do you know what this is?" He asked me "A communication crystal." I replied back. He nodded "However this is a special one. This is a communication crystal that shows all the market values or updates from the merchant headquarters. Every merchant keeps one in hand to know the value of certain items or any important announcement. You are open 24/7 right?" I nodded as a screen popped up showing all kind of notice and information. "Announcement to the whole association. There is store in the empire know as ''Luxury Meals'' ran by..." He announced to the crystal about the details of my shop and its benefits, along with my special discount. As soon as he finished, what he said appeared in a box labelled as ''Important Announcement from the Head'', which went on top of all notice in flashing red. "Done" He said as Jeff put the crystal back in his pocket. "Now we just wait, here Mr. Jeff." I said "Why is that?" He questioned me while squinting his eyes "How am I supposed to know that the announcement you send has actually been received to the merchants? Also, what if after you go out, you send some of you lackeys here pretending to be from merchant association to fool me, thus the reason you wait here with me until some of them comes in. Don''t worry I will cook food for you for free till someone comes in with the evidence they have received your message." "Ok as long as I get the food I am happy, waiting here" He said while smiling, as he sat down while I cooked for him some food with the excess amount of beast ingredients I had of level 5 and above, which have been gathering up in the storage room. After 2 more serving of eating heavenly food and waiting for 2 hours, few people ran into the store, some of them carrying a sack. Seeing their organisation head sat in the garden there eating what seemed to be his 4th serving, they ran to him and asked, "Boss is what you said true?" He nodded while frowning at being interrupted during his meal, as he pointed towards me. I smiled to them as I shouted at "Everyone, if you would kindly come forward and show me the message you received along with your merchant association member identification card then I will gladly cook for you." One by one, out of the 8 people, 4 of them who wasn''t carrying anything came forward with their communication crystal showing the message they got and their membership card. "Wait a minute." I took a membership card wrote his name in the code I created and walked towards him with the card. "Here is your membership card." I said as I gave him his membership card. "You trust me that much?" He asked me. I shook my head while smiling "I trust my cooking along with my ability to identify your agents." He nodded while smiling as well, as he finished his meal and made an appointment for a level 7 beast ingredient for tomorrow morning. He could remove his message from the crystal right now. But he wouldn''t do that, because right now he like everyone else in the empire, is addicted to the taste of high levelled beast food along with its rejuvenation ability. Even if he removed the message now, and I receive no customer from the merchant association, I can easily blacklist him, and he would not want that. That day and the following few days there was a strange scene in the female district, as merchant started queuing up with a sack in front of a store. The line of merchants extended from the store until the end of one corner of the female district. Chapter 36 - Episode 35-The Guessing Game "Darn it, when we try to keep the information of his cooking inside the noble circle, he goes off and ruins everything," James shouted in fury as he threw the report in his hand to the ground. "Well, at least it seems like he dug his grave deeper, your majesty," Albert said as he sat down on a chair in the personal room of emperor James nodded "Yes now, even the merchant association will stop him from competing. Now even if we miraculously supported him, the whole merchant association won''t, and they will even resort to threatening to stop him from entering. Albert are you really sure of your analysis of him? To me it feels like, he is not what you described him to be." James calmed down as he thought about it. "No, your majesty, I am absolutely certain of my analysis and my intuition of him. Now we know one thing for sure." "He isn''t aiming for the throne?" James guessed "Yes" Albert nodded -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "But then why did he apply to enter the competition, Steven?" The Jack enquired of the same man he always has these discussions with, as he sat opposite him as they ate the lasagne delivered to them by their agents from Johns shop. Although the man looked much younger than before. "Simple. He wanted attention. Almost all the neutral faction nobles and other factions kept an eye on John, seeing his brilliance in the study. But due to his soulless attribute, everyone became disappointed and ignored him. But his soulless status gave him a benefit." "He became famous overnight." Interrupted Jack. "Yes, and what would the reaction be if they knew he is entering the competition?" "Everyone would focus on the soulless entering the competition, and how he is planning to enter the competition?" "Correct. Now imagine as all eyes are drawn to him, he suddenly opens a restaurant that is capable of high conservation of food." "So, he just used the competition as a stepping stone to show off his talent and his capability. Then later he uses his talent to bring in all the rich people to his shop. But the question still remain what are they planning? What does he want that makes the throne insignificant to his eyes? He seeks neither fame nor reputation, this is seen as he didn''t bother to participate in ''The Grand Chef'', he has enough money to hire a healer to heal him to increase the amount of time he can live, but he doesn''t do that." Suddenly Steven paused eating as he thought something "I just had a ridiculous idea." Seeing him pause like that while eating the delicious food of John, Jack asked in seriousness "What?" "What kind of person would you describe as not wanting fame and reputation but just wants money earned from his job?" "A greedy person?" "Yes, now combine that with someone who could have received a title or anything he wanted when he threatened Smith but rejected everything ''because he was bored''." "We get someone who just wants to be left alone. So, you are telling me he is a master manipulator who is able to get anything he wants, but doesn''t want to because he just wants to be left alone?" Steven shook his head "You are half correct, he is a master manipulator who wants to be left alone, but someone managed to piss him off and now he is out for vengeance. He is not playing this game for the final prize or anything, but he is out in the playing field to ..." "...cause chaos. He is enjoying watching us all playing in his hands like ants." Jack interrupted. Suddenly everyone including Albert, the Emperor, Steven, Jack and all who came to this same conclusion felt a cold wind on their back, as the hair in their body stood up. But then Jack shook his head "That is a good theory, but where would you fit the assassin and his backer in that theory?" "That is why I said it was a ''ridiculous idea''. I still can''t find the link between the assassin and his backer." He carried on eating. "Hahaha" Suddenly Steven started to laugh. Seeing Jack sending an inquisitive gaze he replied "I was thinking if what you said was true, then which idiot managed to piss him off and you know who the most likely guess is?" "The control freak!" Declared Jack, without even second-guessing. "Right that means, right now Albert must have come to the same conclusion as mine. I was just imagining the face of your dad as he realised he is the one who opened the gates of hell and stabbed the devil in the ass." "Steven although that is quite funny, if what you said is the truth then John won''t just stop at that idiot, he will only stop once everyone involved in this has suffered." "I know. But like you said before it is only a ''theory''." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The emperor''s face darkened as he realised he was the source of his own headache. "Do you think if I release Seban and his team that will pacify him?" "I don''t think so, your majesty. If John had wanted that he could have asked for that from Smith. That means John could care less about Seban and his team or they are just another set of pawns in his game. He won''t stop until he achieves what he wants, and that is to make you suffer, along with all those who are related to this." "I think you are over exaggerating this a bit too much Albert." The emperor said as he finally sat on his chair while leaning on his armrest. "I hope so as well, besides this is just a guess of mine. Along with the fact that we don''t know what role the other noble has in this game. I have a feeling that soon whatever plan they are running, it will be revealed. And at that moment whoever the assassin is and his master is they will come to us for help." The emperor nodded "Anyway, get ready for tomorrow. It is the final day of the celebration. Also, what was the reply of the arrogant idiot who won ''The Grand Chef'' contest this year?" "He agreed to be the apprentice of Oliver and work here." The emperor finally sighed as Albert got up to leave. Chapter 37 - Episode 36-The Climax of the Game It has is nearing the end of March. It has now been almost 3 months since Ez arrived in this world and found it he was left here to fend for himself. Once the merchants too came to know about his restaurant nearly everyone in the whole empire became aware of John''s shop. Usually, after ''The Grand Chef'' competition, people will talk about the chef who got first place, yet So far no factions among the nobles and the emperor have been able to guess or make sense of his true agenda and how it fits into the grand scheme of things. As everyone slowly ignored or started to forget about him, suddenly reports started arriving from all over the empire. The first report came in during March 1st, it was just a report of a slight loss of productivity among the various kingdoms. At that time they thought of how people wanted to take more holiday or rest. Everyone ignored it at first seeing that it was spring time, and people wanted to enjoy the weather and florals. Then after 3 days, another report came in about everyone in the various kingdoms under the empire feeling extremely lethargic, including the people in the capital. Not long after (4 days later) some kingdoms without any healing award user stopped sending reports in. The emperor send some scouts to those kingdoms and found that everyone in the city was affected by some kind of disease, where they all feel too tired to even move. Soon the empire realised they were affected by a plague. So, the emperor ordered martial law for all the kingdoms and sent healers to each kingdoms. However, they realised unless it was a Rank 5 magi spell or a healing award user of rank 5, their healing was ineffective. As there very few Rank 5 magi and award users, the emperor decided to approach it in another way. So, the emperor decided to find the source of the plague or who was behind it, to find the cure. But all their launched investigation proved to be nought. As they couldn''t find the link between how all the index patients received or got affected by the plague. All the index patients of the plague were all random people, from slaves, chefs, husbands, kids, nobles, police officer etc. There was no discrimination among the plague. It affected the poor and rich equally. Soon it slowly started affecting everyone in the capital. But the emperor was prepared as he called back all the rank 5 magi and award user to keep the plague at bay in the empire. But this caused the situation for other kingdoms to worsen, as people started to starve as the production of food decreased. If the people could, they would have rioted and started a rebellion or would have loved to move to the empire, but they didn''t even have enough energy for that. The emperor and the nobles realised this plague whether artificial or natural, would destroy them slowly, but make sure it destroys the empire cleanly, leaving no trace of its past glory. Without the kingdoms and its people, the empire won''t be just an empire but a shell of what it used to be. Therefore, to solve this crisis all nobles and commandments gathered inside the courtroom, setting aside their rivalry and differences, since the start of 10th of March morning. To help them they even invited the head of Merchant and Magi association, along with its elders, and their geniuses to find a way to stop or contain the plague. They brainstormed day and night looking for ways to counter the plague. Such as devising new magi healing spells, that can affect a large area, or directing the power of healing awards users to a large area using magi spell. But all of them required a minimum of 50 different rank 6 magi and award user. Even the kingdom has less than 13 magi and award users that are rank 6 and none amongst them don''t even have a healing award and only 2 of them was a healing rank 6 magi. Even if they purified an area or person with the plague, using magi or award, they would still be affected by it after a while. The plague seemed to be some sort of unkillable being, that no matter what they do it seems to keep coming back. With no idea of what to do, they couldn''t even wipe out the kingdoms affected, because it was too late as so far all the kingdoms, including the empire have been affected by the plague. But there was one thing that everyone noticed. The plague only seemed to affect humans. No plants or animals were affected by the plague. It was as if the plague was repelled by plant and animals. Soon they started keeping animals and plants close in hope of driving out plagues. But the people who kept plant and animals were also affected without discrimination. They soon realised that the other kingdoms will sooner or later have everyone dead of starvation if they don''t solve this crisis. Without any hope and not knowing what to do a report came in from outside, on 15th March, from a soldier that said someone was cured. As they brought in the soldier he explained that a person claiming to be healed of the plague, and not affected by the plague appeared to them. Soon they brought in the person who claimed to be healed. It was a women in her late 20''s. She walked in and bowed towards the royal court and knelt and paid respect towards the emperor. One of the nobles asked, "Are you the one who claims to be cured and unaffected by the plague?" The women nodded as she said "Honourable lords, I am." Suddenly the whole court started murmuring but was quieted down by the cough of butler Smith. "Women please explain to us why you think that you are cured and unaffected by the plague?" "It happened like this my lords and your highness. I realised 5 days ago that I was affected by the plague. But as I attempted to walk towards where the healers was I lost all the energy in my body and fell on the floor, in the street. My eyes kept growing heavier and heavier as a voice kept telling me to give up. But suddenly I saw a vague vision of a young man, even though everything else around me was blurry I could see him clearly. While walking towards me he shone brightly before touching me. As he touched my head he said, ''Do not open your eyes women, otherwise you will die.'' So, I kept my eyes closed as I felt a warm energy going from my head to toes. After a while I felt him taking his hand of my head. As I opened my eyes I found no one there. But suddenly I felt energetic. From that day onwards I realised I was cured, and then when I was helping my sick husband and kids I realised I am not affected by the recurring plague anymore. Thus the reason I thought I will inform here hoping that there is some way you can find that man to cure my husband and kids." Hearing her report many turned towards Smith, only to see him nod. "Can you describe that person to us please?" Smith spoke for the emperor "Yes, my lord, he had white hair and ... that is strange I swear I saw him but I can''t remember his face." The women said annoyingly as she put both her hands on her head to think. "She is speaking the truth. She is thinking hard and seems confused. She can''t remember his face." Smith whispered to Emperor Suddenly the women said, "I am sorry my lord, I can''t remember him." She said this, while a tear left her eyes. "Strange, she doesn''t seem to notice that she is crying." Smith said to the emperor in a quiet voice, the emperor frowned while Smith carried on "Her mind is trying really hard to remember his face, while her body is crying for no reason. She doesn''t seem to be aware of her crying as she is focused on remembering his face." The emperor nodded, while the 10 commandments and the rest who could hear Smith whispering looked at the women. "Thank you for your information. You may pick up 10 gold from the treasury on your way out for your troubles." The emperor finally spoke "Thank you, your highness." She bowed happily. After she left, many of the nobles started debating whether to find the young man with white hair, being able to actually heal someone with the plague, this meant that he is a rogue award users. Any suspicious people right now might be the key to their salvation. Many felt that that person held the cure to the plague, while some other felt his award was the cure itself. As they were arguing what to do about the white-haired man the emperor issued an order "Right now our priority is finding the cure. I will send the intelligence unit to comb through every inch of the empire to find him. But we should carry on discussing a plan, because if we rely on that person and he isn''t able to provide a cure for the whole empire, or if we can''t find him, then we will have wasted our time." Accepting his decision everyone went back to brainstorming, while the intelligence unit spends days going through the sewages, underground networks, slums, the rich district, the merchant district etc to look for the said man with white hair. As all hope was lost and it seemed the empire was going to collapse this day due to the massive plague and the inability of its population to move, suddenly one of the intelligence unit entered through the door on the night of 31st of March. Seeing him barge in like that without even knocking everyone knew it was important. "Have you found him?" The emperor asked with the renewed hope. "No, my lord, but we may have found a key to resolve this issue." He said Everyone turned death still as they waited for him to carry on. They could hear their heart beating in excitement. "What is it?" "John Field, he doesn''t seem to be affected by the plague." It was at this moment they all remembered the smiling face of John, especially all the commandments, Emperor and Smith. The found that his smile didn''t contain the warmth from what they remembered, but it was cold like ice. They took the necessary measure and send someone to invite him in. As John walked through the palace gates in what seemed to be the first time in 3 months, he felt refreshed. He smiled while gazing ahead at the entrance to the palace. He was put through a complete search and check up by the security of palace saying "We have to make sure you won''t spread the plague inside the courtroom. Sorry." But John just nodded as he smiled, without worrying about them. ''Time to nail the coffin'' Ez thought. Chapter 38 - Episode 37-The Finale of the First Game, and the Genesis of a New Game "Sorry but what is this?" Asked one of the agents as he held up a crystal. "Oh, it is a music recording crystal necessary for the court." Ez replied "We just need to make sure it hasn''t got anything harmful in it." They said suspiciously as they casted a spell to make sure there was nothing wrong with the crystal. After making sure it was just a recording crystal they just passed it back to Ez. Since the day Ez got all the agents to bring in the necessary materials for building the virus, Ez often spent his free time working on it. By the end of January Ez had completed the viral antidote and the virus with slight modification to what he planned at the beginning. The virus Ez created were special as it was supposed to lay dormant, and not affect its host for at least 1 month. But that didn''t stop it from spreading. It kept spreading, while not attacking for 1 month, before it began its attack. After 1 month it started attacking all the current affected hosts, by releasing the toxins in it, that caused their body to become tired quickly. By this time there was no possible way to identify the index patients, as everyone had been affected unknowingly. But the question remains how Ez was able to spread the virus? It was when Albert came in informing of the Founders Celebration, Ez changed his plans. Before that he was going to just release the virus randomly by bringing back a discount and choosing a normal person to be affected, when they were visiting his restaurant. But Ez decided against that when he realised he could just use the merchants that came from all over the empire as his carrier. But for that he had to someway get them to bring them in. While he was planning on to hanging a board outside reading ''Discount for all merchants'', the head of Merchant association came in. Ez made him and all the other Merchants the carrier for the virus by adding the virus in their food. At the same time Ez added in a toned down temporary viral antidote in their most of their food to make sure that, when the virus starts acting up these guys wouldn''t be obviously the first index patients. Ez made sure the antidote''s effect wears off 2 days later the virus becomes active. He left 1 or 2 merchants without antidote, as it would be suspicious if no merchants were to be affected by the virus as the index patient. When designing the virus Ez made sure it only locked onto the genes of humans, and without a human host these viruses start dying off after 48 hours. Thus, the reason no plant or animals were affected by the virus. But that didn''t mean the virus wasn''t present among the animals or plants. Ez also put in a restriction in their genetic sequence to stop them from evolving any further, this is so that it won''t later mutate and come to bite Ez in his ass. As for the reason why no healing magi or award above the rank of 5 worked on these virus was simple. The people of this world all though advanced to the period of 2000 of Earth technologically, with their magi, like it was said before their science never progressed. Thus, most of them not being aware of virus or bacteria. When they casted the healing spells or award under rank 5, it just cleared a small amount of toxins released by the virus or just boosted the bodies performance to get rid of few of the toxins, instead of focusing on the virus itself. However, from rank 5 healing magi and award onward, it automatically targeted all the toxins in the body and greatly boosted the bodies performance to get rid of the toxins, thereby seemingly healing them from the tiredness caused by the toxins. However, since they never killed or affected the virus directly in anyway it just kept releasing toxins after the duration of the spell. Thus, the reason the plague seemed to keep coming back, even after healing a person. Another reason being all the virus and bacteria of this world were strangely affected/attracted by magi particles and principle particles. Ez concluded that the microbes of this world seemed to evolve slowly with magi particle and principle particles. This was the reason why when any plague or disease started spreading, healing magi spells or awards were easily capable of restraining them. However, the virus Ez, made was pure and unblemished. These virus never were attracted/affected by magi particle or principle particles. Thus, being able to survive even after casting a rank 5 magi spell and award. Ez stood in front of the door to the courtroom as he muttered "This is for you John." Suddenly there was a loud boom, attracting everyone''s attention. As they all turned to look from this was coming from they saw the courtroom door opening, followed by a music started playing. To anyone from Earth year 3286 will know once they hear it, that this is the modified version of Imperial March, with some heavy beats. Ez walked through the centre of the court wearing bright green suit he kept for this occasion, while his long hair dragged behind him. He saw that everyone was staring at him but keeping up his smiling face he observed everyone. Except for the crown prince and Tom all major figure are here. That is to be expected as the emperor probably doesn''t want him to spout bullshit at this time and lose his remaining supporters. Everyone saw the way he was dressed and his entrance into the court with marching music. This was a privilege only done for the emperor. But right now no one bothered about it as currently the fate of the whole empire, possibly rest on his hands. He soon got to the middle of the courtroom and started picking his nose, with utmost concentration. No one dared say anything about his entrance, his dress and his manner, made them feel that he had a solution to this situation, and he wanted to play with them before giving them their hope. They waited for him to pay the respects in the court. Seeing them all wait for something John started paying his respects. "Wassup my homies?" He greeted all of them in the most unusual way, while rolling the treasure he just dug up from his nose in his fingers and smiling. Every single one among them got pissed off by the way he addressed everyone without any respect, but that wasn''t the final straw that broke them. "John I heard you are not affected by the plague" The emperor himself questioned, ignoring the fact that he didn''t even pay the basic respects to not only the emperor but the court itself. "Oh, you mean not getting tired and ill, then I guess it true. Hey bruh, is there any party going on around here? So much people gathered here today." He flicked his round dark treasure to the ground as he answered the emperor followed by asking one of the commandments near him the question, who happened to be Albert. Albert has never sweated so much bullets in his lifetime. The more confident he found John to be in the courtroom, the more assured he was John had a good reason to act this way and get away with it. And none of those reasons were good news to them. For the first time everyone saw the eccentric Albert, who had an answer (stupid answer or logical answer) to everything, struggling to answer a question "No I gue.. I mean yes if you want to." "Sweet, hope there are some lovely food, drinks and music. You all know how it rolls right. I have never partied in my life as I spend so much time studying, and never made friends to go out you know. We should all rock and roll after this pre-party gathering." Suddenly every single person remembered how John never had any friends. Everyone thought ''Is he implying the reason he became like this?'' "Sure ...I guess." Albert replied while indirectly confirming all their question ''He is not implying you idiots he is blaming all of us for why he became like this.'' Smith and the emperor were enraged at the fact that John was ignoring them. But seeing the sweating Albert they knew something was up, and they had to maintain their cool. *Ahem* Smith coughed, to get everyone''s attention, and as Ez turned towards Smith "John do you know the reason why you don''t get affected by the plague?" "Hmm let me think, give me a moment." He said as he lied down on the floor while thinking, then he started rolling on the floor before getting up smiling. He then walked towards the only man who appeared to be serious. "Man, why you got to be so serious? Just breath out and chill." Everyone suddenly held their breaths in at the killing intent exuded by one of the most serious and intimidating man in the whole empire. Steven. *Yawn* "You know what talking to you while standing up has made me tired. Get up let me sit down and think." He ordered casually while smiling towards the man. They all just realised a terrifying fact, while Steven exuded his killing intent, John wasn''t affected by his intent, this meant 2 things: 1-John had killed as many people as Steven, 2-John came in here prepared to die. John had been on their radar since a long time ago, and they knew he never killed anyone. That meant he came here prepared to die if necessary. This made Albert turned to Smith and emperor and shook his head at the frustrated duo. Warning them not to make any rash actions. Steven made eye contact with Albert, who just nodded before he got up from his chair. Everyone was flabbergasted as John jumped into the chair trying to bounce in it like a 5-year-old before laughing and saying "Wow I have never had so much fun. This chair is so bouncy, like how mum used to throw me up in air." ''Is he now implying that his life was ruined since his mum died?'' thought everyone unitedly "You can sit there if you want to." Unexpectedly the always tight-lipped Steven spoke, while, like Albert answering all their question indirectly ''You fools he is not implying he is pointing out when his life started to go downhill.'' "Nah you can have it serious macho man." Said John as he got up from the chair and walked towards where he was standing before as his face was filled with joy. "Ah, I now remember" everyone''s attention was drawn as they thought he is finally about to answer butler Smith. "The booger I threw of earlier is not here now, where is it gone?" Everyone suddenly remembered him rolling on the floor, before he walked up to Steven to sit on the chair, while bouncing. Everyone turned to look at Steven only to see him barely control twitching hand that wanted to casting his award. Everyone got tense as they expected John''s head to be rolling on the floor. Everyone got ready to stop him if necessary. Jack who was sat across the court looked amazed by the performance held by his half-brother, as he thought ''Being able to piss Steven off so much and get away with it, you are currently the only person John.'' "Oh well." John shrugged before turning towards Smith and answering, while still smiling "It seems because of my cooking uncle Smith, you know like how I felt really tired every day after learning and came in to eat quietly with you and went back to learning energised." John answered Smiths question finally. ''Can you please stop speaking with hidden meanings in you sentence?'' Everyone thought unitedly as they understood what he meant as ''You never cared for me no one did''. Right after that there was sudden silence as the 10 commandment nobles, emperor, butler Smith and Jack suddenly realised another hidden meaning in his sentence, while all their face darkened ''I am the cause of the plague and only I have the cure for the plague.'' Suddenly the emperor turned to look at Albert who shook his head, then he turned to Steven who in turn shook his head too. "Oh, I feel like dancing now, everyone is so happy in here." John said in excited squeaky voice, while twirling around in the spot he stood at. That sentence was like pouring cold bucket over them. As soon the rest of them understood from the commandments'', emperors and butler Smiths expression as the cause of the plague was John. He was indirectly admitting for it. Jeff was seriously pissed off at John, and wanted to rip his head off, due to this bastard his cured nephew once again got sick. But he was held back by the head of magi association Merlin. Then the emperor asked, "Are you able to cook for everyone to help cure everyone John?" "Let me think for a moment dad." Suddenly the emperor''s face twitched, while everyone else just went silent, no one other than his true heirs were allowed to address him like that. After a few seconds of thinking John said while still smiling, "Dad there are so many people, I don''t think I can cook for everyone. If you play with me I will make it though." In other words, everyone interpreted it as ''Maybe, if you plead me I will.'' This seemed to be the last and final straw that broke, as James the 2nd suddenly disappeared from where he sat. He reappeared with a drawn dagger in front of John aiming for his neck. Suddenly 3 people appeared, one holding back the emperor''s dagger with his fingers- Albert, another holding back the emperor on his right-hand side- Steven, and the last person was a man in his 30''s with clean combed dark hair, with a chilling gaze as he held back the left-hand side of the emperor, who is assumed to be another commandment. Soon more of the commandments started joining in to hold the emperor in place as he struggled to get free. "Let go of me bastards. We don''t need him, as long as we find the other guy we are not going to need him." Ez never stopped smiling as he walked up to the raging emperor while saying in a happy childish voice "Daddy wants to play." Suddenly John caressed the chin of the emperor as he said while smiling "But daddy keeps forgetting that he has important work to do. Playing with Johnny here might make you late for work daddy." John said as he whispered the last sentence to the emperor''s left ear while breathing into his ear. He was implying ''Kill me and there will be no one to save your empire. No empire means no emperor.'' "Also the game I want daddy to play will only take 2 more days, before its complete." Everyone drew in a cold breath. That meant ''In 2 more days the empire is finished by whatever is going to happen.'' "I DON''T CARE." The emperor roared in rage as he tried to get free by the restrain of the commandments even more forcefully, suddenly he bellowed "Smith bring in the slave collar." Smith ran down with what assumed to be a slave collar in his hands. "Hahaha, no hurry uncle Smith, I am not going anywhere. Johnny will wait here for you to bring the salve collar." Smith froze as he listened to John, he became suspicious, there was no way someone could be this calm when mentioning slave corner. Slave collar means exactly what they say. Once worn a person will become the slave of whoever made them wear it. They won''t be able to disobey any orders of their masters once they wear it, not even allowed to die without their masters permission. It was almost like being under mind control. The emperor was planning to use the slave collar to force John to make a cure for everyone, since he didn''t want to play it the easy way. "Ah, it so hot in here, must be because of everyone''s excitement." John fanned himself with his hand while saying this. "Daddy you should see how much little Johnny has grown up." He said as he start unbuttoning his suit and removing it. "SHUT UP YOU SON OF A WHORE! Smith what are you doing put in the collar." The emperor screamed at Smith, while trying to break free. "You were never there for Johnny when it was his birthdays. You were never there when Johnny did really well in his studies. You were never there when Johnny listened to uncle Smith and never awakened. You were never there when Johnny had no friends. But Johnny never minded it." Ez said as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt one by one as he removed them. "Johnny found out daddy also took away mums friends from Johnny, along with not caring about Johnny. So, Johnny decided to play a game that would make sure daddy would love to play. A game that will make sure everyone around daddy would also love to play." Ez said as all his buttons were undone, showing his well-built but lean body. Suddenly the slave collar fell on the floor as everyone, including the Smith everyone eyes bulged, at the green circle markings throughout Johns body. "Madness", "Monster", "Crazy", "Freak", "Does not want to live anymore?" all sorts of words erupted from the commandments mouth, while they stared in shock, at his chest. The marking John had in his chest were from the effect of a certain magi pill. This magi pill is called the Test of Will. The benefit of this pill is that it will let the user who is under a mind control effect to take back the control of their body and not fall for any kind of control for the duration of the pills effect. But the reason why no one uses this pill is for a simple reason. The person who take it have to go through insane pain for the duration of the pill which is 10 days. The pain intensifies as each day passes, to the point where 90% of the people who took this pill so far have died by committing suicide from the unbearable pain in the 6th day. The 5% who survived were in coma, while majority of them, is in brain death. The 4.99% who truly survived was due to cutting of their feeling to pain using an award, or someone made sure to put them to sleep, before they turned mad from the pain for the rest of the duration of the pill. Then there was the last 0.01% who used this pill and survived were known as unbeatable monsters, due to being able to survive the pill using their sheer will power. The weird thing about this pill was its effect can be stacked. So, if someone were to take 2 pills together then the effect would last 20 days, but the pain kept on multiplying for 20 days. Each time one pill was taken a green circle marking appeared, which would fade away part by part, each day, and the faded part will appear on the back of the person. The number of circle markings indicated the number of pills taken, while at the same time showing the remaining days of hell left. While the number of circles on the back showed how many pills he has already taken. If the circles at the back or front are interlinked then that shows the pill was taken consecutively. During any time of this pill if someone were to take control of their body, it will fail. Along with that the user of this pill have the choice to kill themselves instantly if they so much as wished. They made sure to have him checked thoroughly at the entrance to stop him from doing something like what he did with Smith few months ago in the restaurant. But they never thought he would have come already prepared. And from the marking on his chest it seemed like he had 10 days of suffering left. "Merlin cast an anti-test of will spell. He only just took the pill today we got enough time to remove its, effect." Shouted the Emperor to Merlin the head of magi association. The spell was able to remove the effect of the spell, as long as it was taken within the past 3 days, which only a rank 5 magi was able to cast. But Merlin didn''t move as if he was terrified of John. "Oh, it seems like magic uncle wants to do something to me." John smiled cheekily as he turned to face Merlin. As John walked towards Merlin, but each step John took Merlin took 2 steps back. James and everyone was confused, ''What is happening they thought?''. Jeff who was right next to Merlin saw that he was trembling and terrified. ''What is going on?'' "Oh, so uncle magic noticed, good for you." John said as stopped moving towards Merlin and walked back to where he stood. "MERLIN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Shouted the enraged emperor, while being even more restrained by the commandment. Suddenly Merlin got back on his senses as he started murmuring and moving his hands in the air. Suddenly a screen appeared showing the back of John to everyone. Followed by another spell which casted a small breeze which lifted the shirt that covered John''s back. Albert and all the commandments stopped restraining the emperor, as they looked in terror at the screen. *Clang* The dagger which the emperor held fell from his grip. Suddenly the emperor suddenly lost all strength on his knees, as he used the shocked Alberts shoulder to support himself. He already had a 2 interlinked circles in his back. This meant John right now is going through his 21st day of hellish torture, while still remaining alive. Not just that he doesn''t seem to be affected by the pain at all, as he is enjoying playing with them. For the past few days they have all ordered food from John''s shop, so they are sure he wasn''t sleeping though the pain. "Now all uncles go back to their seats please." Said a cheerful John They all disappeared from the spot and reappeared on their seat, afraid of disobeying John. While James stood there terrified of John. "Please do sit down on your chair daddy." He ordered, as John walked forward among everyone eyes as went forward to pick the dagger, and slave collar on the floor. He passed the dagger and slave collar to Smith saying, "Uncle keep it safely, you might one day need it." Smiths'' hands trembled as he received the dagger and collar from John. Everyone understood it as a warning from John. The emperor slowly walked back to his throne along with Smith, who was trembling in anger. Their face said they lost all hope. If right now John said he wanted to be the emperor no one would disagree. That is the power and authority he wielded right now. Only he held the power to save the whole empire, and they could do nothing but wait for him to do that. Without the cure there would be no empire and no emperor. All the court would rather have a new emperor rather than having nothing. "Ok first thing first, Johnny wants some presents to make Johnny happy." John said in a childish voice. While buttoning his shirt back on. "Johnny then what would you want as present?" asked Albert as he saw John finished wearing his suit back on "I want presents not present old man" Suddenly his tone and behaviour changed, as he replied in seriousness. Those lower nobles, Merchants and Magi finally caught up with what was happening they gulped at the terrifying genius in front of them, being able to control the whole court like it was nothing. They all imagined him with either magi talent or an award. They shook in terror. The John now is enough to give them nightmares, they dreaded what would happen imagining if he had a single power. Suddenly emperor and Smith remembered what Albert once said, ''If I am right then I fear that him being a soulless, and untalented in magi, was just fates way of saying, ''I have done as much as I can, stop him while you can''''. They now understood what Albert meant back then. Seeing all of them silent John said playfully "How about for starters a title? What kind of title do I want? Hmm... How about ''Hand of God''? Nice ring to it right. Me being able to heal so many citizens while cooking food, and at the same time increasing accumulation of magi particle. Who else can do that? Those who disagree with me getting the title raise up their arm." No one objected anything as John declared for himself the title he needed to enter the competition. "Now, Smith where is my certificate declaring my Title. I don''t have all day" John said as he twirled his index finger in his ear. Smith turned to the weary and depressed emperor who nodded before Smith got a certificate, from a nearby table. "Oh, so you guys were already prepared with it." John smiled as Smith approached him with a certificate. As John received the certificate he looked at it before he said, "Wait the title here says, ''Chef God''. That''s not the title I asked for. Hang on guys" Everyone watched as John took a pen out of his pocket as he crossed out the title ''Chef God'' and wrote above it ''Hand of God''. "There you go. That''s better." Everyone''s expression darkened. He was the only person so far in the history of the empire, who can get away with defying and insulting the supreme authority. "Now next what''s on the menu. Ah yes, the main course. Now who here supports my entry into the competition. If I am right the rule says, I need the support of 10 nobles or 1 commandment noble. Put your hand up if you support me." Everyone raised their hands, as no one dared to put it down. "Now put your hands down. Are there anyone who objects this decision, those who do put your hand up?" No one dared to put their hand up. "I declare myself as the heir of the Emperor, along with being his 3rd son, from now on you can all call me the 3rd Prince or just call me John. I honestly don''t mind. Now old man." He said as he pointed towards the emperor, who looked up from his downcast expression, while never meeting John''s eyes. "Call me son, while looking me in the eye." The emperor forcefully lowered his eyes to meet John''s eye, he was enraged but his hands were tied as he said the one word that would make sure his empire survived at least "Son" "I didn''t hear that louder please." Shouted John "Son." The emperor said even louder, while John smiled "Ah, it has a nice ringing to it. This is so good from now whenever you see me you will have to call me like that. How fun." Said John cheerfully. "Oi Smith where is my badge and certificate saying I am a participant of the competition." He asked Smith who went running back to the table from where he took the title certificate. He brought a certificate and a badge. He put the badge on Johns suit with shivering hands. After that John said happily "I really like desert, lets move onto the desert now." ''There is more.'' Thought everyone as they looked at John smiling. Seeing his smile made everyone sit on their nerves edge. No one knew or dared to think what was going through this crazy guy''s head, as each assumption they made was more terrifying than the other. "For desert how about, you bring in those 7 idiots who killed my mum?" Everyone finally realised where this was going. Seban and his team was brought in 10 minutes later. They didn''t know what was going on, but as they finally saw the person standing in the middle of the unusually silent court, after 10 years, their eyes teared up. "Now dad, if I remember it right, their contract with you was 20 years of enslavement while you provide 10 years of protection to me, right?" The emperor nodded. "Since you didn''t even provide a proper protection to me and didn''t really care about me, I declare the 7 of you free and absolved from your contract. Now where is the darn key to open the slave collar." John said as he checked his pockets. While Seban and his team were shocked at what was going. ''What is happening?'' They all thought. "Ah silly me, I didn''t bring the key to open the collar. Oi old man bring me the key." Said John while pointing at James. James stood up as he brought the key to John. "Actually, I don''t want the key. I am feeling to lazy to do any work. Why don''t you open the collar for each of them?" John said as the emperor nodded without any will to fight back. The emperor went towards each one as he opened their slave collars one by one. Although the 7 of them didn''t understand what was going on they understood one thing right now and that was John''s words was law in the empire right now. "Now is there anything else left." John said as he pondered. "You guys want anything?" John asked the Seban and his team. Being too dazed and shocked at being finally free, they couldn''t respond. "I guess nothing." John said as he shrugged his shoulder. They all sighed seeing the crazy situation was now over. "Now before I go off with my macho dudes, to start making the cure for this stupid empire, let me put before you a question to think about." Everyone started listening to John "Say hypothetically a normal chef was able to make a plague, how do you all think he would spread it to the whole empire at the same time?" John said leaving them to ponder ''How did he spread the plague to the whole empire at the same time?'', while he exited the palace. Suddenly, everyone in the courtroom turned to the Dexter, Titus and Maximus. Dexter was the person who was among, Steven and Albert to stop the emperor first when he was about to attack John. He along with Titus and Maximus were the only 3 commandments staying in a neutral stand. Suddenly Dexter understood one among the other 2 of the neutral commandments was John''s backer. Because only a commandment had the resources and power to help John spread the plague, throughout the whole empire at the same time. This meant John''s original backer and his backers enemy was one of the 2 other neutral commandments. ''But who?'' Thought Dexter while at the same time Titus and Maximus came to the same conclusion as Dexter. While the rest of the commandments and the court tried to figure out who among them was the backer and the rival who send the assassin? ''If the original backer doesn''t come forward all 3 of us will never be trusted, in the court. Wait could that be John''s plan? Did he want to make us all fight amongst each other, while he and his backer reaped the benefit?'' All 3 of them thought. They looked at each other before nodding. They made a unanimous decision among the 3 of them, to support John because right now if John fails in the throne succession then they too will fail, as the emperor wouldn''t care to listen to the explanation for who among them is the rival or backer when he gets a chance to slaughter them. And finally, as John left the court after arriving in this world for 3 months, with nothing, he finally entered the competition with a title while, manipulating 3 commandments to be his supporters, all while he kept smiling, as he moved along his plan for the next game. All this happened on April 1st. Chapter 39 - Episode 38-The Meeting It has been 4 months since the plague and 3 months since the plague has been cured, July 1st. There was no one in the empire who wasn''t aware of the hero, ''Hand of God'' Chef John. The whole empire considered him as a hero, so much that a ceremony was held publicly honouring him by the emperor, 10 commandments, nobles, the magi association and the merchant association, on July 1st. During the ceremony the emperor tearfully declared he was proud to have a son like John and declared him as his heir. Now the empire and 3 heir: Crown Prince James the 3rd, 2nd prince Jack Luminity and finally the beloved, saviour and hero 3rd prince Jack Field. The emperor appointed 7 soldier as Jacks special bodyguards, led by captain Seban, who used to work as the emperors bodyguard. The special bodyguard were also in the past led by John''s mum Stella Field, who passed away, while protecting the emperor in the past. John''s food was now famous all throughout the empire as everyone had tasted it at least once, when they had to eat his food to cure the plague, along with his restaurant ''Luxury Meals''. Whenever John walked in the street the crowds would bow and thank him not out of fear for his title as a royal prince, but genuinely as their saviour. Ez remembered from the message he had received from Dexter and co, that there was someone out there with white hair that is capable of also curing his plague. So he was always on lookout for that person. 1 week after that as John was walking towards his shop amidst the thanking people, he saw a person, walking along the female district without any care for in the world. He had long black hair, a well-maintained body and a face so attractive that no women could resist touching it. Ez walked towards him as Seban and his team followed John, who seemed to be looking much younger and better. "Did you just see anyone turn around the corner Seban?" John asked Seban Seban shook his head. John suddenly started laughing as he ran towards the direction the man he saw went, while Seban and his team followed. He soon caught up with a man, with black long hair and tapped his shoulder. The man turned around, with a shocked face as he turned to see who it was that tapped him. As soon as he saw John his face darkened as he said, "What do you want?" "Sir I was attracted by beautiful face and wanted you to come with me to have a tea." John politely said while smiling. "Stop acting with me. Don''t think I don''t know that it was you who caused the plague for your own benefit. I won''t be involve in your politics and in your schemes so go away." The man replied in a disgusted voice, as if standing near John was the worst thing he could do. "Oh, you want me to stop acting. How about I reveal to the agents tailing me, that you are the guy with white hair that they are all looking for. Your disguise doesn''t work with me dude." John came closer to him as he whispered in a serious voice while smiling. The mans face twisted for a moment before he agreed to follow John. They walked towards Johns shop and asked him to take a seat. John went inside to cook while Seban and his team made sure the man never left where he stood. The man was shocked at the fact that someone was capable of noticing him, along with seeing through his disguise. So, he came here to find out how John was able to do that. John soon came out with a trolley filled with trays of food for Seban and his team along with for the man. Everyone helped themselves to a tray of Rank 2 beast ingredient food that John cooked. As everyone kept eating the food, the man observed John. "Start eating, we will talk after breakfast." John said as he pointed to the tray in front of the man. After they were finished eating, the man asked, "How did you notice?" John smiled as he replied, "What if I don''t want to tell you?" "Then I am leaving." The man said as he got up. Seban became on guard, but John waved his hand for them to let him go. As soon as the man took 3 steps, he turned towards John saying "You asshole." Before fainting. Seban and Flint carried the man into the storage room, where flint casted a tier 4 ice magi spell, that encased the whole body of the man other than his head in ice. After 10 minute he woke up to notice he couldn''t move, and he was trapped in ice. Facing 8 people. "Flint if you could be kind enough could free up his fingers please?" Asked John to Flint, who nodded as the ice covering the mans fingers melted off. John then asked Seban "Can you cast a rank 4 pain amplifier please?" Seban nodded as he casted it to the man. The man struggled to get free somehow, as John took few needles with him to the man. "Wait I will tell you anything you want. Stop." Realising what John was about to do he begged John. But John ignored him as he stabbed a needle through his fingers. The man screamed out loud, but no sound went out of the storage room. This carried on for 30 minutes before John stopped. "Why?" He asked as he was regaining his breath, amidst his tired face. "Seban can you guys give me few minutes please, also Flint release him?" requested John "But.." said Flint "It''s ok I know what I am doing." Seban and his team went out as Flint released the man. As the man lied among the melted water, John walked up to him and start kicking him. The man could do nothing as his body was still paralysed from being frozen for 30 minutes. John punched and kicked him for 5 minutes before he was done. As John sat there smiling happily as if he finally vented his built up frustration for the past 7 months, the man regained his strength. He got up tiredly with anger and indignation plastered in his eyes. "You bastard I am going to rip you to shred. Hope your friends come in to protect you." He said. "Don''t worry they won''t come in. And I know you won''t even hurt me as it is against the heaven protocol for angels on holiday, Zel." Suddenly hearing those words Zel''s face turned into shock. "How do you know that? Who are you?" "Ez" Ez replied. "You mean the soul who annoyed God for 20 years with the same prayer every single day?" Ez nodded, "The flip I thought you were in heaven, I swear I saw you in heaven 2 millenniums ago." "I was until God decided to send me here before his holiday." John explained to the angel in front of him how he ended up here and what happened to him so far. "Ahahahaha, you vs the empire. That is really unfair even, ahaha, with your handicap, for the empire." The angel laughed as he rolled on the floor trying to talk amidst his laughter, as John sighed. "Hey if you realised it was me then why the hell did you torture me?" The Zel suddenly asked, after he finished his laughter. "Because that was meant for Juliet and God. Not only has my power not reached me, but I would have had to survive in this shithole for 25 years, with a defect body. I am living with a Sword of Damocles, hanging over me." I shouted at him, using my soul to communicate. "Hmm it is indeed true that you have the so-called soulless condition." The angel confirmed John''s worry "But you body seemed to be stable. You should be able to live for 10 years before you die. It seems to be the effect of your cooking." He theorised "I don''t need to do that can you get that sorry excuse of a God on line please." I asked him as he nodded. He closed his eyes as he joined his hand. Soon a screen appeared as time froze, "Was sup Zel? I told you to only call me if it''s important. Wait, hang on I thought you went for holiday in that forsaken world 50 years ago?" God appeared while riding on top of what appeared to be a great white shark, in underwater. "It is important for me." I said as I stood next to Zel. "Ah Ez, so you both met ... shit time dilation I presume?" He asked as he guessed my situation, before he closed his eyes. "Hehehe, sorry about that it would have reached you 7 years later. There I sorted it out for you. But remember it is not an award so you would still be afflicted of your soulless condition as they call it." He said as I finally felt an energy enter my body. Finally, my power is here. "Are you kidding me? If you had already gave me the power I wouldn''t have went to awaken an award. It is your mistake. Rectify it yourself." I said as I screamed at him "Meh, don''t wanna. Currently quite a few citizens and angels are watching your struggle as some sort of entertainment programme. If I cure you were is the thrill in that. How about making some modification in your power so that you can use it to cure your affliction?" "Seriously my life is entertainment for them now?" I raised a middle finger to all those watching me. "Fine do whatever you want." I said as I resigned to my fate. "Oh, by the way, John told me to say, ''thank you'' for avenging him, he is amongst the lot watching your struggle right now." God said as I could feel my power surging in me as he made changes to it. "Part of you soul shell limitations has been removed to use your power. You will understand more after you use your power. Have to go bye." He said as the screen disappeared. Zel sighed as he shook his head "I have to now clean up this mess." He said as he was about to wipe the memory of everyone who were listening to their conversation. "I guess this world is screwed up now till you pass away huh?" He asked me. I shrugged as I said "Who know? Maybe someone will actually kill me before my 25 years are up as my power is useless for combat." "Did you know there is also another form of power in this world besides magi and award?" I stared in shock at Zel. "Just how many power are there?" I questioned him. "The power of magi is pretty common that everyone knows about it. But unlike what John thought and you were led to believe the power of award is only known among the nobles and emperors and those who they reveal it to. Most common people, don''t even have access to awards or even know what award is Ez. When someone uses award people in this world are misled to believe its an application of magi. Its bit like the stories you read in earth about secret magic society, how magicians cover up their magic by saying it was all science. " I was awed by the information. That means there must be a reason why all the nobles are trying to cover up the power of Award for. Wait could it be because of .. "Yes, just as you guessed ''Memorial Stone''. I am not allowed to say anything more about it, as all your viewers are bombarding me with messages saying, ''stop spoiling''. But let me tell you this there is a form of power that even the nobles aren''t aware of that only the emperor and the 10 commandment nobles know of that power. They swore an oath of secrecy to any information relating to the power, except to the ones who take up their seat." He informed me. "What kind of power is it?" I asked him intrigued by the power "Do you want the name of the power or what kind of power it is? Any more information and they will probably complain to God to cancel my holiday." Damn those assholes. It was a really hard choice as knowing the name I can trick an answer out of those commandments but knowing what kind of power it is can make me be aware of its powers and be on guard. "Actually neither, just tell me who has the highest chance in the empire to awaken it, or get it?" I asked, because once I know who it is I can just use my power to observe how they achieved it, what kind of power it is and know the name of the power. "Are you sure?" He asked me, almost as if he didn''t want me to ask that question. But I still nodded. "No one knows it yet but it''s you, Ez." He said as he pointed to me. Great, so that is why he wanted me not to ask this question. "And great. Now, I have been told by everyone to not meet you from now till the end of my holiday, otherwise, they will file a complaint to cancel my holiday early on. So hopefully this is the last time we meet, here, see you in heaven." He said as time went back to normal, and he disappeared. I am also pretty sure also those guys who have been listening onto our conversation or recording our conversation will probably return back empty-handed. Finally, time for me to use my power and also understand why I have the highest chance in awakening that power. Chapter 40 - Episode 39-Time Skip can be Done Backwards as well Right after Ez had left the palace with Seban and his team on April 1st, as they walked behind John, Seban and his teams were unable to hide their curiosity. Seban walked forward and asked, what everyone wanted to ask him. "John, we are indebted to you, for helping us. But we just want to know how you managed to do it?" "Debt is a strong word Seban. My mum went out of control, and to stop her you killed her. Out of guilt killing your captain and friend you decided to sacrifice your freedom to protect me. So, looking at it from that point of view, it was me who owed you. I repaid my debt by freeing you. This is your life now; you can choose anything to do with, you don''t owe me anything." There was a brief moment of silence as they took in what John said "As for how I got you free, I will only tell you if you are prepared mentally to hear it. As you might not like what you might hear." Seban nodded as he heard John. "I guess it had to be something that made the whole empire threaten, for the emperor to listen to you, without any objections. I am ready to hear it, as I lost all my loyalty to the empire the day, Captain died." I smiled as I said "Well prepare yourself then. I kind of poisoned the whole empire indiscriminately. And only I hold the cure, while they are trapped in my hands." Many of them became shocked. "The whole empire? But how?" "Oh, so you guys are not shocked by the fact I poisoned them but rather how I did it?" I asked them in return, amazed at their surprise give in the wrong area. "We have guessed you might end up this way, since the day Stella died. As life amongst politics and royal family never ends being pretty or flowery as someone imagines it to be. Besides all, though you might have poisoned the empire, I don''t believe you would want anyone dead. As living amongst the royal I myself understood a little bit of politics to know, a dead empire is no empire. So that means the poison you would have spread wasn''t or wouldn''t be intended to cause death, but rather cripple the stable economy of the empire to the point that it is on the verge of collapse. Along with that, we are mercenaries, we had done more gruesome things than you can imagine, with our on-hand, things your poison wouldn''t be capable of John." "Well let''s say I had a little help. Knowing more can be dangerous you know, especially when the emperor is really pissed." Seban understood what John meant. If they were to know how John did it, then the emperor will make sure to extract it out of them, which could ruin what John had planned. "Anyway, I never got your names. I am John Field." John said as he stretched his hand for a shake. Seban took the hand as he said "Seban, current captain of Rotten Rats." Seban was a muscular bloke, that towered almost 2 meters, with brown hair. "Flint, strategist of the Rotten Rats." Said a young man in his late 30 with, tall and lean build, with green hair. "Donna, information gatherer of this group." Said a woman with a very attractive figure and pink hair, that would make anyone think that she belongs to the red district. "Mathew, my job is to scout, and get information from the tight-lipped." Mathew had short black hair, with a mean scar across his face. "Rebecca, I am good at taking hits." Said a woman with a heavy muscular build, and deep voice "Jemma, the healer," Said the last women of the team who had long blond hair, with a sweet charming voice. "David and my job here is specialised in controlling the playground." David had dark tanned skin, along with green short hair, with blue eyes. I shook each of their hands one by one. "Anyway, let''s go to my shop. I have to make some cure for those buffoons." I said as I walked towards where my shop is. "John, I heard that you are a great cook?" Flint asked me. "I think so. Don''t worry I will cook for you all. Besides, let''s celebrate your freedom today." I said as I noticed all of them smiling at Flint and giving him a thumbs up. And so, while the rest of the empire was suffering, 7 people were enjoying themselves in the little shop, in the middle of the female district. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After John left the whole court was silent, as they took in what had happened in the past 30 minutes. "Who wants to be in charge of distributing the cure?" asked Smith, with a tired voice. No one spoke up, no one wanted to go anywhere near that psycho. After 2 minutes of silence James, the 2nd said "Since no one wants to volunteer how about, Jeff you take care of the distribution. Merlin, you take care of the protection. Each of the commandment is to send a personnel with the cure team, to each fief or kingdom. Make sure, everyone consumes it, including the prisoner. I don''t want, any of you holding petty revenge and not giving the cure to anyone in need. The nobles and kings here are to make sure everyone receives the cure, and to keep an eye on the distribution unit, and make sure, they don''t misuse their power. The same goes for the squad of the distribution unit. I want this plague to be gone from the empire as soon as possible, and not a trace of it left behind. Even if it is for research purpose. Anyone found to have the plague still remaining in their city or kingdom, even after the plague is gone, their whole lineage will be wiped out!" Toward the end the emperor started raising his voice to give his command. Everyone could see how much the emperor was pissed off at the plague and at John. "Albert and Steven go check the status of the cure. Until this matter is solved no one is to leave the empire. Anyone found to have left will be stripped of their title and possessions. Court DISMISSED!" Shouted the emperor as he disappeared from his throne. Albert sighed as he walked out of the court amongst the crowd. As he was walking en route to the restaurant he was joined by Steven. "So close right?" Albert said Steven nodded thinking how difficult it was to contain the emperor this time round as he nearly killed John out of his anger. "More than that, him and one of those 3 are the most unexpected ones." Said Steven, as he still couldn''t comprehend that one of those 3 could be John''s original backer. They stayed as a neutral trio, not because they did not want to be involved in the power struggle, but their loyalty only lies towards the empire, not the emperor. They simply didn''t care who the emperor was as long as the empire survived. "To think it was one of them that helped nearly destroy the empire. Who you betting on?" Albert asked, trying to see who Steven would guess. "I don''t know, but knowing John I would say it is none of them because ..." "John simply manipulated the whole court to believe it was one of them. Now no would believe them or us, even if we tried to explain, especially the emperor." Albert finished of Steven theory as he to believed the same thing. "Right. Now they are in a tough spot, either they support John and move forward, or simply have to bear the antagonism of the everyone. Such fickle being we are Albert, we show great courage in fighting the impossible, but when left alone we feel so vulnerable." "You and your words of wisdom. But that still leaves who helped him spread the plague, if not those 3? Only the commandment are capable of such feats." Albert pondered Steven shook his head "You getting old has slowed your thinking old man. What if it wasn''t the commandments but rather someone that has capabilities similar to a commandment." Suddenly Albert stopped in his tracks as he turned towards Steven in shock. "You mean Merlin or Jeff?" "Or both." Steven said Albert shook his head "Jeff loves his family too much to do something like this, besides, his nephew and some of his best friends got affected by the plague to. He was the third most pissed off person in the court after the emperor and Smith" "Then that leaves Merlin." "I can''t see it in him either. He is too lazy to leave his room and his research, hell I heard if it wasn''t for his assistant threatening that ''there will be no empire tomorrow to fund your research'' he wouldn''t have came for the meeting." Albert said "Then who? Could it be there is traitor amongst our own factions?" "Maybe or maybe not. Maybe it isn''t a commandment but simply a noble and John who has been planning this for ages. They must have released the plague at the same time throughout the whole kingdom on the 1st of March. Seriously, thinking about this gives me a headache." "We are here." Steven said as he stood in front of the store that was the beginning of all headaches. Chapter 41 - Episode 40-The Life before the Time Skip "I can cook my food as solid food or as soup. How do you want it as, to distribute it to the empire?" I asked Steven and Albert "Soup, since its liquid easier to cook in batches. Also does it matter how much of the soup each person takes or does a person have to take set amount of the food?" Asked Albert as Steven kept on staring at me, while Seban and his team shone in the background as they seemed to be eating what seemed to be their 4th serving. "Not really, you can distribute the soup in a cup and make sure each person only receive 1 cup, and that will make sure to cure them." Said John. "And how do you know it can cure them with 1 cup of soup. Are you directly admitting you made the plague?" Steven questioned me. Oh, so both these guys purposely led me here. I smiled as I replied "You are forgetting 2 things Mr.Comandment. 1- I am no more a common prince, but a royal heir, so you should be careful in your accusations. 2- I am perfectly aware of my cooking capabilities. The only reason my food can cure this stupid plague is because of food conservation." Albert sighed as he played the part of the good cop "Please Steven stop fighting, now is not the time for this. Sorry John for Steven but he is like that. Can you tell us what you need then for you to start cooking then?" "Certain level 1 beast ingredients, that can supply the whole kingdom. I also need a large enough pot to make the food, as well as water in huge quantity ..." I listed of the items I needed to start cooking "They will be prepared in 2 hours'' time. Should we deliver them here" Albert asked me as Steven double checked the note of everything I said. "No, deliver them to the cold eye dudes house. I will cook there." Both of them looked at each other before Albert asked me "You mean Dexter? They guy who stopped emperor with me and Steven?" I nodded. After ordering a meal and eating it they both left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Why in Dexter''s compound that makes no sense?" Albert asked himself "2 reasons mainly. 1 it is the safest place for John, from any attempts from the emperor after he cooks the food for everyone. From our initial attempt to stop the emperor he guessed who the 3 strongest people after the emperor was, and one of them turned out to be the person in neutral faction, which is currently suspected to be his allies." Said Steven "So, the 2nd reason must be that once he goes there to cook, most of the courts suspicion will turn true, that one of them is John''s backer. Once Dexter decides to support John, the other two will slowly follow him as well." Albert concluded the 2nd reason. "He is truly fascinating piece of wonder, being able to calculate every step of his, and being able to escape from us even when cornered. It is a pity he had no award, he never showed his talent before Jake or never had interest in politics until that old fool angered him. Otherwise I would have taken him for myself." Albert nodded "Seeing him sometimes, makes me question the emperors decision of supporting James. But the promise I made to her I will never break it. What would she do if she was here right now Steven?" "We would all be home relaxing without having to fight ourselves every day or having to deal with this monster, if she was alive. She would be the only person able to predict and stop him. Sometimes I wonder if it was the empress the mother of John and not Stella. They have so much in common." Replied Steven as a trace of mourning could be seen in eyes. "Oh, so I wasn''t the only one going crazy with those thoughts then. Those calculating eyes, the predatory smile, the relaxed attitude even in the face of danger everything is similar to her. But there is a difference between her and John, the only difference that scares me." Said Albert "She became like that after being involved in matters of empire for so long and through the use of her award, while John was a natural since who knows how long?" Steven asked Albert Albert nodded "I really miss the time when all we had to do was follow her orders and not use our heads." Steven chuckled "Yeah me to old man." "Remember the time when she chopped of you old man''s arms?" Albert laughed remembering that time. "Old man you better shut up now." Stevens killing intent soared. "Make me kiddo." Albert said as he dodged a punch to his face. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Why did you force us?" Asked Maximus as he glared at the seated John, while 7 tensed up people stood at the back. "Because it''s no fun when some of the participants are left outside the game." I said smiling as I could feel all 3 of their anger directed at me. "Tell us who he/she is and how you did it, John and maybe I will kill you swiftly?" Said Titus while cracking his knuckles "Brute force huh. Can''t you guys play this in a civilised manner?" I asked them while not bothering about the radiant bloodlust from Titus. "John don''t force our hand. We have been playing this game longer than you could dream. But today you played a dirty game, which none of us wanted to be part of, but not only did you drag us into it, but you made sure to smear the mud on our clothes and faces." Said Dexter, while still looking at me with the cold eyes of his. "Seriously you 3 need to chill out." I said as I waved at them playfully. "How about this? I will make sure you are in the winning side, and never lose this game, by supporting me, ok?" I promised them Suddenly Dexter along with the other 2 smiled. "Deal" All 3 of them said, at the same time. Seems like they were waiting for me to make that promise to them. Since they are concerned they decided to trust in my capabilities, which made the whole empire kneel before me. "Make sure you keep your promises kid, because if you won''t then you will beg for a death, that no magic pill can help you reach." Titus said "Talking about pills, how are you even able to stand the pain John?" Asked Maximus "Oh, you mean this." I said as I removed my shirt to show them my bare chest. "But how? We saw that you still had 9 days left." Asked Titus as he pointed towards where the marking used to be earlier in my chest. "Painting? But Merlin confirmed it, and the painting on your back?" Maximus guessed it right. "Merlin''s anti-test of will, failed on him as soon as he casted it as there was no Test of will in effect. But Merlin must have thought in the heat of process that you passed the 3 days buffer period, along with all of us. Someone must have painted for him on the back then." I clapped at the assumption made by Dexter and Maximus. "You guys are not as dumb as you look." I said cheerfully while Titus seemed insulted by that. "It''s not that we are dumb, kid but you are in a league different to us, to the point of playing with us and our emotions like it is nothing to you. No wonder you are a soulless and have no talent in magi. If you had then even the deities wouldn''t be able to stop you. Pity you will die soon, but we will make sure you live, as long as possible, so that we can benefit of you as much as possible" Said Dexter. "Ah, you shameless bastards, taking advantage of a minor. How could you?" I said out loud while covering my chest playfully. Titus laughed, while Maximus chuckled, as Dexter still kept his poker face. "Kid be careful and be on the lookout. Someone is able to cure your plague. I presume he is not one of yours as I am pretty sure you would tie up all loose ends. If you know anything about him or see him tell us as soon as possible. We need to make sure we get him before the others do, to not lose the advantage we have right now." "Oh, so that''s what the old man was screaming about. He is not mine. Do you know how he looks like?" I asked as I am intrigued by someone able to cure my virus. Either he is a really strong award user or magi, but then why didn''t he help the whole empire heal the people. Or he has an ability to specifically target my virus. Either way he is an anomaly outside of my calculations. I really need to up my game from now on. "Until the plagues over don''t lower your guard kid. If they catch him and they are able to cure the plague, then you are finished. So, make sure to make the cure as soon as possible and as fast as possible." Dexter said as I stood up to leave. I nodded as I left the room to go prepare the food, as I came 30 minutes early to see the trio and have a talk with them. Chapter 42 - Episode 41-Finding a Treasure among trashes "Seban." I called out. He along with his team came in only to see that Zel was missing. "Do you want us to find him?" I shook my head "Nah, he is an old friend of mine. We were just catching up. Pissing him off is the last mistake anyone can ever do." I said, as I noticed the twitching eyebrows of Seban. He is probably thinking ''Then why the hell did you torture and beat him up.'' Although angels aren''t allowed to hurt anyone during their holidays, when they are wearing human skin, but once you force their hand and make them shed their human shell, then that''s once bloodbath starts happening. I was able to recognise Zel as angel instantly was because of 2 things: 1- although he had a really pretty face, no one took notice of him, most likely using divine energy to blend in, 2-I was able to see that he was using divine energy to disguise his hair. The thing that confirmed my assumption that he was an angel was because when all of us were eating I noticed, that when everyone was drawn towards the taste of the food, he was sat there like he was eating cabbage. That mean only one thing, he has eaten food much better than that, and putting all the clues together the only assumption was that he was an angel. As for the reason why, he was so weak was simple. Most go for holiday to experience a life as mortal. So, they tend to seal their powers when they are using their mortal bodies, and only use the power system of the world they are in to fight back. Zel probably didn''t even get a chance to use his award or magi as he was bound by ice. Poor guy, seeing him made me so happy and angry that I vented all my rage and frustration at him. Luckily he understood my plight and emotions, otherwise I would have been screwed. "Get everyone together and come with me. We need to talk." I said as I left the restaurant with the 7 of them tagging along, as we walked among the busy merchant district. "Seban we will walk around the busy district. This is the best place to talk, as even using a rank 4 magi spell to hear us will make it hard to listen in to our conversation with the loud background noise." Seban and his team nodded, as they paid attention to what I wanted to say. "I need all of you to die within 1 months'' time." I said as the 7 behind me where shocked and awaiting to see what I would explain. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Are you sure?" Asked Albert to his spy, that was assigned to watch John. "100%" The spy replied. "What is it Albert?" Asked a tired James who seemed to be getting healed by few of the royal healers. Since John''s drama on the court the emperors condition has been getting worse, as he often lost control due to his unstable emotions. "Your majesty John seemed to have met someone in the street, who later went with him to his store only for John to drug him and torture him." Albert said "Wait, could it be the white-haired man?" If it was James from 3 months ago he would have ignored a report like this. But since 3 months, James would be paranoid about every action that John take. Especially a big move such as this where he took someone from the street and tortured him. Albert shook his head. "I don''t know but there could be a possibility, the man is different from the vague description we had. After bounding the other person in ice and torturing him for 30 minutes John released him and asked the mercenaries to wait out. Then John proceeded to kick that man for 5 minutes. Then after a while John sat down and the man slowly stood up, while threatening John." "Then?" The emperor asked eagerly. "There is no then your majesty, the agents observing them forgot what happened next, as all they remember after that is seeing John standing alone in that room. They then saw Seban and team coming in only for John to stop them from searching for that man saying he was ''an old friend'' and going after him is the ''last mistake anyone can do''. The weird thing is that the time between the man standing up and threatening John and John calling in Seban only happened for 10 seconds." The emperors brows furrowed. "Hang ask them if they are capable of remembering his face?" The emperor suddenly ordered Albert. Albert nodded as he asked the agent, who proceeded to describe him "He was a young man, with long black hair ...., strange I can''t remember his face". The agent tried hard to describe as Albert and James stared in horror at the tears leaving his face. "Albert it is him. Send all agents to find him, no wonder he was able to cure the plague, since it seemed he is somehow related to John." Albert ordered the agent to search for a young man with long black/white or any colour hair in to whole empire. After sending out everyone from the room Albert asked the Emperor "Your majesty do you think, he is someone who has inherited?" The emperor nodded "Most likely. Since there seems to be no one on our record that matches with the ability to wipe memories at a large scale." Alberts face lost all colour. "Do you think John knows?" The whole royal court is already afraid of John without any abilities. Now if John had an ability as well, then all their hope at even stopping him is gone. "It won''t make any difference, as he won''t be able to acquire that power without magi particle or principle particles." The emperor shook his head as he explained. "But now we know how John kept meeting his backer without us noticing." Mused a smiling emperor. "They seemed to have wiped our or any of our agents'' memories each time they meet." Smiled back Albert. "Make sure from now on all agents observing John have a recording device placed in their all clothes, and make sure whatever they see or hear, when John is meeting someone to record it down." Ordered the emperor as Albert nodded. Not only James the 2nd but all notable commandments who had spies watching John, ordered the same thing for their agents watching John. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Are you sure about this plan? Wouldn''t you be vulnerable when we are gone?" Asked Flint while they walked among the crowds "Pretty sure, it is better you are gone. Otherwise once they get a chance, you guys would suffer a fate worse than death. Besides currently my safety is those 3''s main priority. They will make sure I survive any situation." I said We kept walking as they took in what I said. As we were walking past an alley we hear someone shout"He is finally dead. Let''s run before the guard come here." Suddenly some young teens, between the age of 15 to 17, ran out of the alley, with bruised face. Seeing this I stopped. I walked into the alley, to see the person who the kids apparently killed. There amongst the trashes laid a boy who had a sharp metal pipe piercing through his right lungs. Blood and flesh were sticking out of the pipe. I went up to him to check his pulse. Interesting even near the verge of death I could see from his face that he kept worrying about someone. "Jemma." Jemma nodded as she came up to cast a cleansing spell, while Rebecca and Seban slowly lifted him off the ground. Mathew went behind the body to take out the pipe. Mathew counted down from 5 as he slowly moved the pipe from the back. As soon as the pipe was out, and he counted to "0" Jemma casted a rank 4 healing magi. His condition stabilised after 10 minutes of casting various spells. The teen slowly seemed to be waking up. "Go back!" I ordered them as they disappeared from the alleyway. I waited in front of him as he slowly opened his blue eyes. Chapter 43 - Episode 42- Life of a Cliché protagonist I waited for my inevitable death. Did those guys hate me so much that they were willing to kill me? Probably. I slowly opened my eyes to see what awaited after death, only to see someone with long black curly hair, standing in front of me smiling. His face wasn''t clear as my vision is still blurry. I tried to get up only to fall back into what seemed to be my own blood. "Relax dude. You lost quite some blood. It took a few amount of Rank 4 spells to bring you back to life." He said. My hands kept shivering along with my leg. I tried standing up again, only to fall back down. Suddenly the person in front of me caught my hands as he supported me up. "Thanks" I murmured not quite aware what was going on. "Where is your house man?" He asked me, why is everything so loud. I wanted to go back to sleep but hearing the word house I told him where it was. I could feel him dragging me there. After long time of being half dragged, half walking I suddenly heard a loud scream that seemed to awake me from my state of sleepiness. "Ellis" Please stop shouting. It''s too loud. "Don''t worry mam. He is ok, he just lost too much blood. Where is the bed, we need to lie him down?" I could hear the man comforting who I guessed was my mum. "Yes.. this way." My mum said amidst her sobbing. I finally felt the familiarity of my mattress. I was left to be lost in my nightmares of the feeling of pipe entering my body. I was awoken by someone as I could hear them say "Dude eat something to replenish your blood." It was the same voice of the person in the alleyway. How long was he here for? "Oi wake up man. You know how many people wish they had a chance to taste my food before they die?" Why is he so loud? He slowly opened my eyes to see the blurry, yet familiar ceiling. I suddenly felt the world was spinning and closed my eyes again. "Guess I have to do this the hard way." I heard him speak. What hard way? Suddenly I could feel someone picking me up and leaning me against the wall. I suddenly felt something entering my mouth. "Open your mouth dude." I opened it. What is this? It taste so good and comforting. It''s almost like I am sleeping in between clouds, while eating them. I didn''t need the man to say it again, as my mouth was open ready to eat whatever I was eating. I wanted to eat more, but I knew I was full. I went back to sleep again, but this time dreaming of sleeping in clouds comfortably. I woke up in the middle of the night, this time I felt much better. I got up from my bed to look around and wondered how I got here. I soon remembered someone carrying me here, mum screaming and someone feeding me. Wait mom is she alright? I saw that she was sleeping on the mattress across the room. Her usual wheezing was no where to be hear. Did she get better? Mum was always sick, never resting and always working hard to pay for my studies in Magi institute. Since I was found to have low talent in magi with high capacity she said that I needed to work hard and become at least a rank 1 magi and escape from this slum. She never worried about herself, always worrying about me, even when dad left us for that women, when she was found to be ill. Although she was born and raised in the slum, she always said she never wanted me to live the life like she did. So, she worked hard, earning as much money as possible to buy me my books and research materials, even though my scholarship covered my tuition fees. Just wait 1 more year for me mum. After that we can get out of this shit hole together. I said as I sighed and went back to sleep. I woke up early morning, feeling much better than last night. Wait I nearly forgot about Phil and his gang. I really should avoid them from now on. They nearly killed me if it wasn''t for that nice man, just because I like Ava as well. Soon mum awoke from her sleep as well. Seeing me she made a commotion, crying loudly. After calming her down and promising nothing like this would happen again, I asked her the question I been wanting to know "Mum who saved me?" She shook her head saying "I don''t know. But I feel like I have seen him somewhere. Oh, before he left he told me to give you this letter and told us to leave this house as soon as possible. He also gave us some money too." I frowned. I took the letter and opened it to see a beautiful handwriting. I know mum wouldn''t read the letter as she can''t read. Dear Ellis, Although I saved you from death, you have to be careful from now on. Anyone who interacts with me are always being watched. I bet someone is reading this letter using magi from faraway right now, as you are reading it. I suggest you move into the town with you mum as soon as possible. The slums aren''t safe, at least in the town there are patrolling officers there. I have given your mum the necessary sum of money to move into the town. I suggest you move in as soon as possible; most likely you move in as soon as you have read this letter. Yours Sincerely Stranger Seeing this letter, I frowned. Who saved me and what kind of danger are we in? I turned towards mum "Mum how much did he give you?" "About 10 gold notes Ellis, why?" Seeing me ask the question with worried expression she too panicked. Hearing the sum, I was stunned. That is enough for us to live without working for the next 10 years, along with healing mom and I will still have enough left over to advance into rank 1 magi, in 2 months. "I told that young magi, that saving you was enough. But he insisted that I have it, and you would know what to do with it once, you read the letter." I spend some time thinking what to do with the money, before I told my mum the plan. "Mum let''s move into town and get you to a healer." Hearing the sudden words, she was dazed for few minute before saying "Ellis what did it say in the letter?" I told her what was written there. She nodded before saying "Lets move into town as that young magi said. As for going to the healer, it can wait until you become a rank 1 magi." "But..." "Ellis once you become a rank 1 magi, besides you can earn more as well and can live comfortably. I am old and haven''t got much long to live due to my illness, but not you. This money should be used wisely." We spent quite a time arguing back and forth. "How about this Ellis? Why don''t you advance first, and once our income is stable, mother will stop working and go to a healer? Besides how long do you think it will take you to become rank 1 magi with the leftover money, after moving in?" I nodded at this. This will work "I will work hard mum. I think I can advance to rank 1 within 1 month with this money. Then I will start working as well." Thus, having made a decision we moved went to town and picked a house in a secure street. The house costed us 3 gold along with all the furniture and equipment in the house. The house wasn''t that big, but it had 2 bedrooms, a toilet and shower room, along with a kitchen. This was much heaven compared to the shithole we lived before. After leaving 2 gold for any emergency, I used the rest to buy material to aid me in my advancement to rank 1 magi. Thus, began our new life, filled with hope. Chapter 44 - Episode 43-The Serial Killers of the Empire "He has brought the house, you put on for sale John." Said Donna as she came through the door. I nodded as I said, "Let''s move along our plans then." They nodded "Lets first kill Jemma and Mathew first." I said as they all turned to Jemma and Mathew who nodded with readiness. While the anti-spy spell was active. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "This is strange, I am pretty sure I didn''t have this much accumulation before I got attacked" I murmured as I opened my eyes. With the accumulation, I currently have only 1 week was necessary for me to advance to rank 1. But still, how did I end up with the remaining amount? *Boom* I was soon awakened from my thought as I heard a loud noise. I looked to the direction of the sound to notice it came from the market area, I soon panicked as I got up to leave the house. That was where mum went to buy some vegetable for cooking in their first home. I ran towards the market praying to whichever deities there are to keep my mum safe. However, I didn''t need to go far into the market as I saw mum staring in the direction of the market, shocked. "Mum." I shouted as I ran towards her. "Are you ok?" She turned towards me in shock "Ellis, what are you doing here? Let''s go back." I nodded as we ran back home. Once we sat down I asked her what happened. "I don''t know, as I was leaving the market I heard a loud noise followed by some guard running and shouting proceeded by they hurriedly, escorting someone covered in blood out." What is going on? Is this what that guy meant by danger? I decided to advance as soon as possible. "Mum I am actually going to advance within 1 week, during that time please don''t leave the house. If you need anything tell me now. I will go and buy it now." Mum nodded understanding the danger of the situation. She gave me a list of things I needed to buy and some money. I went out to buy them. As I walked towards the market I noticed a large gathering of crowd. "Hey what happened?" I asked someone near to me. "Someone tried to attack the 3rd prince. He was escorted to safety, but it seems 2 out of 7 of his bodyguards died protecting him. Their remains are being taken to the morgue." The man near me explained. Someone attempted to assassinate a prince in the capital. Especially the beloved ''Hand of God''. But who and for why? I thought as one by one purchased all the necessary items needed for the next 1 week. I went back home and didn''t tell mum anything about this not intending to worry her. I went back to meditate after eating our first lunch in the new home. The next 3 days there were occasional loud explosions. Mum and I didn''t go out. Why is there so many attacks going inside the capital? I thought the capital was the safest place in the whole empire. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Damn it Albert, who is attacking them *bang*?" The emperor threw the chair to the wall in rage. Someone kept attempting to kill John. Although it was supposed to be good news, but the public kept raising voice insisting the emperor, give better protection to their hero. Along with the pressure from the trio. "I am not sure you majesty. But I don''t think John is their target, but rather he is just a collateral damage of their target." "You mean the rotten rats? Are you sure?" Questioned the emperor. "Remember on the first day their healer and scout died, seemingly trying to defend a rank 4 explosion magi cast on John. Followed by next day their tank, area controller and Seban too died from the explosion in the shop, while Donna took a wounded John to safety. However, this is what led me to believe that John wasn''t their target. Our spies saw Donna talking to John about something, while casting a rank 4 anti-spy spell. Her face darkened, as she started sweating quite heavily. She cried before saying something in anger to John. Then she nodded at John and left after he told her something. The next day she seemed to have went back to the market where the first attack took place. But we lost track of her in the market. But again, we heard an explosion and going into an alley we found her remains. This means the group that attacked John wasn''t aiming for John but rather the Rotten Rats." "But why would someone target them? It has been close to 15 years since they left their mercenary work to work under me." "Either someone from the past is taking revenge upon them now as they finally left the confines of your safety, your majesty. Or ..." "Someone wants to send John a message." Albert nodded. "No matter the reason, whoever is planning this attack knows what he or she or they are doing. They are an expert group that should have all their members at least rank 5 or above. Now we just have to figure out whether it''s a vengeance or a trap for John." "Either way we have take necessary precaution for John''s safety. If John isn''t protected I am pretty sure Dexter and co, wouldn''t sit still. The least they will do is incite the crowd, against us for failing to protect their hero. Albert send in the covert units to protect him." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Are you sure you want to cook in that condition?" Asked Titus "From what I see you will probably die faster by cooking than eating?" He carried on "Just shut up and let me cook" I said as my hand and face was covered in 3rd degree burns. While my left arm was broken as I could see the bones poking out. All of my remaining hair was burned in the second explosion. Along with a large scar across my chest. As I finished cooking the rank 5 beast soup, I asked Titus to pour it in my bowl as he drooled. "Quite drooling, you can have the leftover after I had enough to heal." I told him. I am pretty sure my bodies powerful healing factor can heal the wounds within 2 weeks. But not to make it obvious I prepared a rank 5 meal. As I ate rank 5 beast soup, I could feel my wound closing up. I asked Titus to pull my arm to bring the bone back in place as it slowly healed. Soon after 10 minutes I was fully healed. I had another serving to grow back my hair burned hair. "Seriously the food you cook works much better than those stupid royal healers'' magi or award. Not only does it taste good, but it is much cheaper and easier to acquire." Titus said as he slowly started feeding of the remaining leftover of the soup. "Can you at least show the decency necessary for a commandment and not dig into the pot, but use a bowl to eat? Also have you found who was responsible for the attack or any clues of them?" Titus ignored my first question as he drank the soup from the pot as he said "We expect them to be at least a rank 5 group. No traces of them is found. We put enough pressure to your dad to send some covert unit to protect you from now on. Either way I am sure your dad probably isn''t interested in capturing who ever it was. If he was he would have put the capital in lockdown." He said as he picked his teeth for something stuck in between it. I suddenly smiled at Titus, suddenly he stopped picking his teeth as he became worried. "Oi kid, whatever you are planning, stop it right now. I know when I see that smile on your face that some dangerous ideas are going through your head. I told you Dexter along with the rest is putting in all their resources to find them." "Tell them to stop." I said shocking Titus "In fact, tell everyone to stop searching for whoever it is. Because I just realised who it is? And right now, I want them to enjoy what little remains of their free life." "Are you sure? Who is it?" Titus asked excitedly. "Spoilers, why don''t you along with everyone find out later. In the meantime, come with me to the morgue, I will show you something exciting." I said as I stood up and walked towards the door. "Wait kid, who said you can go out. Dexter will kill me if he realise you went out." Titus shouted at to me, as I walked further and further away. "At least wait for me to finish this soup." Said Titus as he ran after me while carrying the pot with him. Chapter 45 - Episode 44-The Bargain As I was walking towards the morgue, finally Titus finished eating the soup, as he threw away the pot. He soon started calling Dexter, and Maximus informing them of what I said. They kept the line open as we walked into my restaurant as I got some things and went back to the morgue. "Are you a awards user or a magi?" I asked Titus "Award. Why, do you want a magi?" He asked me back "Rank 5, able to cast identify and link body." I said as I nodded back "Oi covert unit guys, send one of yours to come down here." Shouted Titus. It was silent for a few minutes as no one responded. "Are you going to keep on pretending you didn''t hear me? Because if you don''t come down here in the next 5 seconds I am going to smash all your balls back into your stomach." Suddenly a black clothed figure appeared in between John and Titus. "Follow me" I said as I walked towards the morgue were the remains of all 7 of them were located. I got to the location where a severely burned and disconnected body parts and limbs of each of them were laid. "This is Seban''s training shirt. He used it 2 days ago as well, he didn''t wash it as we got attacked then, which caused the first 2 deaths. So, his sweat should still be present in it. Use identify to see if any of the bodies present here is his." I said as I passed the training shirt to the covert agent. He took it as he casted the spell. The shirt started glowing green, but none of the bodies even glowed green. Everyone furrowed their brows confused. "As expected. Interesting." I said If the training cloth had along with one of the body had turned green, that meant it was Seban''s body. But since it didn''t that meant none of the body parts here is Seban''s. We did the same thing for all 7 bodies to find none of them matched the bodies. "So, this means none of the bodies found in the crime scene are theirs. Next I want you to cast link body, on the bodies and the limbs found here." I said while smiling. Seeing the interesting situation going on here all 3 commandments were interested now. He casted the spell on each limb to see that none of the limbs matched the bodies present here. "That confirms it. Thank you" I said to the agent as I walked out of the morgue. "Are you saying that they are all still alive?" Asked Dexter from the crystal. "Yes, but not for long, as I doubt restraining 7 rank 5 magi mercenaries is not an easy job, unless it was done by at least 3 rank 6 magi or award users. Even the empire has limited Rank 6. Or it was done by a group of at least 20 highly trained magi or award user of rank 5" "But why?" Asked Maximus "Isn''t it obvious? For the plague, which I don''t know, and the cure, or my cooking. They want one of these or all of them from me." I said to them. "But why capture the whole group, wouldn''t it have been far easier to capture just 2 or 3 of them?" Asked Titus not believing me for what I said about the plague "They wanted to use all of them as bargaining chip for each of my capability, for example 2 of them for the plague, which I don''t even know, 3 of them for the cure and 2 of them for my cooking secret." I said as I smiled "But why would they use body parts from different bodies instead of just one body?" Asked Maximus "Simple, they wanted to make sure their trade with me remain a secret, and no one was aware of it other than me and them. Imagine what would happen if I told them the secret to my cooking? Wouldn''t you guys and the emperor go after them, to find out the secret, if you guys were aware of the trade?" They nodded without any shame as they admitted the fact. "So, for their safety along with acquiring the secret without any problems they first needed to make everyone think that the ''Rotten Rats'' are dead and for that they needed fresh body that could be replaced in the explosion. Which means they had to kill seven people for it. But the problem with that is if seven people were reported missing and 2 days later 7 mercenaries were found to be dead, it would be quite obvious to the whole kingdom that none of the mercenaries is dead but were instead captured and were replaced by 7 other bodies. Thus, ruining their safe escape after the deal. So instead they killed at least 35 people, for 4 limbs and the torso, for replacing seven peoples body part. And burned to ashes the rest of the body. This would instead divert the empire to think a serial killer or sadist out there is committing the crime, followed by no one linking that crime to the murder of the mercenaries. Thereby giving them a safe escape after acquiring the secret to my cooking." I explained as everyone listened. "Dexter is it true?" Asked Titus as Dexter seemed to be tapping on a communication crystal and talking to someone. After waiting for 5 minutes Dexter replied "38 small time thugs, crooks, accused criminals who were to be presented to a trial etc, have been reported by their family member to be missing, since a 3 days ago. I presume the 3 extra were killed to make this seem more like a serial killing. This means the body parts have been kept cold to stop it from rotting, which means we just have to find the storage room to find their hideout." I shook my head "Not possible, they are very meticulous with their work so far, this means they won''t leave any remains of the 38 people in the storage room, and they would have most likely abandoned it by now." The rest were confused to what to do next and Titus scratched his beard as he asked, "What your next move then kid?" I smiled as I said "Well their plan was perfect up to this point, except the miscalculated 1 thing. I could care less if those 7 were dead or alive. When I freed them the debt I owed them ended there. At this point I am more interested in those guys who managed to capture the ''Rotten Rats'' than the ''Rotten Rats'' itself." Hearing my reply Titus frowned along with Maximus, while Dexter kept his poker face. "Are you sure that''s what you want to do?" Asked Dexter "No matter what I choose now its too late for those guys. First they wanted this to be a secret deal, and by now most of the commandments, and the emperor is aware of what is going on." I said as I looked at the covert unit stood next to Titus. "Consequently, it jeopardises their safety after I give them information. I am pretty sure they gang who is behind this is aware by now that we went to the morgue, and due to this the whole empire being aware of the deal they are about to make. The second reason being, they would never want to leave those 7 guys alive, after they had heard their voice, seen their face or any way to identify them. They would most likely return each of them paralysed, brain dead or even dead to me. Now they know that their plan has been screwed, hence they will kill those 7 and attempt to escape from the empire." I explained my reasons. They all sighed once they heard my reasons and we left the morgue as I walked back to Titus''s place. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Go back to your assigned mission" Said James as he looked at the recording crystal in front of him. "Smith inform Albert to keep a tail on any rank 4 or 5 mercenaries leaving the gate. And do it as soon as possible. Trying to steal my golden goose, from underneath my nose, I will teach you a lesson." Smith nodded as James thought ''He doesn''t even care about his closest people. What the hell is his weakness?'' Chapter 46 - Episode 45-The True Serial Killers Captain, it seems no one is following us." Said Mathew as they crossed the final checkpoint of the capital''s border. They as one group were planning to travel far away from the capital and settle in one of the minor cities or towns and work there as normal people. They thought back to what John said 2 weeks ago "I need all of you to die within the next few days time." They were at first shocked at what he said, but they were willing to listen to what he had left to say, "Right now no one in the empire will attempt to kill me or hurt me for the competition, as doing so will cause a backlash from the people, caused by the trios. Fearing this they won''t hurt me. However, there is one way to hurt me without touching a single hair on my body and that is you guys. I am sure within 2 weeks maximum; the emperor or Steven will start sending their assassins after you guys. Before that, we need to find a way to keep you all safe. And the best way to do that is by killing you off from the records." I said Flint understood what I was saying" So fake our deaths?" "Precisely, after you guys are declared dead I want you guys to leave the capital to anywhere far away from the capital, no matter what happens to me. You must stay out of your profession and live as ordinary people for at least 5 years." I explained to them "I understand, but how do you plan to proceed with this." Asked Seban "We can''t take you all out at once, as it will be suspicious that 7 rank 5 magi, veteran mercenaries weren''t able to stop some kind of assassination attempt, while I somehow survived. Therefore, it has to be done part by part. Each of you has to die in 3 groups. The first group consisting of Jemma and Mathew. If the healer is dead first, along with the scout, then there is no way they will be suspicious if the group gets killed on by one, as we have lost someone to heal the group and someone to foresee an attack. Next I need a massive part of the group gone leaving only Donna for the last. This is so that it will seem as if the 4 of you died by trying to protect me while Donna took me away from the danger. Lastly I would need Donna to die, when she goes off to investigate their murder." They nodded as they listened to John. David suddenly chirped in "But how do we convince them that we are dead?" "Leave that to me. I can do that. I need you Donna to do a favour for me. You need to go and find out at least 38 people who are involved in some kind of criminal activities and has a family to report if they are gone missing for more than a day. Also make sure at least 15 of those missing people are female, I want this done by today itself." Donna nodded, although this was a hard job, and she didn''t know why John needed it, she could do this if she extended her network and used up all her favours. "David are you able to create at least 5 Rank 4 explosion crystal?" "I should be able to, but it will take at least 1 day." Replied David "Great here is the plan now, listen carefully as I won''t repeat it and you shouldn''t be talking about this plan or discussing it from now on." Everyone perked up their ears as they listened to John carefully. "I want the first group to die in the rank 4 explosion we create. These people are to replace their body with the body parts of people we will soon kill as soon as Donna brings back the info." Everyone suddenly understood why Donna was asked to find some people, but they were still confused about why he needed 38 people. "But how do we carry the body parts without alerting the agents watching us?" Flint asked "Simple, we hide it there, and during the explosion, we will replace the hidden body parts to wherever the killed people are supposed to be." Everyone nodded as they understood that part, but Flint still shook his head as he asked, "But how do the people who were seemingly killed escape the scene of the crime without the agents noticing it?" "The agents who are watching us now are in 2 different factions: 1 of them is here to watch all my movement and report it to their masters, the second group is here to protect me, so that I can still cook for them or for the trio of commandment nobles. When we kill of the first group make sure I am harmed from the explosion, but not to a large degree. This will cause all their attention for a short moment to focus towards me, as they will think the attack was targeted towards me. As 1 of you carry me to safety, this will cause the protection agents to prioritise my safety from the unexpected ambush. At this time the rest of you use spells that could deal damage and at the same time cloud anyone''s vision. This will let the first group escape, while making the spying agents to think the rest of you are fighting or holding back the enemies, and due to sensing the failure of the attack on me or sensing backup, the used the smoke/ cover from the spell to escape." Everyone nodded as the first stage of their plan seemed flawless. "For the second attack we will use stored body parts kept in my storage room in the restaurant to replace your bodies. But this time I want you guys to place the explosion crystal in my storage, kitchen and the customer area. This will cause any recording devices in there to be beyond repair if they wanted to see what happened. Due to the intensity of the explosion and trying to get me to safety the rest of the agents won''t arrive to the scene. Along with the smoke and debris caused by the explosion you can use it as a cover to escape. From this moment onwards I will be placed in high security, as they will start to think who ever is trying to kill me is adamant about it and will use any methods to achieve it. This will cause all the attention to be placed on me. Donna will use the excuse of trying to find some information on the attacks, to go to the location of the first attack where a third attack will be done on her. However, there will still be some people monitoring you, but you should be able to easily evade their detection in the crowds right?" "If it is just me I should be able to make them lose their tracks for few minutes." Donna replied "That is fine. This time the body parts for Donna has to be bought there by the rest of you. You will replace the body parts in the explosion and escape with her. The security at the gates wouldn''t be that tight as the emperor wouldn''t be bothered about my killers for the next 2 to 3 hours. But after that due to the pressure from my supporters he will tighten the security. That should be more enough time for you to leave the capital. Once you leave the capital make sure to get as far away as possible in the shortest time. After that try to remain as low key as possible because I will do something here that will cause agents to start tailing every single rank 4 and 5 magi users." They nodded as they understood whatever John was planning it will give them a chance to escape and make sure they remain as dead. John then carried on explaining to them in detail about his plans. The rest of the group was excited as it has been 15 years since they last left the capital. Only 2 people were silent and downcast in the group. 1 of them was Seban. "You don''t seemed to be excited Seban?" Flint asked him "Although I know he can take care of himself, I am worried about him Flint." Seban replied as he looked ahead. "You know I have a theory, but it was confirmed as soon as he made the plan to kill us off." Flint started to say something which caused everyone to focus their attention on him. Noticing the attention, he soon garnered, he said "We are just going to be dead weights to him Seban. He works much better when he is alone. Think about it, why hasn''t he been doing anything for the past 3 months since we joined him. He has made no moves to solidify his position as an heir in the court or anything. When we were there it wasn''t us protecting him, but it was the other way round." "Are you saying we are so weak that we need the help from John to survive?" Asked Rebecca angrily at Flint, who undermined all of them. "No, on the contrary, I think we are very strong, but the game John is playing is in a different league. You guys should be able to understand that right, from the time we spent in the palace?" Including Rebecca, they all thought of the monsters in Rank 6 who they have witnessed many times in the palace. "But that just puts him in danger even more Flint." Said a shocked Mathew. "If he was able to get the whole court to their knees on his own, then that proves he works much better alone guys. He doesn''t need protection that causes him distraction in his plans Seban, but plans without any mistakes." Replied Flint calmly They all nodded as they understood what Flint said. Seban seemed much better after hearing Flint. "Thanks, Flint." "Only stating the facts captain. That leaves the question, why are you distracted as well, Donna? I thought you were upset about the safety of John along with the captain, since you came back. What is going on?" Asked Flint as he looked at the unusually quiet Donna who was always cheerful and talkative. Chapter 47 - Episode 46-The Revelation "Leave me alone." Replied the unusually silent Donna. She became like this after John talked to her last night. She thought back to when John was talking to her after the second attack. "Donna erect a Rank 4 anti-spy spell." Asked John who seemed to be burned quite badly after the second attack. She nodded as she finished casting the spell. "Is it about the attack? Was there any mistakes?" She asked him in worry. "No" John shook his head as he smiled, amidst his badly burned face. Donna was confused ''Why would John ask to erect a rank 4 anti-spy spell if he didn''t want to discuss about the plan?'' "How could there be mistakes in the plan since you didn''t plan it, Donna?" John said amidst his smiling face. "I don''t understand John?" Replied a confused Donna. "My plans don''t have loose ends, unlike yours Ms. Assassin." Donna''s heart skipped a beat as her face started turning pale. "H...Ho..How?" She struggled to talk as she started sweating. "I was wondering why the assassin never came back to finish his or her job after trying to kill me. Then when I observed the nobles, commandments and the rest of the people in the empire for few weeks I understood it was none of them who attempted to assassinate me, as they had no reason to kill me. So, who would have a reason to kill me that isn''t a noble? Instantly my suspicion turned towards one of you guys. It made sense as well, because the only people who knew the layout of the palace like their own home, along with waiting for a perfect chance to kill me, that could only mean someone who has been living in the palace for a long time and was restrained therefore, had to carry out their plan secretly which equals to someone in the ''Rotten Rats''. Then I thought of the reason, and I knew that some of you were tired of the slavery and frustrated thus one of you turned your anger towards me. So, I just had to find out which one of you did it. When the opportunity came I got to release you guys. Instantly when the rest of them was looking at me worriedly, partially grateful, one amongst them had anger in their eyes, which was covered with a fake expression of happiness. I knew I found my killer, so I just had to make sure it was you by shaking each of your hand and feeling for the scar on your hand." John said as he took the reluctant hand of Donna and faced her palm upwards for both of them to see the scar in it. "From there I was able to guess your motive for trying to kill me after observing each one of you for the next few days and I ..." "SHUT UP YOU BASTARD!" Screamed Donna as her face turned red in anger. "You think you understand everything, don''t you? Do you know how much we had to suffer as that assholes slaves in the past 10 years while you were living comfortably? We who were once the most famous mercenaries, in the whole empire, turned into a plaything for that bastard. He tortured all of us physically and mentally, and during these times Seban was our only source of light and comfort." Tears started rolling out of her eyes non stop as she carried on. "Seeing this do you know what that bastard did to him, he tortured and had one of his servants r*pe Seban in front of us. Do you know the feeling of seeing the only love of your life getting raped by another man, in front of you? You won''t, as we made sure we get to witness it while you lived comfortably. I was there unable to even stop the gruesome things did to Seban. I watched and after a while, they stopped and we all tearfully took the almost dead Seban back. Do you know what happened next? He didn''t break, he kept on being our only source of light and comfort, even that mother fucker grew tired of breaking Seban after a while. One day Flint was unable to stand to see the smiling Seban, even after all the tortures Seban endured for us. He told him to cry for once, and to let everything he was holding back, out. But do you know what he said?" She asked John amidst the teary red-eyed face as she walked closer to him. " ''I have to be the hope for you guys. If I break then all of you will break, and we will lose our will to live, and then there will be no one to protect John when we are gone.'' Even in his lowest moment, he thought about no one but you. Keeping you safe was his only goal. Was the price of your freedom captain''s happiness? Since that day I made a decision, that you should suffer a tenth of what the captain suffered. Therefore, I started looking for ways to make you suffer. I slowly waited for my chance. And on that day I took the chance that the gods showed me. But unfortunately seeing you that day clouded my eyes with rage that I only wanted to kill you. But luckily you survived and managed to escape from me." She said in anger as she lifted John by his collar amidst her teary eyes. "Oh, so it was for love. How cute?" John replied. Seeing his nonchalance of what happened to them made Donna even angrier as she started casting a spell slowly. She decided to kill him even if it was going to get her killed "You should be careful about what you are going to do though, I know you don''t care about your life but what about Seban and others." Suddenly she stopped and stared at me in shock "You think I would be foolish enough to leave you and me alone without any form of backup when I know how far someone can go for love. If you as much as kill me or harm me, I have enough backup plans to make everyone in the empire aware that the rest of the ''Rotten Rats'' are alive. And once everyone knows it there will be no saving them from the wrath of the emperor, since I am not alive to protect them." "Please don''t they have suffered enough, especially Seban. Please think about the fact that they sacrificed everything for your safety, for 10 years. I will do anything for you, I will even become your slave, just let them live. I am sorry for everything I did please just let them live." Said a distraught Donna as she knelt down crying in tears. "Like I told you since the day I met you guys there are no more debts between us. You tried to kill me for love, but I benefited from it in certain ways, so we are even. Just make sure that no one becomes aware of the fact that it was you who tried to kill me, because once you do the emperor, and the whole royal court will turn the whole empire upside down to slaughter every single one of you, especially Seban. So, it is better for you to die than for you to reveal it was you. Now go and it is almost your time. We won''t see each other from now on. There will be no more ties between you guys and me." Said John coldly as he turned his back to an unbelieving Donna. After that, she went and followed everything according to John''s plan. She never understood what John was thinking. Any normal person would have killed them all, for what she did to John or have told her teammates of what she did. But John just let them go, without telling anyone anything. She never understood why. "Donna are you okay?" Said Seban as he shook Donna who seemed to be unresponsive since he started observing Donna for the past few minutes. "Huh.. Yes, Captain?" She replied as she thought of what John told her when she was about to leave the room. "What happened to you?" Seban asked her ''Is he a good or a bad person?'' Was the final thought Donna as she replied to Seban without thinking. "Captain... I love you." Said a dazed Donna. Suddenly everyone stopped walking and turned towards Donna and Seban, who seemed to be frozen. There was an awkward silence as Donna finally awoke and realised what she just said. She suddenly turned red as she remembered what John said when she was about to leave the room "You know, he loves you too. Move forward with him, he needs it, they need it too. Nothing from the past will come towards you guys as long as you keep your heads from poking out. Everything that started with you guys ends with you guys today." Chapter 48 - Episode 47- Sweet Mother It has now been almost a week since we bought the house. Along with that I feel like I have almost completed magi particle accumulation for to advance to rank 1. Just 1 more day and I will be a rank 1 magi. There was no words to describe my excitement and impatience. I often skipped lunch to get that extra accumulation. 3 days ago, the emperor declared that a group of rank 4 or above magis had attacked the 3rd prince but their goal wasn''t discernible. There seemed to be 3 attacks, which costed the life of the imperial bodyguards assigned to the prince. Many people were unsettled hearing this fearing that there may be further attacks which could implicate them, as most of the attacks happened in the market district. The emperor assured that protection was assigned to the 3rd prince, along with the fact all resources are spent to find the culprits behind the attacks. If anyone were to see anything suspicious or any suspicious gathering they are to report it to the nearest patrol officer. This caused everyone to be paranoid and grow uneasy, and there were often cases of people giving false alarm to the patrol officers. Some people even went as far as to report on anyone they didn''t like. This caused most of the officers to doubt any claims made by people, and often started ignoring people who made any claims. Fortunately, yesterday another announcement was made that 2 members of the group have been captured and are currently being interrogated. Everyone was told that soon the rest of them will be captured and not to panic and go back to their daily lives. "Ellis" A women in her late 30''s, tall with short black hair entered. She had your average women looks, but to me she was the most precious person in the world. "Mum" I said as I got up from my bed. "Ellis we have run out of supplies as its been past 1 week since we cooped up in the house. I need to go and buy some ingredients." Mom said as she rolled up the bag in her arms which she uses for shopping. She regained most of her vigour since we left that shit hole, along with the fact she has been resting for a week now. "I will come with you." I said as I got up to put on my shoes. She stopped me and shook her head saying "It ok now Ellis, everything seems fine from what the emperor announced yesterday. I will go on my own, besides I need to look for a job as well so it will take a while. You carry on and try to finish your advancement." I tried to persuade her otherwise, but she was adamant I carry on accumulating. I finally relented and send her off knowing she will be late. I sat on my bed as I felt the magi particles slowing phasing through my skin and entering my soul. I felt that it won''t be long till I advance to rank 1. At least 15 hours more and I can advance soon enough. By the time I opened my eyes from the intoxicating feeling of accumulation I noticed it was turning dark. Mum left at 9 am and she isn''t back when its still 7pm. I started worrying and got ready to go out and search for her. As soon as I left my room I heard a knock on the door. My heart skipped a beat. Who could be knocking on the door at this time? I thought of all the people and a bad feeling crept up in my heart. I went up to the door and slowly opened it. My heart was beating erratically thinking someone was outside with a piece of bad news. As I opened the door I saw my mum with her tired face and her two hands full of all sorts of things needed for cooking, among other things. "Mum!" I said as relief washed over me, as I hugged her. "Where were you all this time?" I asked her as I helped her carry everything in. "Ellis you won''t believe it, but I got a job in the market. Few people who ran shops there needed someone to clean their stores and wash the windows. I told them I could do it every day, and they agreed to pay me 15 bronze per day, in cash." My mum said excitedly. "I thought I will start today itself and received some money which I used to buy these." She said as she pointed at the things she brought. She must be very happy as the multiple amounts of jobs she used to do only paid her 5 bronze per day, and it involved heavy manual labour. Finding a job here which pays what she used to earn every 3 days in one day must have made her happy. "Mum why don''t you just rest. I will soon advance, and you won''t have to work after that. Besides it is not good for your health." I said as I tried to convince her. "Ellis even with the salary you get as a rank 1 magi it won''t be enough after you use it to advance to another rank, or for your research. So, it is better for me to chip in early so that we can share the burden of the problems." She said back. I was left speechless "Mum, who told you I was going to advance beyond rank 1. I just need to get to rank 1 before I find a job as a magi. I don''t need to advance through higher ranks. Once I have enough money saved up we will get you to a healer and live off what I earn from my job." "Ellis you need to have ambition and dreams. Healing me shouldn''t be your only goal. What would you do once I pass away or once I am healed? Will you live on your own, and mourn all your life? Or just live aimlessly? You need to find a goal other than me Ellis." She said as she poked my forehead back. "Mum stop saying that you are going to die." I said as my face turned dark. Whenever she mentions about her health or her passing away, I feel that I would be lost without the only hope and light I have in this life and world. "Ellis, you have to face it. I am going to die one day. Sooner than you, now that you are going to become rank 1 magi. That is why I said you need to find other goal and dreams other than money and me." She said as she walked into kitchen. It is a known fact that magi lives much longer and healthier than most people. If most people have the life expectancy of 65 years old then Rank 1 magi''s always lived at least 10 more years longer than that, due to magi particles invigorating their cells and body. I pondered about what she said. I thought about what goals I could have other than mother. There was Ava, but I doubt, if she even loves me, as she is currently dating Phil. What I feel for her is just an attraction towards her. Besides she is the daughter of a wealthy merchant, I doubt her parents would even let me near their house. What about power? I had no desire for power as the only reason I went down this path is to make money so that I can get mum healed. I just can''t imagine a world without mum. So, I will work hard every day once I become a rank 1 magi to provide a life of comfort for mum, and keeping her health in the best condition possible so she can live a long comfortable life. So, for now, I will live just for mum. By the time she passes away due to old age, I won''t have long left either, due to my age. Chapter 49 - Episode 48- Nightmare I tried accumulating throughout the night, hoping that I could advance by noon tomorrow. But I felt sleepy and tired because I haven''t had a proper rest for the past 1 week, as I went to sleep late and woke up early. I thought just for today why don''t I sleep early and by tomorrow evening I can advance to Rank 1. So, I went to sleep dreaming of the beautiful and happy life ahead as a Rank 1 magi. I woke up just in time, as mum was leaving for work. She was excited too as she was aware that her son would finally become a rank 1 magi today. "Ellis I will be back early today, and I will prepare a feast for your advancement today." She said as she scuffled my hair smiling. I smiled back as I hugged her thanking her. She left and I soon started accumulating. I opened my eyes as I felt hungry having not eaten anything for breakfast. It was noon, and I felt I only needed 5 more hours to rank up. I ate something and went back to accumulating. At 4pm someone started knocking on my door. Feeling annoyed I went to see who it was. I only needed 1 more hour before I can rank up. Besides where is mum? She said she would be back early today. There was no one by the door when I opened it. I got annoyed thinking someone was pranking me. As I was about to close the door, I noticed a sealed envelope on the floor. I frowned as I took it and opened it. Seeing the contents of the letter my heart leapt as I nearly lost my balance feeling dizzy. ''Your old house in 15 minutes or your mum dies.'' That was the content of the letter written in blood red. I started panicking. Who would want to hurt us? Suddenly I remembered what the stranger who saved me said in his letter about their being danger. I ran towards our old home, while praying to whatever gods to keep mum safe. I soon reached the shanty house made out of scraps of wood and metal, while trying to heavily draw in as much of the rotten air as possible. I soon opened the door and shouted "Mum!" Suddenly I felt weak and slumped to the floor, facing the ground. I couldn''t move any of my muscles, lift my head and see if mom was in there safe. I soon realised what this was. It was a rank 1 paralyse spell, that lasted for the amount of magi particle supplied to it. A magi is here. But what would a magi gain by attacking us? "You know you are like a cockroach. You keep coming back even when killed." I heard a contemptuous voice. That voice, its Phil. I heard someone walking closer as they lifted my head. I saw someone with a silky smooth white short hair, and trimmed beard, that suited his pretty face. "How good is your luck that you were saved by really high-level magi, along with him helping you with your advancement?" He said. I felt someone picking me up by my shoulders. I stood there, supported by two people as I faced Phil. "You know I wouldn''t have resorted to this if you hadn''t drooled after Ava. How dare a slumdog like you come after what a noble like me loves?" He said in anger as he punched my face. I couldn''t even move or scream due to spells effect. "My dad has always taught me never to leave a thorn in my path. You see I wouldn''t have cared if you had come back alive after I attempted to kill you last time, as slaves are always slaves." He said as he punched me in my stomach, I couldn''t even bend down to absorb the shock going through my stomach. I started looking around the room for mum, but couldn''t see her in the small room, that used to be our home. "But when they start to revolt you got to put them down. Who told you to suddenly become so close to ranking up? Because of that I have to make sure to crush your teeth so that you wouldn''t bite the hand that fed you peasant." He said. I felt a relief amidst the pain. Since mum is not here that meant the letter was a trap to lure me here. "But since I am a kind person I will give you two choices. Either die or use a rank 1 spell. So, which one will you choose?" He asked me as he pulled back my hair. Seeing my contemptuous eyes his face darkened. "Since you need a motivation to choose I will give you one." He said as he nodded to the two people besides me. I felt them tying me up with ropes. Once they finished I could feel the effect of paralysing slowly wearing off. Soon two other people came in bringing with them a sack. They came in front of me and opened the sack. "M...uu...mm!" I tried screaming towards my mum who seemed to be badly beaten up. But the paralysing effect was still residing in my body. She was also under the effect of paralysing as she could only stare in shock at her only son, who seemed to be beaten up and tied down. "Now choose or these horny hooligans might do something a son should never see happening to his mum." He said as I saw one Phil''s underlings played around with a dagger near my mum. "Please don''t... leave... my mum alone. She ...is sick. I will ...do ...anything you ...want." I said as tears slowly left my eyes, while slowly trying to mutter each word amidst the paralyse effect. "You were always the work hard of the classes in the academy. How about casting a rank 1 relaxation spell, to relax your tired body, since you always worked hard?" He said smiling. Everyone was aware what would happen once someone attempted to cast a higher rank spell, especially a no rank like me. They will lose all their accumulated magi particle and would have to start their accumulation again. But for me I will lose all my 7 years of hard work. But that was not important compared to my mums safety. My mum also slowly seemed to be getting rid of the paralysis effect as she screamed, amidst the cover in her mouth "Mhm...mm" I said while I cried "Sorry...mum." I casted the spell. I soon felt the effect of paralysis leaving my body completely. Along with that I felt all my accumulated magi particle being used up for the spell. Everything is gone. 7 years of hopes and dreams I gave to mum. All lost just because of my foolishness. I should have known my place. Why gods why? Why did I go after Ava? If you could give me a chance I will make sure never to go after her. All I wanted was to heal my mum. I cried as I watched my mum, who got paler seeing the green light surrounding me. "Good boy. Slaves do know their place. Hang on someone is calling me." He said as he took a communication crystal from his pocket. "You are late. Are you not finished there, Phil?" That voice I recognised it. The melodious voice that once made me blush and confess to her, Ava. But I couldn''t believe it was her "Almost." Said Phil as he kicked me. I was soon able to see the interface of the crystal. I was met with the beautiful blond-haired goddess that I used to worship. "Is he dead yet?" She asked as if I was some cattle ready to be butchered. "No, I didn''t feel like killing him, so I decided to get rid of his accumulation instead as you said." He said apologetically. "Fine don''t be too late for the date. Come quickly I am waiting." She said pouting, she then winked at him and disconnected the call. I was shocked, everything I endured was for this bitch. I got my mum in this situation only for this whore. I abhorred myself for even loving her in the past. "Thanks to you I am late now." He said as he kept on kicking me. I didn''t even scream as I had lost my will to even live. I soon heard my mum struggling amidst her bindings, to get up and stop Phil from kicking me, hearing that I soon awoke from my trance as I felt the intense pain coursing through my body. I curled into a foetus position, from the pain, and I soon felt that few of my ribs were broken. "How dare you avoid my kicks, you filthy slave?" He was enraged by the fact that I dared to curl into myself to lessen the impact from the kicks. After 5 minutes of being kicked, I laid there hoping that everything would just be over. "Untie them and come back to the manor soon. My sister wants some help with moving somethings." He said as he left after spitting in my face. "Yes master." They replied in chorus. After he left the 5 hooligans proceeded to untie me and my struggling mother. "Stay still bitch. We are untying you." One of the hooligans said as he slapped her across the face. She winced from the pain and stayed still as they untied her legs followed by her hands. As one of them was about to untie her hands the other stopped him. "Hang on man" Making eye contact with the other person, he smiled. "Seriously even in this situation. Can''t you just go back to base and do it?" The other guy said as he too smiled. Soon one of them walked up to me and stuffed some clothes in my mouth. I soon understood what they were about to do. I struggled to get free of my binding as I watched one of them removing his belt followed by his pants. I cried and shouted, through the cloth in my mouth for the next 2 hours as I was forced to watch my mother, as she was raped and abused in front of my eyes, by 5 different people. I laid there powerless, being able to do nothing but struggle, while my mum screamed in pain, but after a while, I lost the strength to even move. I cursed myself for getting her in this situation. Why didn''t that man just let me die? Mum wouldn''t ever be through this if I was dead. After a while of crying and wailing through the clothing stuffed in my mouth, I lost consciousness. When I opened my eyes, I saw mum lying there amidst her torn clothes. I noticed that someone seemed to have untied me. I got up and went up to her. "Mum wake up." I said as I shook her while holding in my tears. I kept on shaking her, hoping she would just open her eyes. She didn''t seem to wake up. I took a sheet from the mattress that we left behind and covered her. I carried her amidst the sharp pain stabbing throughout my whole body, in the middle of the night. I ran to the nearest healer. I ignored the pain as I only wanted to get to the healer before anything bad happened to mum. I laid mum against the wall of the healers'' house as I knocked on the door. I didn''t stop knocking until I heard someone shouting from inside "COMING! STOP KNOCKING!" I shouted back "Hurry up my mum is not waking up!" The person opened the door was a middle-aged man. He along with his wife who was standing behind him seemed pissed off. But as soon as he saw me he almost shouted in shock "You... What happened to you?" He said as he grabbed my wrist and felt for my pulse. "We need to get you treated soon or ..." He carried on "NO!" I shouted as I took back my wrist "Mum is not opening her eyes. Please look at her first please." I said as I got on my knees pleading him, as all the tears I held back came out. He suddenly turned his head and noticed my mum wrapped in a sheet, laid against the wall. His face darkened as he said in a grave serious voice "Darling make sure the children don''t come out." Chapter 50 - Episode 49- Seeking Power I sat in front of my mums grave and watched her grave with a lifeless eye. The healer said due to her already weak body, combined with the paralysing spell and the abuse made to her by her attackers caused her body to give up. She was already dead by the time she was brought in to the healer. Under my constant urging, he casted few rank 2 healing spells. After seeing none of them working I accepted the harsh reality. Mum left me. Strangely I didn''t cry. No, it was more like I couldn''t cry, no matter how much I tried. The healer said something about the police, but I ignored it as I took her body to bury it. I brought her to our new house, I laid her on the table, as I took the shovel out of the storage room. I went to the small lawn in the back of the house and started digging. I dug a big hole and brought mother and laid her in there after I wrapped her up. I was grateful that I at least had land to bury her. I covered up the hole after kissing her forehead. I never cried as I filled the hole up slowly. That was the last I saw of my mum. I thought I would only have to face this situation in the future. But fate had other plans for me, just when we were starting to live. I sat there for hours not knowing what to do. I remembered what mum told me before ''What would you do once I pass away or once I am healed? Will you live on your own, and mourn all your life? Or just live aimlessly? You need to find a goal other than me Ellis.'' ''Should I report it to the officials and have them trialled for their crimes?'' But I knew it better than anyone that it was all useless, from my life in the academy. Phil was the son of a noble. Him killing someone, who was from the slums, is not that big of a deal for the police and the empire, let alone his henchmen raping someone. Revenge, I scoffed at that word. That is a word used only by the strong or ones in power. A weakling like me was not even worthy to use that word. I had no power left. Attempting to gather magi particle will take me at least 20 years, as now I have to work to buy food along with accumulating magi particles. Having nothing left to do other than struggling to live in the same world as that bastard and that bitch, while they enjoyed themselves, I took a decision, to not live anymore. I got up and exited the capital''s gate, as the morning was soon breaking out. I walked along the small path leading towards one of the most majestic waterfalls in the empire. I reached the top of the waterfall and looked down at rocks being crushed by the water falling from 200 meters high. I closed my eyes as I thought ''Mum wait for me.'' and jumped. I felt the sensation of falling, but even after what it felt like few minutes I never reached the bottom. I slowly opened my eyes to see that I was surrounded by darkness. I panicked seeing the darkness, I guess I must be dead by now. It is strange though that I died without experiencing any pain. I presume this must be the afterlife then. But where are the gods that are supposed to judge me? I wanted to talk to them. I wanted an answer from them for why they abandoned my mum. I shouted, "Is anyone here?", but I soon realised I had no voice. Then I noticed something I should have way before. I had no body. If I don''t have a body then what am I? I soon started panicking. Could I be raised as a ghost by evil magi? Like this all sorts of questions went through me. "...p...r" I heard a whisper around me. I turned around to look from where it was coming from, and noticed it was coming from everywhere albeit it not being clear. After a while, the whispering started to become clear and understandable. "...po.r." "...po.er" "..power" "..power?" I soon realised it wasn''t a word but a question. And it seems to end with ''power?'' What are the whisperings saying? "Do you want Power?" Suddenly the whispering became clearer. It seemed strange as the whispering was made out of the voice of children''s, teenagers, adults, old peoples, of both men and women. The whispering was enticing but scary. I suddenly noticed what it asked me. I tried to reply "Yes!" as I remembered my mum, but realised I had no voice. But soon the whispering stopped. After a while the whispering started but this time it asked me ''Do you want power that will make you worthy for revenge?'' I was soon taken aback in shock. It knows, whatever this thing is, it knows I want revenge. But I didn''t care, and I attempted to say "Yes" but again no voice came out. Soon the whispering died down. Then it came back as it asked, "What will you give in return for power?" I shouted without even thinking twice "EVERYTHING." The whisperers became quiet before it said, "Very well, you shall get as much as you give." Suddenly there was a bright light... no it wasn''t a bright light rather I was in white room. I noticed I had my body back and I could move and talk. But I didn''t know what to do. Soon the whispering came back as it said, "Test beginning in 3...2..1." I was confused at what was going on and I only saw the world in front of me twisting and turning, which made me dizzy, as I closed my eyes. After my dizziness faded I opened my eyes to witness a shocking scene. I was in a large colosseum, surrounded by few people, while the crowd of people in the seats were cheering. "Ho..How?" I was confused, what was going on? Suddenly a screen similar to the communication device opened up before me to reveal few sentences. ------------------------------------------ Main Mission- Survive for 10 minutes Reward- 1 point Failure- Death ----------------------------------------- Side mission- Kill the Butcher Reward- 10 points Failure- None --------------------------------------------- Mission starting in 2 minutes 12 seconds. ---------------------------------------------- I was beyond disbelief. Is this the test the whisperings said? I looked around as I ignored the ramblings of my mind screaming at the illogical things in front of me. I had a short dagger in my hand, while dressed in rags. The people around me were similarly dressed in rags and a dagger. There were kids, weak old men and even women amongst the people gathered and waiting for the butcher. The kids were crying as the women held them close and calmed them down. The old men were kneeling on the floor as if all hope was lost. The only men able enough to fight the so-called butcher were 4 people who seemed to be shivering as they held their dagger. I thought 5 people including me with a dagger should be enough to take down whatever muscle bag that came out of the gat. Soon 2 minutes were up, and a loud horn was blown. A large gate was opened. I felt all the energy in my knees draining to the ground. This wasn''t a butcher but more like a giant. He was 8 meters tall, composed of only flesh and muscles. He had a helmet on his head and held a giant cleaver in his hand. No wonder he was called the butcher. I had no idea how to survive this monstrosity in front of me. Chapter 51 - Episode 50- Blood Fest The butcher took a step forward, as everyone ran away from the spot they were standing on. They would rather be spread out, so they could last as long as possible while the butcher took his time to kill the person he was targeting. His helmet had a visor to stop people from piercing his eye, but that didn''t stop us from seeing his eyes moving around as he chose his first victim. The butcher walked towards one of the old man who was hiding in the farthest reach of the arena. The old man tried to run away but the butcher kept following him ignoring every single person who came in his way. He soon caught up with the old man. He swung his giant cleaver in front of the old man to stop him from running forward. The old man wailed and begged, but the butcher ignored him as held him on the floor and took his giant knife chopped at his head. His head rolled through the ground as fountain of blood sprung from his neck. I was shocked. This was not a challenge for him, but more of an activity he did to showcase his strength before the main match. My hand started trembling in fear, as he slowly turned around to pick his next pray. He looked at the timer to only notice that only 30 seconds has passed. Slowly he turned around, my heart crept up to my throat as he looked toward me. I didn''t know what to do. How am I supposed to defeat such a monstrosity? Wait defeat? I don''t have to defeat him. I just have to survive for 10 minutes. But how? Although the arena was massive, each step the butcher took covered about 10 steps of ours. It was impossible to outrun him. Suddenly his gaze went past me as he looked at the person beside me. A tall slim women in her 30''s. He seemed to have chosen her as he walked towards her. She started running away knowing she was the next person, while screaming. I kept on trembling in pure terror, as he went past me ignoring me like I was some fly, although I felt a slight relief that I survived. He soon caught her, and started twisting her body with his bare hand, while she kept screaming for help and pleading for him to show mercy. Soon the upper half of her body was separated from the lower half. He threw both her separated body part to the ground. Her intestines were the only organs linking her separated body. The terrifying fact was that she was still alive as she kept shouting for someone to save her and help her. I retched and vomited and the spot seeing the gruesome scene. I wanted to keep on vomiting the disgusting scene, but I felt like there was nothing left to come out. The butcher ignored her as he looked for his next victim while the crowd kept cheering. There was still 9 minutes left. He only took 30 seconds for each kill, and each kill he did was at a leisure pace. There was about 30 people here, that means if he kept him his kill rate only 10 of us would survive. But what was the chance that I would be survive and not be chosen as his next victim. The failure of this mission was death. I had no power; therefore, I didn''t consider revenge. But now I have a chance at revenge. I remembered those bastards who raped my mum, and Phil and Ava who were the reason behind all of mum''s misery. I needed to survive to get the power the whispers promised me. I didn''t want to die, when I just got a chance to get revenge. I laughed at the irony of fate. 10 minutes ago, I wanted to die and had no will. But now I wanted to live no matter what. The butcher suddenly turned around to pick his next target. I prayed to whoever that was listening to me for it to not be me. It seemed that my prayer was heard as he went after a kid. The kid was screaming and crying for his mum as he ran. The butcher took him up as he slowly pulled out his arms from his body along with his legs, one by one. He left the kid on the floor waiting for him to die. The butcher didn''t need to make sure the kid died, as soon the kid would have died of blood lose. The butcher slowly picked person by person until there was only 5 minutes left. My guts told me that my luck had ran out as he slowly stood up from torturing a young girl. But I had no idea how to escape from him let alone kill him like the mission stated. I slowly felt his line of sight resting on me. Seeing me not run he slowly walked towards me. How am I supposed to run away from him? There was no way to even outrun him. As he was only 50 meters away from me I started slowly trembling in fear. I was thinking of to use anything to survive. I cursed my self for not thinking this while he was killing the other people and I was watching him in fear. As I lost all hope when he was 40 meters away, I suddenly remembered my conversation with the whispers. ''What will you give in return for power?'' To that question I had said ''EVERYTHING''. I didn''t want to do this as my humanity in me wouldn''t let me do it, but this was the only way. I had to give up my humanity right now to get the power I need to survive. I have to give up all my compassion, kindness and any form of humanity in me, just so I can survive. I suddenly turned around and ran towards one of the barely surviving women who was split in half earlier. She was wheezing quietly, while her eyes accepted the fact she was going to die soon, while her organs were laid out on the floor. I was disgusted with what I was about to do, but my mind was clouded with only thought of how to survive. I took what seemed to be lungs partially visible through her torn upper body. I shouted out "I am so sorry, forgive me. I have to do this." I cried while I took 1 of her lungs out. The already dying women screamed in even more pain as she finally embraced death. The butcher stood still for a moment, along with the audience and the rest of them looked in shock at what I was doing. I felt like beating myself up for torturing an already dying person and desecrating their body just so I can survive. I have become the lowest of lowest, but I knew it was no time to think about it. I pierced the lungs in several area and threw it to the butchers face. No one understood what I was doing, while I did the same with the second lungs. But soon the crowds started cheering seeing the blood fest, although they had no idea. However soon the butcher realised what I was doing as he started running to me. It was too late for him as I finally got the heart out of her body and pierced it and threw it to his face, and I moved out of his way. His visor which was covered with blood stopped him from seeing anything. Realising I wasn''t there he wiped the blood out of his visor to see where I was. He spotted me, but it was too late as I was already near another body holding another organ, and I threw it. Again, blood and guts was covering his visor. He wiped it and charged towards me. I threw another lung at him, but he dodged it, however unexpectedly for him I had another organ already prepared in my hand as I threw it at him. He couldn''t dodge it as it covered his visor again. Using the time, he took to wipe his visor with his hand I moved further away, towards another body. Seeing what I was planning to do, he took of his helmet. What faced me was someone with their lips stitched together while his nose was missing. I was surprised by how he was still able to breathe. His face was enraged. He would have roared if his lips weren''t stitched together. I checked the timer to see there was still 3 minutes and 30 seconds left. I cursed for time moving so slowly. Now throwing organs to cover his sight won''t work. I had to find another way to survive for 3 minutes. I am sure if he caught me he will inflict me with the worst pain possible, before killing me. Chapter 52 - Episode 51-Never stare at the Abyss The butcher stood 50 meters across me as he stared at me. I was breathing quite heavily from running around so much. I can''t cover his vision any more, and the only possible way to stop him now is to stab his eyes. But climbing something that is 8 meters tall and attempting to stab his eyes while expecting not retaliation, is not really realistic. I looked around to see if there was any way possible. Soon I noticed something. I ran towards where 2 bodies were lying 4 meters apart. The butcher seeing me run smiled, as he ran after me. I ran past the bodies and kept on running as he slowly caught up with me. Just when he was about to catch me I heard a loud noise. I turned around to see the butcher face planted onto the ground after slipped from the puddle of blood, faeces and urine excreted from the previous two dead people. Without wasting my chance, I ran back to him where his eyes were. Noticing me running towards him and knowing what I was planning he only had enough time to close his eyes. But that didn''t stop the sharp 20 cm dagger from piercing his eyes. I didn''t stop as I took the dagger of the dead man on the floor as I stabbed it towards his other eye. The butcher was wailing and thrashing in pain, unable to open his eyelids nor take the weapon out of his eyes. While this was happening, the crowd was screaming and cheering out loud. I moved out of his way to the opposite corner of the arena. After enduring the pain and thrashing for a minute he stood up angrily. He felt for his cleaver which dropped from him when he slipped. He found it after few seconds. Now only 1 minute 30 seconds remained. He started to widely swing the cleaver hoping he got me. But unfortunately for him, I was nowhere near him. Seeing the situation many of the other participants got hopeful and moved away from him. He tried to listen for use, but amidst the cheering and shouting of the crowd, he could hear nothing. So, he walked everywhere while swinging the giant cleaver madly, while we made sure to walk the opposite way he was. This carried on until finally, the timer reached ''0''. Suddenly everything froze and started to wrap and distort like before. I closed my eyes feeling dizzy. After a while I opened them to notice I was in the same white room I was in, before I got transported to the colosseum. I laid back down on the floor intending to rest after the tired and exhaustive test. Soon I realised something strange, I was not feeling tired or exhausted. It was as if I was fully energised and active. What is happening? Suddenly I noticed the screen in front of me as I opened my eyes to look at my body. The screen had lots of line written down. ----------------------------------- Fully restored after Mission ------------------------------------- Main Mission completed ----------------------------------- Rewards gained 1 points ---------------------------------------------------------------- Completed an Easy difficulty scenario ¨C 1 point ---------------------------------------------------------------- I was lost at what was happening. But I understood one thing that I got healed by the whispers. Suddenly the whisper came back as it said, "You shall get as much as you give." Suddenly the screen in front of me disappeared only to be replaced by another screen. ----------- Shop -------------- Missions -------------- Miscellaneous ------------- I was confused on what to do, while the whisper suddenly started laughing followed by loudly screaming. Everything suddenly quieted down after their screams, while the room suddenly turned dark, except for the 1 meter around me. I got freaked out from the sudden erratic behaviour of the whispers and the changes happening. "You seem confused and scared." A deep voice suddenly sounded behind me. I turned around quickly to see no one behind me. "I am behind you." Said the voice into my ear. I turned around again to see no one there. I started getting terrified at this strange event. "How will you see me when I am always behind you? Even when you turn to look for me, I will be behind you." The same voice whispered into my ear. I started panicking not knowing what to do. I could feel my heart beating loudly as I started sweating. Even though I just faced a giant monster this voice was much scarier. As it was said fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all. "Who are you?" I asked in a trembling voice. "Me? I am nothing but an observer, who likes to watch my puppets dance." Said the voice from behind me. "Show yourself then?" I said as I quickly turned around suddenly to see if I could see the source of the voice. Only to see the empty darkness. "Are you sure?" Said the voice as he breathed a cold breath into my ear. I felt a chill as I got goosebumps. "Yes please" I shouted as I turned around and moved away from where I stood. Suddenly I noticed something; there was a white light of 1 meter around me wherever I moved, pushing the surrounding darkness back. "Very well" I turned around to the voice, to see a tall slim man enshrouded in black. The black surrounding him seemed to have a different colour compared to the black in the surrounding. I looked at his face only to suddenly have whispers and screams roaring through my head. My head felt like it was going to burst if I looked any longer. I fell down in pain and screamed. "It hurts. Ahhh" *Snap* Suddenly I heard a snap. "I asked you if you were sure, and you said you were." I suddenly felt the pain and whisper leaving me, as I felt a warm liquid from my nose and ears, which seemed to be blood while breathing heavily as if I did a heavy exercise. I didn''t dare look at him again, fearing the same thing could happen again. "Who.. are..you..really?" I asked while trying to catch my breath in between. "Like I told you I am just an observer, who likes to watch my puppets dance. But for simplicity sake which you want, although I hate to be compared to those weaklings, you can think of me like the deities you know." I suddenly felt shocked when I realised I was in the presence of a god. I feared what he might do next for the way I behaved towards him. I prostrated myself in front of him. Suddenly I remembered a word he said a moment ago. ''Weakling'' Did he call the almighty deities weakling? Does that mean he is someone who is more powerful than the gods? "Forgive me, my lord. Punish me for not recognising that I was in your presence oh mighty one." I said as I was still prostrated before him. "Just talk to me normally, I am not like those idiots. If I had wanted fear and respect I would have taken that from the whole world ages ago." He said as I slowly felt a force lifting me up, forcing me to look at him. I was scared to look at him, but I couldn''t control my body. Suddenly I saw that he was covered in white smoke, through which you could barely identify his silhouette. "I made it easier for you so that you won''t die when you look at me." "What should I call you my lord?" I asked in fear and respect as I bowed my head as soon I felt the force that lifted me up leave me. "Hmm, name? Hearing my true name will kill you. So, you can call me Fake." Chapter 53 - Episode 52- The Fake promise of Quick Power Up "Fake?" Ellis had never heard of any god with the name or alias of Fake. "Yes, but my name is not the important thing here. What I am here is to help you understand your situation." Stated Fake. Ellis suddenly remembered his experience with the butcher, which led him to remember the whispers and how he got here. "Am I dead?" Asked a confused Ellis. He remembered that he jumped from the cliff only to be falling in the endless darkness accompanied by the whispers. "No, I brought you here as soon as you closed your eyes to jump of the cliff." Said Fake. "Then where are we right now Lord Fake?" Asked a bewildered Ellis. Suddenly Fake snapped his fingers and a wisp of darkness tore away from the surrounding and entered the 1 meter of light surrounding Ellis. It then proceeded to fly towards Ellis'' face as he retreated back in fear. As soon as it touched his face it enveloped him, and soon went in through his orifices and mouth. Ellis went down on his knees panting as he took in the information going through his head. He was on the floor for 10 minutes before he opened his eyes in fear and awe. This was a separate realm created by Lord Fake for people the lord chose, to complete his test. Those the lord chose were called players. And this realm was called the Game. Here one can acquire anything, be it wealth, power, love, immortality, information etc, as long as they complete the tests given by the lord and earn enough points to buy anything one want with it. However, it comes with a price. If he was to die whether in a test or real life, then every single fibre of him will be under the control of Lord Fake, for him to toy with, including his soul. As long as he survived the tests and collected enough points, then he can even buy his freedom from the tests while keeping all his power from the tests. There were also a few rules attached to being a player. One of them was, any information about this realm or the lord could not be passed to a non-player aka NPC, via any form or method. Doing so or attempting to so, means punishment which equals to death. There were plenty of rules and limitations, similar to that. Ellis took his time to understand each of the information processing through him. But suddenly something caught his attention. Among a small example given by what a player could buy with points, there was one thing that caught his attention. Resurrection. Suddenly Ellis got up and asked Lord Fake "Can I resurrect anyone I want with enough points?" "Like it was said with enough points only your imagination and the rules are the only limiting factor of what you can''t buy." "But I just want to know can I bring my mum back to life, if I have enough points?" asked an excited Ellis as he expectantly asked Lord Fake. His heart kept beating as he prayed for Lord Fake to say that single word. "Yes" Suddenly Ellis'' mind went blank. His heart was beating so violently under his excitement and happiness. "How much do I need for resurrection?" Ellis asked while controlling his excitement "250,000 points" Replied Fake without any emotions. Ellis'' heart dropped hearing the point requirement, he remembered that he only had 2 points. 1 from completing the main mission of surviving for 10 minutes and 1 from completing an ''Easy'' difficulty scenario. Lord Fake set his test/ mission or challenges apart for players in 3 settings: Easy, Medium and Hard. Each setting the reward scaled by 10. Completing an easy scenario will only reward 1 point, while medium gave 10 and hard gave 100. Then there was the Missions rewards for each scenario setting. An easy scenario mission can only give maximum of 10 points. A medium scenario mission likewise can give a maximum of 100 points. While a hard scenario mission can give up to 1000 points. This was not the sum of all mission reward, but each individual mission reward. So a hard scenario mission can contain 3 mission worth 1000 point each. The reason why missions were worth more than scenario was simple. Someone can usually complete a scenario, without doing any of the missions. So therefore, the reward for surviving a scenario being less than the mission rewards. This meant if he need to bring his mother back to life he had to complete at least 250,000 easy scenario or 25,000 medium scenarios or 2,500 hard scenarios. He excluded the rewards from the missions in his calculations because he would need that to buy powers to last in each scenario. "Oh, so you are planning to take hard or medium scenarios from now on?" Suddenly the teasing voice of Lord Fake interrupted Ellis'' thoughts. "Remember your previous test, that was just an easy scenario. Since you seem to be smart, now think why each scenario setting rewards is scaled by 10?" Ellis who was planning to take hard scenario suddenly understood the Lord Fake. If each scenario reward was scaled by 10 that means its difficulty was scaled by 10. Surviving the butcher took all of his will and wits, now imagining someone who was 10 or 100 times stronger and faster than that was just impossible. Ellis felt although he could just take the easy scenarios for a while that would take too long. But that was the only way he could survive and bring his mum back. He thought maybe once he had enough power from completing set amount of easy scenarios then he could challenge different scenario. "Not possible kid. Each scenario difficulty scales according to your overall strength." Replied Lord Fake as if answering to his thoughts. Although Ellis was saddened by the news he realised something just now, Lord Fake was able to read his mind. "You just figured that out. You think a being who is more powerful than all the deities reading your mind is that hard?" Said Fake. "Now since you understood the situation you are in I will sit back and watch your choices. If you have any more enquiries about your situation ask the whispers. They are the voices of people who have failed before you, try not to be like them." Said Fake as the smoke covering him suddenly started spreading to the darkness and gradually blended with the darkness and disappeared. Soon the whispers came back saying "You shall get as much as you give." Ellis now understood what the whispers meant. The amount of effort he puts in each scenario to complete the missions will reward him with point to give him whatever he wants. Along with the whispers a screen came up showing shop, missions and miscellaneous. Ellis understood that if he failed he will become like them so he decided to get strong enough to complete each scenario so that he can complete his revenge and bring his mum back. "Shop" Ellis said as the shop icon was expanded. Among the shop list there were many tabs such as Skills, Weapons, Power, Knowledge and Information (K.I.), Consumables, Upgrade etc. What Ellis needed right now was an ability to defend himself, so he clicked power. What came up was a screen with 3 lines. ------------ Magi ------------ Locked (Level 1 of K.I. about this power required to unlock) ------------ Locked (Level 3 of K.I. about this power required to unlock) ------------ Ellis was excited seeing the magi tab by seeing 2 other tabs being locked he was curious. But he ignored it as he opened the Magi tab. ------------ Talent -------------- Capacity ------------------- Accumulation ------------------- Spell Training ------------ Seeing the options, Ellis chose talent and it showed something which greatly shocked Ellis. ------------------------ Upgrade Talent from Low talent to Medium talent- Cost 100 points ------------------------ "Does it mean what it says?" Ellis asked the whispers. "Yes" Ellis suddenly understood that although this realm of Lord Fake was dangerous it was a realm filled with opportunity. However, he only had 2 points. The lack of points greatly annoyed Ellis. Ellis went back to pick capacity. He already knew what kind of options would come up before the screen even changed. ----------------------- Average Capacity-10 points (Note- You already have this) ----------------------- Low Capacity-100 points ----------------------- High Capacity-100 points ----------------------- Sighing he went back and chose accumulation. He was now excited if that line meant what it means, then he could regain what he lost. ---------------- 1 Point equals 1 year of low talent accumulation. ---------------- Trade your points for accumulation? ---------------- This meant with 7 points he could get back to being rank 1 magi, as it would take 7 years of accumulation for him to Rank up. Right now, he had 2 points with which he could earn 2 years'' worth of accumulation. He really wanted to spend all his point for accumulation, but he restrained himself. He wanted to get some form of power that would help him in his next scenario but having 2 years of accumulations wasn''t going to help him that much against someone on the level of butcher. He went back and chose spells to see that it offered assistance to help you master certain spells when you spend required amount of points. This would greatly help him later on. As each new rank meant new spells. But learning how to cast each spells and controlling them takes time. So far there was nothing he could buy from here other than accumulation. He then remembered the locked power he saw earlier under Magi. "How much points for K.I. do I need to unlock each power?" He asked the whispers. Suddenly his screen was filled with a few lines. -------------- 1st locked power- Requires total of 50 points for Level 1 K.I. 2nd locked power- Requires total of 1750 points for Level 1, 2 and 3 K.I. ------------- Seeing the price nearly made Ellis faint, that equalled roughly to 1800 easy scenarios to unlock and see what was available for both powers. And that is not even including the cost of the powers behind each of the price tags. "Why is it so expensive?" He asked the whispers seeing the price. "More expensive the power, the stronger its worth." Said the whispers as they started laughing. After a while it quieted down. Ellis quieted down as he thought what he could buy to help him with future scenarios as well as extracting his revenge. Suddenly he remembered the upgrade option, among other things in the shop tab. He went back and opened it. A screen cropped up showing 3 lines. ------------------------------------------ Current Physical Capability- 1.0 capability ----------------------------------------- Current Mental Capability- 1.0 capability ----------------------------------------- 1 point required for 0.1 capability upgrade. Do you want to upgrade? ------------------------------------------ If he understood this right then this meant his overall physical and mental capability if shown as numbers will only be up to 1. And if I use 1 point to upgrade physical capability then that means I will have roughly another 1/10 of my current strength added to my total strength. Remembering the butcher and how I barely outran him and felt tired after the mission, I knew that having stronger physique was the only way currently to survive any missions. I used 1 point to upgrade my physical capability to see what would happen. Suddenly I felt cold and warm at the same time before the feeling disappeared. I could feel some sort of power crawling out from my body in order to erupt. I didn''t know what happened but the feeling I have now is euphoric. I looked at the screen to see that 1.0 changed to 1.1. I used the last remaining point to upgrade again and the same feeling came up, as my stats changed to 1.2. I went back to the main screen which showed shop, mission etc. Suddenly the whispers started divulging "Would you like to carry on or leave?" Chapter 54 - Episode 53- Drug and Games are addictive. The whispers asked me for what seemed to be like the 10th time now "Would you like to carry on or leave?" The Game realm formed by Lord Fake had its player complete a compulsory mission once every month. The difficulty of the chosen scenario at that time will be random, or according to the wish of the Lord. When completing the compulsory mission or any scenario, time will be delayed in the outside world. However, time will resume back to normal when a player is shopping for his required items from the screen. These were the basic information I had received among other information, when Lord Fake passed them to me. Taking advantage of the timeless nature of scenario, I decided to dive and do as many easy scenario as possible, to gather as many points as possible to increase my strength. I had increased my physical capabilities from 1.2 to 2.1. I didn''t at first experience any difference at the slow and gradual growth at my physical capabilities. But it was only during one of my last 2 mission where I was chased by what seemed to be a horde of flesh-eating insects I realised that my stamina and speed had increased greatly. As it was shown in the status screen it had doubled. I never had a chance to compare my strength as everything I face in the scenario is useless before raw might, but I believed my strength too should have been doubled. Once I had my physical capabilities reach 1.9, I had invested another point thinking there might be a great change to my body. But unfortunately, nothing happened when my physical capability reached 2.0 or 2.1. It just felt similar to what I always felt when I upgraded, nothing different. I had gathered roughly 21 points after my first mission. I had invested 9 of those points into upgrading my physical capability, therefore having only 12 points left. My hands shivered as I clicked power, and opened magi. My eyes got wet at thinking of everything I suffered to lose this power, only to get it back now. I worked 7 years hard for this power, no, in fact, my mum suffered every minute of those 7 years to help me reach that power. But it was all lost, but now I had been given another chance to regain it. I clicked accumulation and chose to trade 7 points for 7 years'' worth of low talent accumulation. I felt the magi particle entering every inch of my body and filling me. Suddenly I felt that the magi particles slowly fusing with my body and enriching it. My body glowed and after a while, it went back to normal. I have reached rank 1. I could feel tears that I was holding back leaving my eyes. My mum''s hard work was the foundation for my previous power. But now this power I hold, the foundation for it is my mum''s death. "Mum this power was gained through your death, so this power will cause death from this moment onwards for every single of those bastards. It will be my gift to you for giving me this precious gift." I made a vow in the Game real, with resolve. If what I have been taught by mom is correct, then breaking a vow made in front of a god has serious consequence, that the person breaking them would wish death was better. After a while I calmed down. I looked at the screen and decided to put in 1 more point. I felt my accumulation increase by 1 year. But what shocked me was that I needed 20 years of accumulation now to advance. I only had 4 points left so investing it all into accumulation, which now needed 19 years of accumulation, now felt useless. So, I decided to upgrade my physical capabilities for now. I was a bit confused seeing that my stats seemed to remain the same. If I had remembered right then my teachers had taught me that when someone ranks up their bodies physical limits will be unlocked as magi particle fuse with their body. So according to that my physical or mental capability should have risen. Instead, it stayed the same. [Physical Capability- 2.1] [Mental Capability- 1.0] This meant two things. Either my bodies limits unlocked by magi particle was so minute it was ignored form adding into the stats, or that this upgrade for some weird reason doesn''t count any upgrades offered from ranking up. If that is so I wonder why? I was about to invest my points into physical when I hesitated and decided to experiment with the remaining four points into mental capability. If it does what it says then it should improve my mental capability. I decided to start by putting in 1 point. Suddenly I felt a refreshing yet addicting energy wash over my head. It was like I was under a soft blanket made out of a cloud, during the cold weather, which made me feel extremely warm under the blanket. The feeling slowly passed off. The perfect sense of balance between cold and heat somehow felt very addictive and left me wanting to experience more of the same feeling. I slowly put in another point to experience the same thing. This time, however, the feeling seemed to have been lasting longer. Again, after a while, it left. I put in point after point as each time the addicting feeling kept in increasing in time. Soon I was awoken only to realise I had no more points left. "Wait no more points." I gasped as I looked at the screen to see my stats. [Physical Capability- 2.1] [Mental Capability- 1.4] "Crap" I swore as I realised the danger of putting in points at mental capability. I decided from then on to only put in points in mental capability after only after I have finished with my use elsewhere. Otherwise I wouldn''t even realise where the points had gone. I felt no different, putting point in mental, but that is to be expected, as the upgrade seems to be gradually and slowly upgrading. Somehow I felt that I should go do more mission, to earn more points in order to experience the same feeling I just did. But I ignored that feeling, while a portion of my mind just wanted me to go do harder mission for more points. "This is dangerous" I knew at that moment how dangerous mental capability. Could it be because I upgraded 4 points of it in one go? I went back to the main screen only for the whisper to ask me the same question. My body was somehow still craving for that addictive feeling and I wanted to do more missions. I decided it would be dangerous if I entered a scenario like this. So, I decided to leave the Game realm, and stay out till this weird feeling is gone. "I would like to leave." I said to the whispers. "Very well. But remember you shall only get as much as you give, Hahahahaha" The whispers soon started to do a weird combination of laughing and crying. Then the view in front of me slowly distorted like it would do for a mission. I close my eyes not wanting to feel dizzy. I opened my eyes after few seconds. I was in front of the cliff, where I had prepared to end my life. I walked away from the edge of the cliff, as I decided I had finally at least received the right to use the word revenge. Soon I will have enough strength to gain the right to use it. Now I just have to bid my time. *Clap* *Clap* *Clap* I turned around trying to spot the source of the clapping. I didn''t see anyone in the clearing behind me. "You know I would have been disappointed if you had decided to end your life, without even trying." Said a voice. I looked at the source of the voice to notice it came from one of the branches on a tree. "Who are you?" I asked as I slowly got ready to cast a rank 1 shield. Although it is extremely weak it is better than no defence. "Come and find out." Said the voice. Something seemed extremely familiar about that voice. It seemed like I have heard it somewhere before, but I just couldn''t remember. I didn''t move from where I stood as silence came in between us for the next 10 seconds. I had finally finished casting the shield spell. "Oh, so you are a rank 1 magi. The reports must have been wrong about you losing your accumulation, or you must have fooled that idiot." Said the calm voice. I suddenly understood that the person in front of me must be some who knows Phil. Thinking about Phil made me think back to that helpless moment in my life. Anger clouded my eyes, as I prepared a rank 1 icicle. "Relax bro. There is 3 reason for you to stop that attack you are casting right now." I gazed at from where the voice was coming from as I ignored what I said while I carried on casting. "First reason, my bodyguards will make sure to finish you off before you even get to launch that spell to me." It could be him bluffing to try and to escape from the spell I am casting. "Two, if I had wanted to kill you I would have pushed you into the waterfall while you spent thinking absent-minded for the past 45 minutes you have been standing there." 45 minutes? Wait that must have been the time that I used in total after each scenario to spend shopping and thinking. If that is true then he might not be here to harm me, but what if he is lying? Ignoring my doubting mind, he carried on to say the 3rd reason "Three, I don''t want to kill someone who I once painstakingly saved." My mind went blank for a second, then I suddenly remembered the familiarity of the voice. It''s the same voice I heard roughly a month ago, but to the real world a week ago. That was my saviour. Chapter 55 - Episode 54- Hero in making I had received the report from one of Dexter''s agents about the situation of person I had saved, Ellis. I had Dexter then as soon as possible keep a tail on him as I went to where he was. It seemed like he was heading to the Rainbow Waterfalls to suicide. From here to the Rainbow Waterfall should roughly take 25 minutes of walking. I am just too lazy to walk there. I thought of how to get there without using much effort as I yawned. Suddenly I remembered how first saw Albert. I smiled as I sneaked off to Titus'' storage room. I grabbed a travelling board from his storage room. He shouldn''t mind me using it as it''s for emergency use. No, in fact, he will appreciate if I use it instead of wasting my time walking. I justified my reasons as I carried the board out of the house. Now I have roughly 25 seconds before that muscle head gets notified that I took his board. I should close as much distance between me and Ellis in that time frame before Titus arrives to take the board back from me, and I am forced to walk. In order to do that I will have to set the speed to highest possible. I turned the dial which showed high in the board, as I slowly set the board down and got on top of it. I leaned my foot on the switch under my left foot as the board took off in what seemed to be 70 mph. Steering the thing was easy for me as you just turned the ball under your right foot in the direction you wanted to go. I might be one of the only person able to perfectly control this travelling board on its first try in this world, due to using more complex travelling board than this. I reached the gate leading to outside the capital. They tried to stop the person who was travelling so fast to the gate on a travelling board. But as I got closer and they were able to see me they moved away to let me go, knowing it was the 3rd prince. I followed the path leading to the waterfalls when suddenly a 2-meter-tall wall made of muscle got in front of me. I slowed down to a stop seeing Titus with his smug grin. My eyebrows twitched. He is 2 seconds earlier than what I had calculated. Darn, now I have to walk those extra distance covered in 2 seconds. Seeing his smug grin turn into questioning glare I replied "What? It was getting dusty in your storage, so I decided to shake its dust off while trying it out." He took the board from me as I held it to him. "I was really expecting you to be lying on the floor with broken bones, after crashing into something. I was even thinking how to explain to Dexter of your accident if you had crashed into something at that speed. How are you so good at using the Whizz board?" He asked as he walked beside me with the board to the Rainbow waterfalls. I shrugged my shoulders in reply. "Seriously just tell me how you do it? It took me 2 days to learn how to use it, and I took nearly a week of practising before I could travel with it at high speed as you did." "Did you forget I am a genius and natural at everything I do?" I replied back. "Yeah, I did forget." He sighed as he looked at the board in disappointment. He probably was wishing to be as talented as me in using that travelling board. We walked in silence for 2 minutes before he asked me "How important is that guy in your future plans?" "Not much," I said "Huh, then why are you trying to stop him from suicide?" He asked me as confusion was written on his face. "Because I need a new loyal bodyguard now my previous ones are gone." "That still doesn''t explain why you even saved him in the first place, as you had your ''Rotten Rat'' then?" Titus asked as he tried to understand where I was going with this. "No, it doesn''t," I said as I nodded my head. "I saved him because he has a really rare quality found among people." "What rare quality? Almost everyone keeping eyes on you checked out his history. He has a low talent and an average capacity. He would have never got close to ranking up if not for you feeding him with your foo..." Suddenly he stopped talking as he realised I purposely increased his accumulation. "What is the quality you found in him that you were willing to save him, increase his accumulation and that none of us noticed?" Titus asked as he stopped me. My smile grew larger as I said "He has one of the most important qualities needed to be a hero, that everyone single one of us has read in stories. A strong resolve that not even a giant can move. Once he decides to do something then nothing can stop him. And I want that hero for myself." I said as I did a grabbing motion. Titus grew confused "All this build-up for someone with high willpower? What so special about that? If you see our agents training then you will understand how high their willpower and resolve is." I shook my head as I said "Yes but all of those people are taken by you guys or the emperor. He is a jewel that I found, unclaimed by anyone, which I can mould and mount anywhere I want." "It is still useless." Titus said as he to shook his head. "His talent is crap. There is a limit to how much he could accumulate with your cooking." "Neither brains nor brawns on its on gives absolute power. When both brain and brawn meets, you will get an unstoppable force. He is the brawns and I will be the brains. Besides I will come up with something." "Well do whatever you want but be warned everyone will be aware of both of you, especially Pablo and Adam. They will try everything to make sure that he doesn''t grow into a threat for their son and daughter." "I know. Pablo is on Jacks faction am I right?" I asked "Yes, and Adam being a merchant should have been neutral. But since both families agreed for a marriage alliance between those two kids, he is now considered to be in Jack''s faction as well." Answered Titus "Finally, we are as a faction, are starting our first fight against another faction, in the competition. Hahaha" I laughed as we slowly neared the waterfalls. "I seriously hope you got some plans for what you are about to do. Messing with Jack and Steven is the last thing you should ever do." "We are here." I said as I saw Ellis standing at the edge of the cliff. A little push was all he needed to go down. "Catch him if he goes down." I said as I went closer to him. "Ellis!" I shouted his name. Hearing no response, I shouted again. "Ellis!" This is strange. Suddenly Titus stopped me as he walked forward and stood in front of Ellis. He started shaking Ellis, shouting his name but he didn''t seem to wake up. As he was about to slap him I stopped him. It was then I saw that Ellis was standing there with his eyes closed. "He seems to be in deep thought or in a trance of some kind. Let''s just wait." I said as I walked towards a tree and climbed it and sat on its branch. Grunting something Titus followed me and sat on another branch. After 15 minutes Titus got annoyed with waiting. "I am so bored of waiting. You better cook for me today, for all this extra effort you put me through." I smiled as I said "Ok" After waiting for half an hour, we saw the first response from Ellis as he moved away from the cliff. Seeing this I clapped my hands after being made to endure to long boring show of him deciding whether he was going to live or die, along with trying to get his attention. Chapter 56 - Episode 55- The First Pawn "Wh..why are you here? How did you know I was here?" asked a shocked and confused Ellis. "I heard what happened to you. By the time I got the information, it was too late. I received a report saying you were going towards the Rainbow falls. Even an idiot can figure out what you were going to do. I came to stop you, although now it seems like my trip was wasted." I replied. There was a moment of silence as Ellis probably processed everything I just said. "Why are you the only one always helping me, when everyone else just hurts me?" He asked, as he lowered his head, and clenched his fists. "Because you wanted to live." I said Hearing my answer, he looked up at me confused. I explained to him "On that day I found you, although you were close to dying you were holding on with your sheer willpower. You wanted to live, so I gave you that life. The life that you are living now is granted by me. I don''t want you to throw it away just because you are helpless. At least die trying instead of just giving up." His body started shaking, while his head started turning red. A single tear left his face, and after a while, he replied "Thank you" He started to walk back to the path leading back to the capital while going away from the pair of tree where me and Titus sat on. Suddenly he stopped and turned towards the direction of the tree as he asked me for the second time "Who are you?" "Like I said before come and find out." He was surprised for a moment before he walked towards the tree. "Let me warn you before coming any closer. Coming in contact with me once placed you in great danger once and cost you your mum''s life. Try it once more and my enemies will make sure to make you wish you were dead." I smiled as I saw him coming closer to me. He stopped as horror crept through his face which slowly morphed into anger. "What did you just say?" "You think it was just Phil''s doing last night? Then you are mistaken, Ellis. The powers at play here are beyond your imagination. To them, you, your mum and both of your hard work at your new life were just tools for them to use against me. If you still don''t understand let me make it clear to you. What happened to you last night was an attempt by 2 certain families to please their masters, aka my enemies." "Who?" Asked Ellis as his slowly last his cool while gritting his teeth. "Are you su..." "I asked you WHO?" Interrupted Ellis, as anger slowly crept through his whole body. "The Springwood noble family and Sprinkles merchant family." I replied Suddenly Ellis was frozen in shock. He had realised both of those family names. Two names he often heard when his teacher took attendance in his class. Phil Springwood and Ava Sprinkles. His mind went blank. "They were not out there to get petty revenge against you, in fact, revenge was only their least of concerns, their primary objective was showing their masters that they were able to touch me." I smiled while I saw the slowly enraged Ellis getting unstable. "You see how the game is played now don''t you? Just because I came in contact with you, they touched you. And if they find that you still have your magi capabilities, then they will at all costs clean you from the slate. So, what do you want to do now?" I asked him. He simply ignored me as he turned around and walked back towards the capital. "You plan for revenge, right? Forget it. To those two families, you are nothing but an ant." He kept on ignoring me. "So, you just want to at least attempt revenge on Phil right? Well, that''s going to fail as well." I said Suddenly he stopped to listen. "If you are not even capable of detecting the numerous amount of my bodyguards in this area now, don''t mention being a rank 1 magi, even being a rank 4 or 5 magi won''t even let you throw a scratch on him." Then he suddenly shouted with his back facing towards me, while shaking his fist in anger "Then what do you expect me to do? Should I just give up on revenge and live a pointless life? You told me yourself it is better to at least die trying than to give up." "I also said to not throw away your life just because you are helpless." He still seemed unsatisfied by my answer. "You have only two choices here." He suddenly started calming down hearing what I have to say. "One is to train grow strong, but at the same time find allies that are willing to help you. This way you can at least die knowing you tried. But they will notice you before you take your first step inside the empire, and they won''t wait for a thorn to grow and become a dagger that will stab them in the back." I let what I told him sink in before jumping down the tree and walking towards the cliff. "Or what?" He asked still facing his back towards me. "Follow me for the next 5 years, and I can promise you that those two families life and death will be under your feet, within the next 5 years." I said as I stood at the edge of the cliff watching the waterfall. There was a brief moment of silence. I stood there watching the waterfall while Ellis stood there thinking what was his best option. After a while, I could hear him walking towards me. "Coming any closer to me will identify you as my follower. Only take the step if you are willing to follow me. In return I will gift you those two families, in due time." I said trying to convince him to back out. But that didn''t stop him let alone slow him down as he reached behind me. I could hear him do something as he knelt down. "I, Ellis from this day forth declare to be your follower for the next 5 years or till whenever you want in return for what you promised me. This will be the oath I take with my magi particles." I suddenly saw a glowing light along with feeling a faint sense of warmth from behind me, as the effect of his oath took hold. "Very well" I said as I turned around to face him. I extended my left arm to greet the boy with short black hair "Nice to meet you Ellis." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ellis has made contact with John." Said the agent kneeling down. Albert nodded before he activated his communication crystal. "Your highness he has made his move." Emperor James the 2nd nodded while smiling. "Finally, he will realise the true wrath of messing with a commandment especially someone like Steven." Albert nodded as he to finally smiled. So far they had lost all their battles against John. But now he has to defend from two sides, now they just have to wait for an opening, especially when he has finally challenged someone like Steven. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A waiter walked into where two people where sat down. He looked at Steven and nodded. Steven smiled after looking at the waiter. "The tiger has finally decided to make it move against the lion''s kingdom, after 3 months. Jack get ready for an all-out war, from now on." Jack nodded. He stopped underestimated John since that day in the royal palace. Jack took a communication crystal from his pocket and called Pablo. "Ellis has started to serve under John." Hearing this message Pablo nodded with a visible frown. "I will arrange for a squad to take him out." "You better not. It''s not so simple now. He is not a nobody now, but a magi now. Arrange for the protection of your son and make him stay cooped inside your house, that''s the least he can do after failing to even destroy a peasants accumulation. I don''t want him to die now, and lose the first match against that kid." Steven interrupted the conversation. Hearing Steven''s bone-chilling voice Pablo paled. He had made it clear for his son to make sure to destroy Ellis'' accumulation, and his son was not someone who left things half done. But not only did he not make sure that his accumulation was not scattered, but he had gone ahead and caused Ellis to ally himself with that crazy monster. Pablo wasn''t sure where things had gone wrong. Pablo nodded, as Jake cut the communication device down. Chapter 57 - Episode 56- Meeting Legends "Where are we going?" Ellis asked as he finally broke our silence as both of us walked towards the noble district, to Titus'' home. "Home, well temporary home since mine was destroyed in an attack. Unless you want to stay out in the street and pain yourself a target to all my enemies, you better stay with me." I said as we finally reached Titus'' compound. Ellis was silent for a while before he said, "Even you were attacked?" "Yes, but not the enemies that attacked you. It was a different group, more like few rats who thought they could start nibbling at the bread we were fighting for. You should have seen me few days ago, I was half burned to death." I chuckled as I said that, remembering the play I directed together with the Rotten Rats, to let them escape. Ellis was taken aback in shock, as he couldn''t believe that the attack on me was that severe. "Where were your bodyguards during that time then?" "Well, it was thanks to them that I am still alive and kicking." I said as I stood in front of the gate thinking if I should wait for someone to come over and open the gate or just climb over the wall. I made a decision as I turned towards Ellis. "You are a Rank 1 magi right. Can you cast a lightweight spell?" Ellis shook his head "I haven''t learned how to cast that spell yet." I shrugged my shoulder as I said, "Well let''s go." I walked towards the wall nearby and using the gate as a support I lifted myself up and climbed over wall and stood on top. I turned around to look at a Ellis who was looking at me with his mouth wide open. "Here grab my hand and come up." I said as I offered my hand to him. He was not moving from the spot not knowing whether to join me in what seems to be some kind of trespassing. "Could you hurry up? I haven''t got all day. You can either wait out here for 5 minutes till someone come to open this stupid gate or just come with me?" I said, annoyed at being made to wait for him. He looked around to make sure no one was watching them, before he took my hand to climb on top of the wall. After that I jumped to the ground, followed by Ellis. Soon a siren started going off inside the compound. I ignored it as I walked towards the main door to the mansion. As soon as I reached the main door the alarm was switched off before an annoyed Titus opened the door. "Can you not wait outside for 5 minutes?" "Who told you to run off from the waterfalls without even waiting for me? You could have waited for us by the gate if you came here so early." I answered back as I went into the hall and laid down on a sofa. "Why am I the one stuck with you?" He muttered as he turned around to look at a confused Ellis. "Probably because I presume among you 3, you must have lost whatever game it was you guys played in order to see who will look after me." He ignored me as he talked with Ellis "Welcome Ellis." He greeted Ellis with an outstretched arm. "It must be a lot for you to take in seeing where you are now, but you will get used to it." Ellis in response shook Titus'' hand and replied "Thank you" Titus was shocked seeing someone not shaking in fear in the presence of a commandment. ''Darn this kid is either pretty good at controlling his emotion''s or he simply doesn''t care anymore.'' Suddenly Titus heard Johns'' voice from the sofa "Ignorance is a bliss, Titus. He doesn''t know who you are let alone who I am." "Are you kidding me?" Asked a surprised Titus, who had his built-up bubble of impression, of Ellis popped suddenly. "How could someone not know me let alone not know you?" He said as he turned around to face Ellis. "Do you truly not know me?" Titus asked Ellis. Ellis shook his head as he smiled apologetically. "Were you living under a rock or something? Have you never heard of a book called ''Nobles and Kings of the empire?" He asked back. "That book doesn''t contain any information about you guys let alone your pictures. The only thing to identify you guys in that book is your insignia. But that didn''t matter as he probably never bothered wasting his 1 silver cash on a useless book like that when they could use that silver coin to feed themselves for a week. Right Ellis?" I replied while looking up at the ceiling of the mansion. I really wanted to go back to sleep now. "I am sorry, that is true." Ellis said as he smiled to Titus. "That means he truly doesn''t know you. Hahaha. This is funny. Kid did you sign up to follow him without even knowing who he is?" Titus started laughing while holding his stomach. He laughed for a few seconds before shaking his head "Well its truly late now for you to back out, if you knew who we are. But I don''t think you would want to back out since what has been offered to you. Right?" Ellis nodded his head. "Well, let''s do this again." Titus said as he stretched out his arm in greeting. "I am the commandment of Shield, Titus Bloodfist." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A commandment. A bloody commandment. That is one of the most fabled legends of the empire standing in front of me. Getting to see them in person is the highest form of honour and reward one can ask for. And here I was talking casually with one all this while without knowing who he was. He thought he was meeting an associate of John, but it turned out the associate was one of the 10 legends of the empire. I suddenly remembered the hand in front of me. I knew that I should kneel down in front of a commandment but at the same time, I couldn''t embarrass a commandment by ignoring his hand. I was confused and sweating bullets; should I kneel down and embarrass a commandment or shake his hand and displease him by not giving him the proper respect. In the end my body kind of moved on its own from not knowing what to do. I knelt down in one knee and shook his hand. I was embarrassed beyond reason. What the hell is this? The commandment in front of me seeing what I was doing started laughing out loud. "What the hell? John you got to see this, it''s like he is proposing to me or something. Hahaha" I could feel my face turning red as I tried to keep my poker face up. "Relax kid. You don''t have to be so uptight." He said as he lifted me up, by my shoulders. "Now about that crazy guy there." He said as he pointed towards my saviour and the person who offered me my new life, who seemed to be falling asleep. "Do you truly not know him? It is understandable if you don''t know me, as I had worn a mask during the founders'' celebration. But that guy, I am pretty sure there is no one in the whole empire not to know him." He asked me. I truly didn''t know who he was. I decided to follow him for few reasons, but there were two main ones. One of them was because I wanted to grow stronger safely, and he promised me safety from my enemies. There would be times when I will be in the Game realm and left defenceless. And during those times being under his protection would be the safest choice. Two- he had offered me not just revenge on Phil and Ava, but he offered to let me control their whole families fate. I could have grown stronger from the Game realm but, no matter how strong I grew I couldn''t stand up to the army of two families. Even if I could grow strong enough to go against them, they would have fled and hidden from me by then. So, when he told me I could make those two suffer for what they did to me, in exchange for just following him for 5 years, it was a fair deal to me. I shook my head as I replied "No my lord. I am not aware of who the lord is?" If he had a commandment as his associate I wondered who exactly my saviour was. I felt like slapping myself for not even taking the initiative to talk to him on the way back and asking him his name. I had thought he must have been very powerful magi. Due to being able to heal me, when I was near death, and having lots of bodyguards as he said told me by the waterfalls. But when he asked me to cast a rank 1 Lightweight spell I guessed that he wouldn''t be a powerful magi. But now seeing a commandment as his associate, and him being powerful enough to have strong magi users to heal me when I was nearly dead, I wondered who he could be. "I thought you knew it, Titus. He was living in the slums, other than hearing my name, they won''t know anything else about me. They were so focused on surviving and trying to get through each day that they had no free time to gossip like other people or coming to watch my initiation ceremony and see me. Especially when it was his mum working hard for both of them and trying to earn enough to support his magi studies. And him not wanting to see his mum working hard for him, must have spent most of his time studying and accumulating magi particles." What he said was true. But hearing what he said brought out the emotion I held back for the past 1 month, but suddenly I remembered to the real world it wasn''t 1 month but just a day. I just noticed how in few hours, to the outside world I had turned from someone who was helpless to watch his mum raped in front of him to someone who wielded enough strength and had been given the opportunity to grow and get my revenge. "That makes sense." Lord Titus interrupted my thoughts as he said. "That kid is the one who to the whole empire is known as ..." He pointed towards the Lord who I had made an oath to serve, who was sleeping sideways, while he had his back facing us as he slept. "''The Hand of God'', 3rd prince John Emberson or as he likes to call himself John Field." Chapter 58 - Episode 57- General Situation Mind blown was the only 2 words I could use to describe from what I am experiencing now. I had never thought the person who had saved me back then and gave me the opportunity for revenge was the very hero who saved the whole empire, and our family from succumbing to that rotten plague. The very hero who saved the whole empire saved me. "Oi kid, wake up. Stop your self-monologuing." Lord Bloodfist awoke me from my shock. "Now can you guess what kind of danger and responsibility you signed up for?" I thought about it. But what kind of danger could a prince face, especially a potential heir to the throne, like lord Emberson? However, didn''t Lord Emberson himself say he had enemies, especially the attack launched on him a few days ago, which caused him to be in nearly half-burnt like he said. "Not really?" I shook my head in response Lord Bloodfist sighed at my response as he facepalmed. "Either you are dumber than you look or staying with that guy has improved my own IQ level." I was offended by what he said, but I kept silent knowing what he said was the truth. I simply couldn''t see who Lord Emberson''s enemies could be. Who would want to harm a hero who single handily saved the whole empire from a deadly plague? "Your IQ has not improved muscle brain. It''s just that he doesn''t understand the inner workings of the empire. Explain to him the current political situation and he will understand who my enemies are." Said Lord Emberson as he sat up while poking around his ear with his fingers. "You guys are too loud that I can''t even sleep." "Your mum is the muscle brain, you piece of lazy shit." Muttered Lord Bloodfist silently. "Why don''t you explain it since I am a muscle brain? Besides, it will be good for you to exercise your mouth, as the only thing you know with it is to annoy and eat." Said Lord Bloodfist "Fine." Said his highness as he stretched and proceeded to yawn. "Listen closely Ellis, I won''t repeat this again. Currently, there are 3 princes including me, meaning 3 potential heirs to the throne. Each of them is competing for the throne. Due to this, there are 3 different factions among the nobles in the empire right now, each of them supporting a prince each. 1 noble faction supporting the crown prince, 1 supporting Jack Emberson or better known as Jack Luminity and the last one supporting me. With me so far?" His Highness asked me I took in what he said a processed it for a few seconds before nodding. "Ok here is what makes this game dangerous. The emperor supports the crown prince along with 4 commandment nobles. Jack has got the support of 3 commandments noble along with us having 3 as well. So, who do you think is going to win?" I thought for a moment before replying "With all due respect your highness, wouldn''t it be the crown prince who has the highest chance to win?" His highness in response to my answer smiled as he shook his head "If it was a game of simple numbers then yes. But it''s not so simple, the rest of the court except the crown princes faction abhors the crown prince and will do everything to make sure he won''t succeed to the throne. The reason is very simple? He is too much of a party boy, relying on his dad''s favouritism and help to do everything. The court and other nobles want a capable ruler, not someone who will play with the empire and destroy it and cause it to enter a civil war. Hence if he were to succeed to the throne all the other faction will join together to oppose him. While at the same time both me and Jack have to do everything in our power to convince the court that we are the capable rulers. Due to this all of us are in a stalemate, and we are currently fighting some kind of a cold war, trying to come on top of each other. And we only have a time limit of 5 years, hence the reason my contract with you is only for 5 years. Within the next 5 years, someone has to succeed to the throne, or the power scale of the empire might go haywire and plunge the empire into chaos." "But why 5 years?" I asked in confusion. I understood the general danger and where I stood in this scenario, but what reason could there be for a time limit? "Because in 5 years'' time me and the emperor are expected to die." "What!" My mind went blank for the next few moments, and I was woken up by the voice of Lord Emberson. "Since you seem to understand the general situation, muscle brain there will answer any of your questions. I suggest you rest and get yourself sorted, especially from what happened yesterday, because after today your training will start, to prepare for all sorts of madness." He said as he walked towards one of the room while yawning. I turned towards Lord Bloodfist who had lost his playfulness and replaced it with an air of seriousness as he looked towards where Prince Emberson walked towards. "Boy, let me give you a warning, even though he simplified the general situation, don''t underestimate the ruthlessness of this war. If ever you doubt the seriousness of what you are facing just remember your own situation. What happened to you last night is a common occurrence in this brutal war to the throne." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was woken up by the loud yelling of someone in the garden. Seriously can''t they do their training more quietly. I walked out to the garden to see Ellis yelling loudly as he practised some sort of sword movement under Titus'' watch. "Oh, you seem to be up. Good morning" Titus greeted me as I walked through the door. "You were too loud. What are you doing?" "Training" "I can see that. But why sword and not just physical training?" "Well I asked him if he wanted to specialise in any weapons and he chose longsword. So, this sword movement trains him both physically and in the sword." He replied as he corrected Ellis in his posture. "Why don''t you try it as well? Good to get exercise once in a while." He asked me after he corrected Ellis. "No thanks. Too much effort." I replied back "You lazy ass. Besides that where is my promised food? Also, will you be cooking for him too?" He asked me. "Give me a few minutes I just woke up. Yeah, I will cook for him, it will give him more time to train physically and spend less time accumulating. How is my shop''s renovation going?" Titus nodded as he replied "I just received a message saying it should be done by noon. Will you be starting your business soon then?" I nodded at his question. "Hmm, okay but expect your first assignment within the next 2 weeks. I suggest you get plenty of rest before that along with doing some preparations. Also, will you provide any discount for us, since we support you?" He asked me for a discount without any shred of shame. All the participant of the competition is expected to complete assignments from the royal palace. The assignments range from solving, visiting or preparing for any natural or man-made crisis/ disasters to military tours. For example, if a local village experienced famine and no help was provided then over time they will build hatred towards the empire and slowly form a rebellion. To stop these kinds of situations from happening we were given the option of visiting these areas and solving and helping them with any problems. Sometimes we were even required to cull the rebellion in certain areas as our mission or even solving the food shortage caused by famine. Although these missions are not compulsory, but it is good for one to complete it. This is because when one completes these assignments not only will their capability will be shown to the court, but your feats will be spread by the people who you helped out, thus building up your fame throughout the empire and gathering the support of the commoners. The true fun starts when I begin taking these missions, as the other faction members could send people to sabotage my mission and thus incurring the anger of people and losing any supporters I have and building infamy, like what happened with the crown prince for most of his missions. "No discounts since I have been cooking for you the past few days. Send him to the shop once you have finished instructing him the basics and what to train on." I said as I walked towards the kitchen to cook, ignoring the pleading face of Titus. Chapter 59 - Episode 58- Limits of an Award "Just remember the movement I taught you and keep practising it." Lord Titus instructed me "Alright, let''s go." "But Lord Bloodfist I thought we were going to train for the whole day?" I asked Lord commandment in confusion. "We were until he changed his plans. I have to take you to his restaurant after our brunch. Just practise your sword movements there." I have heard that the 3rd lord had a restaurant. But it was so expensive that only the rich and nobles could afford it. The only time everyone in the empire could taste his food was during the end of the plague, and the taste of the food was still familiar to his mouth, although he was incapable of even moving at that time. Wait, taste? Didn''t the lord feed me when I was nearly dead? Did he cook that food as well? No wonder it tasted so great back then. I hope I can taste his food again. "We will see if he will cook for you in the future. If it does then it will quicken your training progress." Said Lord Titus as I followed him into the dining room. "Huh? What do you mean my Lord?" I asked confused at how the food was able to shorten my training time. "Wait you don''t know? I thought he personally cooked for you last week?" Lord Titus stopped and turned around to ask me confusedly. "His highness did cook for me and fed me personally but what about it? I don''t understand?" Seeing my confused expression, he looked at me strangely. "I am pretty sure he fed a beast ingredient according to the reports I received. Did you not feel an increase in your accumulation, after you were healed?" Increase in accumulation. I did feel it, but what has that go to do with his highness. "Wait, you don''t say that his food is capable of increasing accumulation?" I asked as my eyes widened in shock. "Well, why do you think everything in his shop is so overpriced?" As we walked towards the dining room Lord Titus explained to me the nature of beasts ingredients, and how getting high conservation rate for beast ingredient was practically impossible. "So the only person who can make a high conservation food out of beast ingredients is his highness? And it was because of the uniqueness of his food we were able to recover from the plague. Is that right?" I asked back in shock and disbelief about this new information I just learned. I was aware of beasts and their dangers to the people. But I had never thought there would be people who were crazy enough to eat them, due to what happens when you eat them. "Pretty much yes. Not only is his food able to give you magi accumulation but for both award users and magi users, it''s able to heal you from any wound and return you to your youth. He is an extremely valued national treasure, that all factions covet. If not for his soulless condition, he would have easily won the competition to become the next emperor. But we know its useless as he only has few years left. This was the reason why a few days ago an attack was launched on him and his bodyguard to capture him. We thought the attack was aimed at him by one of the enemy faction, so our faction rallied public support to ensure his safety from his majesty. But it later turned out that he wasn''t the target but his bodyguards. They wanted to use his bodyguards as a bargaining tool against him for his secret to his cooking. But by the time we figured it out it was too late, as the preparators who wanted to keep this a secret became aware that most of us were aware of their true goal. They wanted to stop other people from targeting them once they were aware of John''s secret, hence the importance in their secrecy. So, they went missing along with the bodyguards. We expect the bodyguards to most likely be dead and any trace of their remains to be incinerated. We are still trying to trace the group, but they were extremely prepared and went into hiding. If John hadn''t pointed it out we would have never noticed it and would have lost him along with his great ability." Ellis was made aware of awards and its power this morning. He was shocked at that fact there was a power other than magi. Then he remembered that there were two locked abilities in the shop. So, one of them must have been award then. He also remembered that to officially be registered as a rank 1 magi in the magi association, they had to fight an extremely strong magi. He remembered seeing a fight and how the higher-ranked magi easily crushed the rank 1 applicant so easily. It was always a one-sided fight against that person, rarely has anyone ever emerged from there victorious. The way you were judged to pass the exam was if the judges observing your fight along with the combatant themselves think you are worthy to pass, or if you even managed to win. Throughout the history of rank 1 tests so far only very few people have emerged victorious against the combatant, and they were labelled as geniuses of the magi association. He now realised that the person they fought wasn''t a higher rank magi but rather a rank 1 award user. From what he was told although an award user was limited to one kind of ability but when an award user ranks up, unlike a magi who experience small improvement in their physique, they will have a massive overall upgrade in all their capability ranging from, physical, mental even to their award ability. Not to mention when ranking they could choose to evolve or upgrade certain aspects of their ability. Along with that their award ability was much stronger than their magi counterpart. For example, if an award user of rank 1, who was capable of using fire ability fought against a rank 1 magi who cast a fire spell, then the awards users will always come on top of strength, and destruction. A major advantage a magi user holds to an awards user is their versatility of spells they could use. So, a fire award user could be countered by ice magi, water magi or it can be stopped using earth magi shields. Another advantage is that a magi couldn''t easily lose control of their magi particles unless they purposely decide to do it, while an award user could if they went beyond their limits. An award user sometimes have certain limits to their ability and they tried to draw their power without following those limits then they can easily lose control of their ability. I was told his highness'' mother had the ability called berserk which she derived from her rank 1 ability to predict other peoples emotions. While evolving and upgrading her abilities she transformed it into an award called Berserk. The more angrier she was, the stronger she became, however, she could only use that ability when she was angry. Because of this ability, she became what is known as the one-person army. Even if you managed to hurt her in a fight that will only make her angrier, thus increasing her strength. However, due to an urgent situation one day, she had to break that rule and draw out her power rather quickly without getting angry. This caused her mind to snap and rampage before having to be slain by her teammates. Because of this many award users easily lose control if they break any sort of limits of their award. He never understood the point of fighting an extremely strong magi as part of their ranking process. But now he saw the point of it, it wasn''t fighting against a higher rank magi, but rather see your capability of fighting against a rank 1 award user. If you put up a decent fight then you were judged to pass and advance a rank in magi association. "But why did they capture his bodyguard and not just his highness?" I asked in confusion "2 main reasons. 1st reason is that if someone were to capture him, we would have turned the empire upside down while declaring martial law, to find him or the preparators who would have gotten his secrets by then, leaving no chance for them to escape. The 2nd reason is that the preparators must have got information that John would rather die than reveal his secrets. Because of that they used his bodyguard. Those bodyguards held a special relation to John, they thought they could use them as emotional leverage against him." "What!? He would rather die than reveal his secrets?" I asked in shock. Lord Titus nodded "It''s understandable, he is an already dying person, using death threats against him is useless. He would rather kill himself than lose all advantage he holds, and we all found about it the hard way, and it took us the second time for us to realise how strong his conviction to die was rather than take something from him." Lord Titus explained. What does he mean by the ''hard way''? I suddenly saw that there was some sort of emotion passing through his eyes, the hair on his arms was standing. Was it cold here? If not why is his hair all stood up? I was about to ask him what he meant before he interrupted me and said "Don''t ask me about it kid. I don''t like recalling that terrifying moment, in fact, no one who witnessed it will be willing to happily remember that helpless moment in the past. It''s a stain on our reputation and prestige as nobles. It was the only time we realised how helpless, the almighty commandments, nobles and empire, were before him. Keep this in mind kid, never get on his bad side. We all suffered that day just because 1 person pissed him off in the past." We walked in silence until, while I contemplated what I was just told. We reached the dining hall. "Anyway, if he decides to cook for you then you can skip out on your rigorous hours of accumulation and just focus on training. Best way to train right?" He said as both of us took our seats and prepared to eat the food in front of us. All the food were covered on the table by a lid, soon some servants came in. Strangely they all were protected with a wind barrier. "Oh, I forgot, if you don''t want to lose control of yourself when they open the lid, I suggest you cast a rank 1 wind barrier." What does he mean by losing control? "I am sorry my lord. I am not aware of how to cast that spell yet." "Oh yeah, I forgot you just recently became a magi. Tell me the spells you want to learn. I will have someone deliver them to you later on. Anyway, nothing bad will happen if you lose control, so don''t worry." I was still worried about what he said about losing control. What did he mean by losing control? Soon the lid was uncovered, and I was hit by a fragrant smell of the food. My mind went blank as the only thing I could think was to devour the source of the smell. Chapter 60 - Episode 59- Refurbishment I collected orders from the last agent who came to make an appointment for the higher-level ingredients. I came in at 1 pm and 15 minutes later there was a massive queue made up of agents who came on behalf of their masters to make orders. The queue was so big that it only ended 2 hours later. Strangely this time most of the ingredients that were on average ordered was of Level 10 ingredients. There were about a handful of orders made for Level 11 to Level 13 ingredients. This means during the past few months hunters have been actively sent to collect ingredients of higher level. My first appointment was at 6 pm cooking a level 11 seafood. I had the whole shop expanded by buying one of the nearby shop. The merchant was very reluctant to sell it, until 50 plat converted to gold notes displayed in front of him was enough to change his mind, along with a personally cooked level 3 beast ingredient. During my refurbishment, I had the whole restaurant, made out of level 9 beast ingredient materials, that I had amassed and survived the explosion last week. Although the shop now from outside looks like a lich fort, due to the materials mainly being bones of level 9 ingredients, but inside it is the same calm surrounding. I had all of my tools re-made from level 9 ingredients as well. I might be the only shop in the empire to have everything in there to be made out of level 9 ingredient. Truly an extravagant shop. If a commoner were to take anything from here and manage to sell it in the market, then he would earn enough to live his whole life luxuriously without any source of income. That''s how expensive a high-level ingredient was. But soon that will change, as the greed of my customer will want to taste and get the effect of higher and higher-level ingredients. Causing more higher-level ingredient to be brought into the empire, and therefore bringing down the price of other ingredients, such as level 9 ingredients. Once this happens and there is a stable income of high-level ingredients, I can then think of cooking and eating a higher-level ingredient in my full capability to evolve myself. The door opened once again, and two people entered. Titus ran towards the counter quickly as soon as he passed the door. "I want to make an appointment for a level 13 ingredient." "You are too late Titus. All my slots for today are booked, you should have told me earlier if you wanted to make an appointment. I can cook for you tomorrow afternoon if you want?" I told him, while he seemed crestfallen that he couldn''t get an earlier slot. I watched Ellis who was walking in slowly as he closed the door. He seemed both excited and fascinated by the shop. "How was I supposed to know my hunting team would arrive just 10 minutes ago? They were expected to arrive 2 days later. Can''t you make special consideration for me since we are in the same faction?" He pleaded to me. "If I start showing consideration for my faction in my restaurant, then it will break the current neutral image I have inside my restaurant, which will cause many to start making their move. I don''t want to break the fickle balance I have created here yet so, sorry can''t do. Inside my restaurant, everyone will be treated equally." "Darn politics. Anyway, I will take the slot for tomorrow afternoon." Most agents came to collect a list of ingredients they needed to hunt for, along with the main ingredient they were hunting for before they left to hunt those ingredients. Otherwise, if they were to come back with a level 10 ingredient only to find that they haven''t got the necessary ingredients along with the main ingredients, then it would have been a waste of time and resource to hunt for it. I smiled as I looked to Ellis who was standing behind Titus. He bowed towards me as soon as he saw me. I nodded back while smiling back. I turned to Titus as I asked, "Anything else for you?" "Just whatever is on the menu for me and Ellis." He said as he passed 4 plats. I took 2 plats before pushing the other 2 back. He nodded as he understood my intention of taking care of Ellis'' food from now on. "Oh, also where do you recommend to go for a good Whizz board and also a personal customised weapon?" Titus lifted his eyebrow at my question "From your excellent skills with the board, I would suggest you go to Dr Whizz himself for a personal, customisable board. If you want I can make an appointment for you." I nodded; the Whizz Board was only made 5 years ago by a research magi called Whizz. He wanted to make a transportation tool accessible for all commoners, but in the end, it proved to be impossible due to its high manufacturing cost among other things, such as maintaining the perfect balance on the board while riding it. In the end, although it didn''t go out to its intended market audience, it did gain popularity among the nobles and the rich and many bought one. Although 2 weeks after its release the empire had to make a specific law for using Whizz board due to the number of accidents caused by not properly practising it before taking it out for a ride by the heirs of nobles. "About the weapon, what material do you want it to be made out of?" Titus asked me. "Level 13 beast ingredients," I replied, while Titus nodded expecting my answer. "I will send you the address tomorrow." I nodded before going inside to cook. I brought out the 6 dishes for them, as they took it from me, while Ellis bowed as he took his dishes from me. As Titus finished his meal and left while burping Ellis finally finished his meal. He looked around to notice Titus had left abandoning him with me. He was unsure of what to do, due to rudely interacting with me before without knowing my true identity. "Come I will show you your new room," I said as I walked to the few rooms I built during the expansion. "I will cook for you from now on, so just practise on training your physical body. You will need it to face the titans of the empire send after me." I instructed him as I left his room. He bowed as finally spoke, "Thank you, your highness." "You can use the garden for training, don''t bother about damaging anything here, I can pay for it." I walked back to the main hall while yawning. I went to lie down on the desk instead of waiting for the next customers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "What is it?" The emperor asked Steven who initiated the call to him, which he answered. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend your highness," Steven answered back to the emperor''s question. "You have a way of culling that pest?" The emperor asked back. "That is no pest your majesty, but a tiger groomed by the nature to hunt. And a dying tiger is the most dangerous in the wild your majesty, so I have a way to tame the untamed." "I am listening." Chapter 61 - Episode 60- Supernatural "Currently there are only 3 assignment to choose from. They must have joined hands to give us these 3 missions to choose from to see your failure." Dexter informed me through the communication crystal. "Why is that?" "1st assignment, it is an easy mission to cull a riot occurring north of the empire. 2nd assignment is harder as it deals with tracking down a secret organisation and its members. Finally, the 3rd mission has you to deal with a grey zone in a village in the south." "So, choosing the first assignment means being easily sabotaged by Jakes faction. The 2nd assignment needs no sabotage as it is insanely hard enough, that I might even die during the investigation process. Finally, I can assume the 3rd mission is currently impossible due to all the exorcist award user able to deal with grey zones being under the control of the emperor?" Dexter nodded in reply. "Jakes faction already completed a mission in the north at stopping a rebellion, which means the north is under his control. So, I am pretty sure, whatever riot going there is currently orchestrated by his loyal followers staying there. Going there is as simple as walking into a lion''s den. The second mission is to help track down a secret order of assassins inside the empire. The emperor has been investigating that organisation for the past 2 years since their first public reveal. Taking this mission means that you would have to personally ask for the past 2 years'' investigation report from his majesty, which can be tampered with to put you in more danger. Or you can simply investigate it from the beginning, but it will take too long and will cause the support and faith in you to be lost over time. In simple terms, it won''t be worth the reward or effort to investigate it from the beginning. Not to mention the secret assassin order will have your head if they were to find someone bothering to uproot them. The 3rd mission is hard in itself without having me to explain the dangers of it to you. You have to choose a mission from these 3. And depending on your choice all future assignments you get will be similar to the nature of the first one you picked." Dexter explained. I sighed at the troublesome situation I have been placed in again. Choosing the first assignment means I will have all my future assignments focused on military ordeals. All military assignments are currently dominated by Jack''s faction, so it is very easy for them to sabotage all my future missions. The second assignment means in future I will have to deal with secret organisation and crime syndicates while having to deal with all assassination attempts they throw at me while tracking them down. The empire is very huge, and the number of organisation and syndicates hiding in its pockets are simply too numerous to count. This means all my future missions would have to go through the emperor who can simply give me a false report and sabotage it. Then the last one- having to deal with the supernatural of this world. There would be no one to sabotage this as it is something like a natural disaster, and trying to sabotage it is foolishness as it could cause even greater calamity. The supernatural of this world can be born into this world in 2 ways. The first way is from an award or magi. If someone has an award such as reanimating the dead or summoning the spirit of a deceased to fight for them or help them in a fight, then that is the first way. These kinds of award users are given a collective name called Necromancers. Or someone who specialises in dark magi can also do it but much weaker, as dark magi''s specialise in curses, weakening effects among other things. The magi''s who specialise in this are called Occultist. The undead summoned by a necromance or Occultist grows in strength with the person who summoned them. The second way for them to appear in this world is when a magi zone arrives into a negative zone. And forms what is called a Grey zone. Sometimes a phenomena happens when high magi particle density are gathered in one area, these marvels are called magi zones. No one is aware of the exact reason why, when, where and how they appear. These constantly change or appear randomly. If they are in one area today then it will shift to another area in a few seconds, hours, day or even months. Areas visited by magi zones often turn whatever there is into a high-level beast plant or animal, instantly. Along with that they also often leave behind what is known is magi stones. Magi stones are simply stones which contain magi particle, which a magi can use for various purpose, but the main usage being able to absorb the magi particle in it safely. If someone who had no talent had sufficient amount of magi stones then he could easily become a magi within weeks, remembering it takes a no talent at least 50 years of accumulation before he can become a rank 1 magi. It is not exactly possible to find where magi zones are currently present, but it is easily possible to find where a magi zones used to be if collective beast plants or animals are in an area, followed by a numerous amount of magi stones. Negative emotions, however, are different. If a group of livings beings were to die with massive negative emotions or if someone were to live in a place their whole life in deep negative emotions, then that area will slowly accumulate and absorb that negativity, becoming a negative zones. These zones are easily identifiable and as soon as one finds it, it is imperative to report them to the local authorities. Negative zones aren''t much of a physical threat, other than any living beings who arrive there feeling affected by the negative emotions such as depression, anger, guilt etc, and thus adding to the collection of ever-growing negative emotions. However, the real danger starts when a high-density magi particle descends into a negative zones. As soon as the magi particles and negative zones meet they somehow interact and create an extremely powerful being known as Ghost, who becomes the owner of the grey zone. All the supernatural beings born inside the grey zone are simply dangerous, as not only are they unaffected by all kinds of physical attack but anyone who dies in their hands turns into an undead. Along with that anyone who comes into the grey zone adds onto the strength of the grey zone by feeding it their negative emotions. To avoid this situation the empire often sends out a specific group of award users to cleanse negative areas or grey zones. They are termed as an exorcist. Magi users can replicate what exorcists do but it requires the effort of more than at least 20 magi users who specialise in light magi, not to mention the amount of magi users or their strength needs to increase in proportion to the strength of the grey zone. But still, no magi users bother to do it, due to there being no benefit from vanquishing a grey zone. If it was clearing a magi zone then they could at least take some of the magi stones, but inside a grey zone there was simply nothing in there, that could benefit them. And dealing with a grey zone often requires to take as few people as possible, as taking too many people will let the grey zone grow in strength by feeding off their negative emotions. A person who has no magi talent or an award has no chance of getting past the undead let alone facing the true horror of a grey zones, Ghosts. I looked through the 3 files in front of me containing the details of all 3 missions. All 3 of the mission means death or defeat. I can''t simply back out because of death as I have to complete these assignments, to show my worth to the court. Even the useless crown prince completed his first assignment, albeit it was a very easy assignment. If I back out it means I am even more useless than the crown prince. I can''t die as well, due to what might happen to me after death. The power I received from God is simply too useless in combat and defence, let alone helping me right now. "I will choose the grey zone" I replied as Dexter''s face changed drastically to shock. Choosing the other two missions mean definitely being sabotaged or worst-case scenario death. However, inside a grey zone there can be no interference or sabotage, as anyone who enters there that is not an exorcist can simply sign their death warrant. The only thing waiting there for me is either, I complete my assignment there, or fail it or worst-case scenario I die. It was simple and saved me from planning against all kind of messy situation I might encounter from the other 2 mission. This assignment perfectly fits my lazy nature simple and straight forward. Chapter 62 - Episode 61- Some people feel the rain, others just get wet. "Do you have a reason to?" He enquired from me. "Understand this if you fall, then we will all fall. I can''t have you walking into death''s embrace. Even the Emperor and Steven wouldn''t expect you choosing the sure death way. They would have made plans for the other 2 missions, but do you know why they wouldn''t make a sabotage plan for the grey zone?" Before I could respond he interfered me and said "Simply because they know you will die, if you were to take it. Taking in too many people with you means increasing the strength of the grey zone. Too less and you all die. If you bring along very strong people with you to help you, then the court will simply ignore your achievement as you had completed that assignment with the help of other people and not by yourself. What can you do inside a grey zone? You will simply be helpless inside there. So, unless you have a good reason, I will have you choose another mission. If worse comes to worse we will just wait for 6 months before another mission." I smiled as I said, "What if I have a way to get rid of grey zones on my own?" Dexter raised his eyebrows in question "Just wait and watch. Till then inform the court of my decision. And besides, like what you said the emperor and Steven simply won''t be expecting me to make this choice. Even if they could they simply have no way to sabotage this mission other than increasing the strength of the grey zone by getting people killed inside there. And I am pretty sure even they don''t want a grey zone going out of their control. Besides time is very important in this game and waiting it out is a waste." I smiled as I laid back on my desk. "I hope you have a way to do as you have said. When can you expect to go out for the mission?" He asked me. "2 weeks, I just need some things crafted out for me and I will be ready to move out." Dexter nodded as he cut the connection. I passed the communication device to the agent who came in with it. He took it before walking out with Dexter''s Level 11 meal I cooked up. "Ellis" I shouted. He came in from the garden heavily sweating from the training. "We will be leaving as soon as my last order finishes in 3 hours'' time, so get ready and some rest." "Yes, your highness." It has been about 4 days since my refurbished shop has opened up. Ellis during this time has greatly improved in his physical training, due to consuming my high energy and nutritious food that revitalise every part of his body after his training. After seeing the effect of my food, he trains like mad, putting as much strain on his body as possible in order to get stronger quickly, while shortening his sleeping time. I put up a notice outside for all those agents watching me informing them ''Shop closes in 3 hours'' time, for the next few hours.'' After putting it up I went to for a short nap. I was woken up by someone poking my cheeks later. I opened to see an old man worried face who was poking me with both his index fingers. "Hahaha, kid you did not die from your laziness. I thought you were dead. Where do you think you are going brat without serving me first?" Albert started laughing while bringing up his level 12 ingredient. "To Dr.Whizz." I replied calmly. "Oh Whizz, if you are going there can you buy a board for me too. My stupid brats told him not to sell any board for me, saying I can''t control it. Kid if you want any advice you can ask me, I am the best Whizz board user in the whole empire." I lifted my eye to look at him, at his comments as I remembered how I first saw him. "Why are you looking at me like that for? That time I crashed because I was chasing after a thief, who entered that shop." "Ghost" "What? Where?" He asked me while looking around for a ghost in fear. "You said it was a ghost when you crashed, that time to everyone." I corrected him. He turned bright red, as I pointed out his mistake and catching him out. "You got it wrong kid. I said I was chasing a thief who was elusive like a ghost. Why would a ghost be out here? Hahahaha" He tried covering up his lame excuse of driving, while laughing. This old man is really good at managing the flow of conversations, no wonder the emperor send him here. I checked the time to notice it has only been 2 hours since Dexter cut the conversation with me. So that means he must have informed the court 1 hour ago after discussing with Titus and Maximus of my decision. Since the old man had an appointment with me in the next 1 hour they send him here very quickly to gather anything they can from me, as I chose the most unexpected option. "Talking about ghosts, I heard you were going to a grey zone?" He enquired me. ''Here we go'' I thought while I replied "Yeah." I led him into the kitchen while he carried the massive bag of ingredients. "Why didn''t you pick the other two assignments? It''s much easier and safer than going to a grey zone. Besides if you die then I would have to eat those shitty food made by my chefs." He asked me as he took out each ingredient and laid it out onto the large table. "I am too lazy to pick the other two as it would take too long to complete. For this, I would just have to clear the grey zone and come back. Humans are complicated beings while with the undead you can at least reason with them." "What!? Is something wrong with your head? You can''t communicate with undead especially ones at grey zone." Replied a surprised Albert. "How do you know? Have you tried it?" I asked back "Yes, I have, along with many others. You can''t simply reason with beings of grey zone." "Well why don''t I give it a try, since so many of you have tried it and failed. Besides unlike all of you, I am special." I said as I was slowly let the water boil. "That... Wait, you are right. We have never tried communicating with a soulless person, maybe something might happen, because of your soulless constitution." He said as he stood there thinking aloud about what I just said. "What are you on about?" I asked back. "Huh, what else? You being soulless and the undead having their souls corrupted might prove compatible in communicating with them. That''s what you were saying about being special right?" I looked at him with contempt "Are you dumb? Of course not." I said as I mocked him while taking out a level 12 beast carrot. "Then what specialness are you on about?" He suddenly asked with a tinge of seriousness in his voice. "Obviously me being much cleverer than you low IQ baboons. I can find a way to communicate better than you dumb muppets." I replied while I could feel the tense Albert suddenly relaxing. "Brat don''t think you are so clever. Of course, you haven''t seen my genius side. Did you know I am the only genius in the whole empire that mastered the Whizz board in 2 days? Even that takes talent. Hahaha" He laughed out loud. I suddenly understood the true reason why the empire implemented the law for using Whizz board 2 weeks after its launch. The old man left after eating his meal inside mumbling something about his kids wanting to steal it from him if he took it home. I looked outside to notice it was raining. Great now I would have to walk in the rain. I should seriously consider getting an umbrella or raincoat. "Ellis lets go." I said as Ellis followed me out in the rain. "Your highness wait let me cast a water barrier." He said as he prepared to cast a water barrier to protect me from rain. "Don''t bother Ellis. This would be one of the few time I would get soaked in rain, as I am going to soon get an umbrella." I said as I walked forward while Ellis took the bag I was holding with the material needed for my weapon, as he followed me for shopping. Chapter 63 - Episode 62- Shopping Time I walked toward the table where Steven sat at. "Good afternoon punk. Do you live in this tea shop or something?" I asked Steven. "You are late old man. What did you find out?" Steven asked me. I turned serious while remembering what John told me "We overlooked his soulless status Steven." Steven looked at me in confusion while I carried on "He is planning to communicate with them." Suddenly Steven''s pupil narrowed as he desperately tried to restrain his anger at himself for overlooking that area. "Stop it kid, none of us knew he would choose that assignment. In fact from what he said even he wasn''t expecting to choose a grey zone mission." Steven relaxed hearing what I said. "Whatever he has planned it is a last-minute plan. So far we have seen him in situations he took control over with his long plans, now we will see how he manages to do it under pressure and with limited time." "Well lets just hope." Said Steven as he took the coffee in front of him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "It''s a strange design, your highness have for a weapon, but I can do it." I nodded as I passed him the level 13 material require for the weapon. "Also, can you craft few small components according to my specification, with the remaining materials?" I asked him while he examined the level 13 materials "It depends how small they are." He said as he looked up from the materials, clearly annoyed at being disturbed from his time with the precious materials. I passed him another paper with the drawing of things I wanted to be crafted with detailed sizes description and other things. "Hmm it should be doable. This would take another 2 days on top of the 3 days of making that weapon." "That''s fine. I will come in 5 days to pick it up. Use the same material to make those components as well. How much would it be in total?" I asked him. "The weapon would be 20,000 gold while the components will be 5,000 gold. Your highness, can also pay in plat chips, as most of my customers are from the nobles and royalty." I nodded as I passed him 25 plat, while taking note of the subtle warning that he said. It seems like he often gets young heirs who want him to craft things for free. "If I am satisfied with the quality, then I will pay you extra along with a high levelled beast material." I said as I saw the fire in his eyes to do his best. I left the shop, with Ellis who quietly followed me to the residence of Dr Whizz, in the heavy rain. Ellis covered himself in a water barrier while I appreciated the feeling of being soaked in rain. Its been too long since I was last out in rain like this, feeling weak and helpless. We soon reached a large mansion of Dr Whizz. I rang the bell outside the gate and waited for someone to open the door. Soon a man with a potbelly who seemed to be in his late 30''s with messy hair opened the door to greet us. "Ah, 3rd Prince John. You are 10 minutes early, but that doesn''t matter. Please come in." Said Whizz as he welcomed both of us in. "Sorry about the wet floor and thank you for your invitation." I said. "Oh, it not a problem. Do you want anything warm to drink?" I shook my head in response as he casted a spell which dried the floor along with me. "In fact, I have been wanting to meet the person who according to Titus mastered my Whizz board instantly. Seriously have you never practised with that board before." He asked me excitedly. "My whole life was spent in the study among other things Doctor. I never had the time to play with it let alone afford something that expensive during that time. You can ask Smith or others if you doubt me?" I replied. Whizz nodded as he understood what I said. "No need, almost every academic scholars are aware of your academic geniuses, along with the fact of barely seeing you outside of the palace, proves it. I was asking just to make sure. Please take a seat." He said as he pointed us towards the couch. Whizz and I sat, while Ellis stood behind me. "So, I was told you wanted a customised board?" "Yes, I want something with more speed that has an increased battery life before having to replace the crystal, along with adding a backup battery in case one runs out. Is it possible?" I asked Whizz. He tapped his forehead while thinking. "Hmm, the request is hard not because of the speed. Increasing the speed is easy, as I lowered the speed on all the boards I designed due to expecting people to lose their balance at higher speed and not being too easily control it at a higher speed. I can remove that limiter for you, allowing you to travel about 300 mph. But the problem lies with the battery." He said while I nodded my head. He sat there thinking for a few minutes about the additional battery and the increased duration of the battery life. "Along with the longer duration of battery life and a backup battery in combination with adding a stronger crystal of holding in, so you don''t fly off from the board at higher speed, a crystal of barrier to protect you from the wind and insects, you would have a board 3 times as thick and 2 times wider than a normal whizz board along with being 5 kg more heavier. Would that be ok for you?" "That would be perfect, as long as the speed is not lost. What would you want in return for this?" "Phew, that''s good. It would have been troublesome if you had wanted it with the same size and shape. Don''t worry I will boost the speed in proportion to the size and weight. As for the reward?" He said while looking at me. I suddenly knew what he wanted. "I have heard about your cooking and had the privilege of tasting it once, during the plague. How about you cook for me a level 10 meal and we will close the deal of there?" He smiled as he asked me. This meant I have to provide the ingredient myself. Not to hard of a price considering the stockpile of ingredients I have in my storage. "Should I send it here or will someone collect it on your behalf? Also, when can I expect the board by?" I asked him while smiling back at his grinning face. "I will collect it myself when this weather calms down. I have been told to go out and get some fresh air. As for the board, I will bring it within 4 days." He said as I stood up and we walked towards the door. I left the house as I looked up towards the still raining sky. "Let''s go Ellis. Time for some fashion shopping." Ellis nodded as we walked toward the clothing district. I was still wearing suits, and it is time to lose this stupid formal stuff, which is plain boring. The clothing district was practically empty due to the heavy rain. No one wanted to go out to buy clothes this time only for it to get wet in the rain. We walked past all stores as the shop owners watched in shock later in greed seeing me come to the clothing district. They knew if I were to visit any of their store then it will be great for their store and its advertisement. But unfortunately for all of them, I walked past all the stores, as they sighed. They knew all too well where I was going. One of the best textiles shop in the capital, Spider Silks. This shop only designs its products for the nobles and the likes, as their price was simply too high for the normal masses, resulting from the quality of their products. I stood in front of the Spiders Silk. While some of the shop owners watched me waiting for me to go in. However, shattering all their expectation, instead of going towards the Spiders Silks I went towards the dark alleyway beside it. I carried on walking looking for something. Seeing me look for something Ellis asked me "My lord what are you looking for? Maybe I can assist you?" "Hmm, never mind I found it." I said as I walked towards the group of beggars sat outside in the dark, covered in torn worn-out blankets from the rain. I walked towards the huddled beggars, who seemed wary of us, the two strangers. There seemed to be about 8 of them. "Hi, I am in need of something from you guys." Suddenly they all stood up in fear. Few of them took out a shark object from their pocket expecting to fight. Seeing this Ellis frowned while he got ready to cast a barrier. I took out 8 gold notes out of my pocket and showed it to them. Seeing the money, I could see them restraining their greed and hunger. I pointed toward 2 of them as I said, "Throw me those two blankets." I said as I dropped the 8 gold notes on the floor for all of them. Suddenly everything was silent. Chapter 64 - Episode 63- Crashing in "I am sorry, did you just say you want a hood made out of this dirty blanket, and have it attached to this blanket, which you want to make into a cloak?" The staff stayed 2 meters back from the stinking blankets. "Yes, also make sure to clean the blanket, and don''t repair or stitch any torn parts. These two blankets are pretty expensive costing about 8 gold notes." I replied while nodding at the staff in Spiders Silks. Hearing the price disbelief flashed through the tailor''s face. "When can I get it done by and how much would it be in total?" "Are you sure about this your highness? We can design and make a cloak from much better material. If it''s about the holes then we can add that onto the cloak we design with better material?" She asked in reply to my question. "No Ms I want it to be original. The natural tear and wear made by age cannot be easily replicated. So, I would like to use this material for my cloak and the hood. Also, before you give me, make sure to wash it, I don''t want it to be stinking like this. Also, colour custom it to black." The staff was silent for a while before sighing in resignation. "Since no material will be used by us you won''t be charged for any materials. Cleaning and washing it will cost 15 gold. Adding a custom colour will cost 20 gold. Finally, the price of using our service will be 35. The total price would be 70 gold. Pay half the amount now and the rest when you come back to collect. It will be ready by tomorrow." She said. I took out a gold note of the 100 denomination and passed it forward. "Keep the change, I will come back in 5 days'' time. I expect you won''t laze around just because of the quality of the material and the simplicity of this task. If I have to find out later on that the quality of my hood was not up to what this store is known for then..." I smiled as I walked out of the store to the heavy rain. Now all my shopping was done. I still have roughly 2 more weeks before I have to set off towards the grey zone. Although the short brief I had received from Dexter about the grey zone explained about its general layout I should do some more research on it. I walked towards Dexters'' residence area. Damn, I should have borrowed a temporary Whizz board if I knew I had to walk this much in a single day. I reached the compound and within seconds of reaching the gate it was opened, unlike the long wait, I had to endure outside of Titus'' guest house. I smiled while nodding towards the guard who opened the massive gate for me. I walked towards the house as Ellis followed me. "Ellis this is the house of another commandment, in our faction, Dexter Raynott. Unlike Titus, he won''t be lax towards you." I said in a warning to Ellis, who might be expecting all commandments to be like Titus. "Yes, your highness. Thank you for your advice." He replied as he went back to his silent mode as Titus instructed him to be when he is with me. I arrived before the door, and before even knocking on it, it was opened by the head butler. "Lord is out right now your highness. Is it anything important?" He asked as he led me and Ellis in, while I was dried off my wet clothes by magi. "I would like all related files towards grey zones. Whether it be books, novels, reports of rumours, case files etc. Is it possible?" "Of course. Please wait in the waiting room, I will get someone to bring it from the library. During the wait, would you like to have anything?" He asked me as he snapped his fingers while nodding his head. "No that will be all." I replied as I walked towards the waiting room. I sat down and within 10 minutes the first batch of files and books arrived. I started reading one by one and soon was immersed in reading. I was interrupted by the butler as I was reading a children''s story about the grey zone. "Your highness, my lord will be arriving in 15 minutes. It''s been 4 hours since you have been here. I was told to ask if you want to prepare dinner or whether we should do it for you and master?" I thought for a while before I stood up and stretched myself. "Lead the way to the kitchen." The butler smiled as we were taken to the kitchen. The ingredients were some level 8 seafood ingredients, consisting of unique fish, squids etc. I spent 1-hour cooking before everything was done. As the food was done I turned towards Ellis who was waiting by my side. "I should be fine for now. I have made a portion for you as well. Don''t worry about my safety here. Rest for a while, since we would be here for a while considering the number of books and files I have to go through." I pointed towards the butler as I carried on "He will show you to your room, I will contact you before we leave. If there is anything important I will be in the waiting room." Saying this I left while Ellis replied and bowed "Yes your highness." I walked into the dining room consisting of the massive table filled with all sorts of dishes I made. Titus and Maximus seem to be crashing in for dinner as well which made Dexter pretty annoyed which wasn''t easily visible from his stoic face. "Brat you are finally here. Hurry up and sit down I am hungry." Said Titus who was very eager to eat my food. "Remind me again why the hell are you two crashing in here tonight?" Asked Dexter whose eyebrows seemed to be twitching. Ignoring what Dexter said both of them started to dig in. I sighed as I too started eating. As I was picking up a fried fish salad the 3 commandments sighed in annoyance before shaking their head, while Dexter said, "Here he comes." Suddenly the door to the dining room swung open as a familiar old man voice reverberated through the dining hall "Hahaha who missed me." Albert stopped laughing as he took a chair while Maximus said while breaking the shell of a crab "Get out old man you are not invited." Albert poked a finger into his ear as he said "I seem to be getting too old to do anything. I can''t even hear what you are saying punk." He took a plate and a fried fish salad as well, while Maximus simply ignored him. "Brat, did you get me a board as well? I couldn''t find you back in the restaurant, so as I was on my way back home while hungry I smelled something great here." He said while looking at me with part of a fish sticking out of his mouth. I ignored him as I carried on eating Level 8 food before me. "Huh, let''s see how long you can ignore me. I will keep nagging you for a board till you get me one." "Old man I am pretty sure, your own sons have issued an arrest warrant if they see you riding a Whizz board." Said Titus as chewed on a golden shrimp. "Meh, they are getting their revenge on me for screwing over them in the palace, when I sold them out for the level 5 ingredients like 7 months ago. I want to see how long they can put me in prison for. Hahaha" He replied back. The rest of the dinner was like this as all four of them talked amongst each other while I ate in silence. "Ah, I am so full that I can''t move." Said Albert as he displayed his expanded belly from eating too much. "I am going upstairs to sleep." Said Albert as he stood up and walked up to sleep in Dexters'' house. "Is this common?" I asked as I turned towards Dexter. "Every now and then." He replied as he got up. "You two staying or leaving?" Dexter asked the other two. "I want to see what that old man is up to." Said Maximus as he carried on upstairs as well. "Same" Titus replied as he followed Maximus. "Are you going to sleep or carry on?" Dexter asked in clear annoyance at seeing 3 of the most powerful people in the empire crashing in his house today. "I will carry on reading you guys go on and sleep." I said as I motioned for silence with my finger on my lips. Dexter looked towards the butler who nodded and casted a silence dome around us. "Come to me when he is not watching us." I said as I walked out of the dome stretching my arm. Dexter face was surprised for a few seconds before he smiled in understanding. Chapter 66 - Episode 65- Spy(der)-man "Now tell me why did you not let me stop their meeting?" "I pick an impossible mission against the expectation of everyone, and then a few hours later they send their best man to get something out of me. All for it to fail. Then they see me going out and making orders for a weapon, some weird components and ordering a customised Whizz board. Not to mention getting 2 stinky blankets from beggars to be made into a cloak. From all this what would you assume if you were in the emperor''s shoe?" Dexter thought for a while before replying. "So, he wants Ellis to work for them, to spy on you and see what your plan is?" "Something like that" I said as Dexter frowned. "Those two factions are really paranoid now. Whatever I do, they think I am doing it with a purpose and plan. They want to know why I want the weird components, the cloak made out of stinky blankets etc. They would have examined those things and see what I was planning to do with them, only to find nothing odd about them except for those weird component orders I made. They would definitely like to know how those things will help me with my assignment. If they know what I am planning to do with at least one of the items then it will help them sabotage whatever I am going to do." I elaborated to Dexter. "So, Ellis will be their eyes where they can''t reach you inside the grey zone?" "Yes." "But why didn''t you let me stop them? And why did you make me send those 2 after him?" Dexter asked again. "I could have stopped the meeting with Ellis but that would mean I would just delay the inevitable. They would just contact him another time, if they can''t do it now." "We could have arranged necessary measures for that then." Dexter replied back "I know you could do that, and they know you could do that. What would you do when all your plan fails at sabotaging your enemy? You would attempt desperate measures. They would have delayed my orders purposely or sabotaged the orders I made for my weapon, Whizz board, components and cloak. This would mean when I use them I could be in serious danger. I would rather they meet him under a controlled environment where we have absolute control of everything." "What do you mean?" Dexter asked in surprise. I took out a few small cuboid devices from my pocket and held it open in front of Dexter. Seeing this Dexter was astonished at what I did. "When did you bug him?" --------------------------------------- Hearing the calm knocking I stopped training my sword arts as I walked towards the door and opened it. Seeing his highness in front of me I got nervous as I had disobeyed his order of resting. His highness he looked at me for a few moments before walking inside my room and looking around. Seeing my sword on the floor along my sweaty body he understood what I was up to. "I told you to rest Ellis. I know my food is the perfect training material for anyone but what are you trying to achieve by mindlessly training day and night. Take it slow. I told you I would get those guys to you one day." His highness said as he walked towards my bed and sat down. "I am sorry your highness, but I have to get stronger, not only to protect you but for my own personal goal." I replied as I thought about the game realm. Shaking his head Prince John replied "Does it matter if you even take a single day of rest? All I said was just take a rest for this single day. It''s a good thing I came to check up on you on my break. Finish off your training in 1 hour and go to sleep." Prince John stood up after he ordered me, as he took the plates from the table where I had my meal with him. "Your highness let me." I said as I went up to take the plates from his hand. "Just finish your training and go back to sleep. I am going to the kitchen anyway so might as well take this. Besides I don''t need an extra person to carry 3 plates." He said as he stopped me. His highness walked out as he closed the door behind him. His highness was an unusual person. From the stories, I have heard, and the people I have seen from the academy I know for a fact nobles hate doing the trivial task even such as picking up litters right in front of them, or cleaning their plates. They would get their servants to do those kind of work for them. But his highness is the kind of person who does the opposite of what a stereotypical noble does. He doesn''t live in a fancy house, surrounded by maids, servants. He could care less about formality. He wouldn''t abuse his authority unlike certain pieces of scums. To be honest to myself Prince John is the most humble noble or Prince I had ever seen. If I hadn''t seen him I would have thought all Nobles were pieces of trashes. I sighed as I picked up my sword as I carried on practising. As I was wrapping up my training I heard another series of knock. I sighed ''Did his highness not trust me enough that I would stop after 1 hour?'' I went and opened the door expecting his highness to stand there only to see an old man standing in front of me grinning. ------------------------------------- "If you were going to bug him what was the point of delaying him with Maximus and Titus?" Dexter asked as he took the devices from my hand to watch the recordings himself, while looking at me curiously. The real question he wanted to ask me was held back as I saw him reigning in his excited expression. "Tell me how easy is it for you guys to spot a bug?" I asked back. "Usually very easy if we look for them actively." He replied while waiting for me to answer the unasked question "Now if it were you, would you check for bugs before going into a secretive meeting?" Dexter nodded in reply. Suddenly something seemed to have clicked as Dexters suddenly smiled and exclaimed. "So that was it! Those two were distractions." "Not only distractions but they were there to cause a sense of urgency in him. Along with the guards and possible you coming after him. He had 10 minutes with delaying Maximus and Titus, but with reinforcement and you searching for him, you guys would have gotten to Ellis'' room in 2 minutes. This meant he would have had no time to check for bugs, in fact he would have forgotten to check for the bugs in his rush, to get everything done as he sensed the incoming reinforcement." "Brilliant plan. But there is something you missed out. If that old man had felt extremely under pressure he would have taken Ellis somewhere calm and quiet before explaining everything to him. To be honest, your plan succeeding was by pure luck, John." He smiled as he shook his head. I smiled back as I replied, "Do you know what the old man''s only mistake was?" "What mistake?" Dexter became intrigued at what I suddenly asked him. "The first and last mistake the old man did was coming before me and letting me read him like an open book. When you lie sometimes mixing it with truth will make it more believable. Likewise, when that old man first came to me wearing a mask he partially revealed part of his true face to me to make me believe in his personality. And using that small gap as a keyhole I opened into his true self and read everything I can about him. Let me tell you this there is currently no one in the empire who can probably read him like I do, to the point where I know to give the exact amount of pressure for him to do exactly what I want." Dexter''s smile stiffened as he heard my reply. Slowly fear and terror crept into his eyes before he restrained it. He probably wondered if I read him as I did for Albert. "I know exactly how much time I should give him under pressure for me to make sure everything is under control. And besides, I rather have them play in my game where I can set the rules rather than outsmarting them in their game, where they set the rules. Even if he had taken Ellis somewhere that would have failed his mission. They wanted to do this mission as secretly as possible, without letting anyone know Ellis will be their eyes. If he had taken Ellis somewhere, he would know that you and I would become aware of his plan, therefore not trusting Ellis when he comes back. He could do it now and get it done with, without alerting anyone or he could have done it later in my store when I wasn''t checking on Ellis but having to evade the 360 degrees of surveillance from agents of all factions surrounding my store, which meant having a higher chance at failing. To him, it was now or never moment." I kept my smiling face up as I finished off by saying "So, it is and was game over since the very moment the ball came into my court." Chapter 67 - Episode 66- The web that gets Stickier the Longer you are in it "Will he do it?" Steven asked me as I walked in. "Seriously do you live here. What the hell brat it''s like 5 am in the morning?" Seeing that he didn''t respond to my question but awaiting my answer I sighed. "Don''t worry he will do it, the offer we gave him is enticing for the current him no matter what. Besides to him, it''s a win-win situation with nothing to lose. However, aren''t you worried he will go against those two families in your faction when he gets stronger?" "They are merely dogs who eat the scraps falling from my table. If they are gone someone else will replace them. After all street dogs are found in abundance." Steven said while he drank his coffee, while I waited for mine that I just ordered. "That''s good. I am pretty glad this mission went without a hitch." I sighed. Suddenly I realised my mistake as I looked up to Steven who was looking at me, waiting for me to tell him everything. ''Shit I screwed up.'' "Hahaha, I just remembered I have an order for John in a few hours, need to get the ingredients ready before then." I said as I got ready to run, while praying he will let me go without asking any further. "Stay old man or the deal is off." Steven ordered as I halted. "You would break the alliance we have just because I didn''t tell you the backup plan we had if it failed?" I asked him as sweat rolled from my forehead, not because of fear of him, but due to the problems that might arise in the worst-case scenario, if I tell him the back-up plan. "I had a condition that nothing should be hidden from each other and no backstabbing. And to my knowledge, no backup plan was created that would cause you or others any trouble for you to sigh in relief when the mission succeeded. So that means you guys were planning something that I don''t know in case the mission failed. So tell me or..." Steven warned me as he sat there. I sighed in frustration before sitting down "We didn''t want to take any chances if this mission failed. You along with everyone else knows how crazy John is and to what length he will go. So it is vitally important for us to ..." "Get to the point!" Ordered Steven as his tone changed. "Fine, fine just relax. Before I tell you I would like you to know we are not going to do it now since the mission has succeeded. Do you understand me?" I asked him. It was silent for a while before he nodded. I took a deep breath before saying "We were planning to reduce her sentence and releasing her in return for helping us." Suddenly the table cracked and broke as the tiled floor started cracking. The source of it all being Steven. "Brat listen to me. We are not going to release her or reduce her sentence so stop it." I said as I started casting spells to stop his rampage. His agents came in to see what the situation was to witness the scene in front of them. They assumed a battle position against me. "Darn it, you fools help me! He is out of control!" I ordered as I tried restraining him without causing too much damage or hurting anyone in the vicinity. His eyes were red in rage and anger as his bloodlust just soared. Luckily his agents understood the situation and proceeded to help me restrain him. They held him down while I casted a rank 6 calm spell on him. Suddenly everything was calm, but not without any consequences as the agents who restrained him simply laid on the floor in their own blood. Steven''s eyes that were clouded with rage a moment ago regained their calm lustre. "Don''t forget what you and everyone else made me promise me all those years ago. I will kill her and none of you will stop me this time." He said as he stood up and went out, wiping the blood on his hands with a towel. I sighed as I knelt down to heal his men, who seemed to be in a very critical state. ----------------------------------- "Archer" I called as I sat in front of my desk contemplating on what I saw from the recording device. "Yes, my lord." Archer came in, in his usual dark clothes, as he stood before the desk. "Try and sabotage if not delay all investigation attempts into who informed the Springwood about Ellis'' situation. If possible also make sure to collect all related information on their current stage of the investigation but make sure, discretion is utmost importance for both tasks." Archer nodded as he disappeared from the room. I stared at the 2 devices and remembered the contents in them. I had thought they would have had nothing to persuade him, but it seems that''s not the case now. Things are going to get a lot messier now. Albert had approached Ellis with a simple offer saying that all they needed was for him to carry a recording device with him when he travels with John inside the grey zone in return for finding out who tipped off the Springwood about Ellis'' situation which led him to his current path of revenge. Albert being the natural manipulator he is along with Ellis, currently being very easy to manipulate, due to the only thing going through his mind is revenge, he got Ellis to agree. I should have known that someone would have tipped them off. But who would do something like that? What benefits would they have earned from provoking a useless commoner with no talent? Steven and Albert got a headstart as Steven was informed about this situation long ago as it happened in his faction. So they simply used that to their advantage. But luckily John spotted something odd about Albert and made preparation otherwise we would have been in a terrible spot. To Ellis, it seemed like there was no harm involved in this situation. All he had to do was have the recording device on him when they enter the grey zone, while no harm was inflicted on John or anyone, in return for finding the perpetrator who started all this. But what he doesn''t know is that he is entering the web of politics. The moment he agreed to do this, there is no turning back and escaping. The only way to escape his either siding with them or us. Siding with them meant he had to abandon his conscience and betray his saviour, however siding with John meant he had to come clean that he was approached with a deal, and the sooner he does it the better. If he delays coming clean to us then that means, he will start fearing what John would do once he knows the truth, which will raise the probability of either him doing something irrational or just outright betraying us in the end. John told me to just let it be as he had some plans with Ellis if he decided to side with them. I had always wondered how good John was at reading people, and today I had witnessed it. His talent at reading people is terrifying, to the point of even reading Albert. There was a reason why, when all the previous generation of commandment nobles retired and let their heirs ascend, Albert still stayed in the game. Rather than stay he was asked to stay longer, because of his terrifying ability to discern people, and being really good at manipulation, while not letting a single person get anything from him. The only one who I knew who could do the same thing as John was her highness, the previous Empress. Only if she was still alive we wouldn''t all be here having to deal with this stupid situation, instead, we all could have just lived peacefully. I sighed as I stood up to gather Maximus and Titus before bringing them for breakfast with John who wanted to share his output of grey zone with us and see if it matched with our experience. --------------------------------------------------- I finished cooking breakfast and walked out as the servants came in to clean up the mess I left behind. I yawned and stretched my arms as I walked into the dining hall to see all 3 of them were sat there waiting for me. I smiled seeing Titus and Maximus trying to pierce me with their glare. "You know you are the only person I know who would casually use 2 commandment nobles as a distraction." Maximus said as I sat down. "Brat I dare you to fight me." Titus said as he pointed at me in anger. "You guys are terrible actors. If I had told you anything Albert would have figured it out. Besides wasn''t it much better trying to go with the flow. See how you going with the flow gave out much better results." I smiled while grabbing 5 pancakes from the plate. "Accept my fight you bastard. I will show you what we commandments are made out of." Titus roared as he too took a dozen or so pancakes which were then dissected and stuffed into his mouth. "I would love to, but my left hand and right leg had decided to apparently take a vacation today, so I can''t fight you." I said as I slowly ate the pancake covered in a special cream I just made. "You said you wanted to discuss something about the grey zone, John?" "Yes, I do. Please put up the necessary barriers when we reach our desserts." I smiled as I carried on eating the rank 8 food. Chapter 68 - Episode 67- Travelling at High Speeds "Correct me if I am wrong. So far from what I have read grey zones generally have 3 layers of defence. 1- the undead crawling around that place, 2- the ghost of the grey zone and 3- the grey zone itself." "Elaborate" said Maximus as he seemed to be hooked in along with Titus. "Ghost not only has the ability to turn anyone who dies under their hands into an undead thrall, but they can sometimes leave the grey zone to turn any living creatures into an undead. Because of this, areas around or inside a grey zone are infested with undead. These undeads are not much of a threat- other than having certain traits depending on the type of undead- as unlike a ghost they can be harmed physically and be killed very easily if someone is strong enough. This leads to the next layer of defence ghosts. A supernatural entity created or rather a physical manifestation taken, by the grey zone to make it easier for it to grow and feed as the grey zone. These apparitions can turn anything that used to live into an undead, which will then live in the grey zone and guard it with the ghosts. Usually, ghosts don''t tend to kill their victims instantly, they love to inflict them with as much negative thought to feed on their negative emotions before ending everything slowly. They tend to suck out as many negative emotions from their victims as possible even during the process of killing them before turning them into an undead. Along with that they have a myriad of different abilities such as hypnotism, illusion, charming, being invisible, phasing, enhanced physical capabilities, flying etc. Not only are these manifestation of grey zones immune to all types of physical damage they can''t be truly killed unless the grey zone itself is destroyed. If not the ghost will be revived after a certain time with all its memories and strength from the grey zone which causes it to learn from its mistake and grow. The only way to harm them is by an award or magi. However, there is a question that has been plaguing me since I became aware of ghosts. They are immune to all kind of physical damage. Does that mean they are immune to awards that grant physical boost, like the berserker award?" I led the question to all 3 of the commandments who seemed to be very interested in my explanation. "They can be harmed by all award abilities along with magi spells, so berserk will harm them. But harming doesn''t truly mean hurting them. I hope you get what I mean?" Titus asked me as I nodded. As I was about to carry on Maximus interrupted me "Don''t forget physical enhancement granted by ranking up award doesn''t seem to harm them. So, a rank 5 award user who can summon lightning can''t hurt a ghost with just his physical enhancement granted from being a rank 5 award user, he has to use his lighting award to harm it." "So basically, all award users physical strength is pretty much useless against a ghost if it''s not an award, right?" I asked them. "Yes, our strengths are pretty useless against them. But luckily our other aspects of physical enhancements are good enough, like speed and healing factor etc, not to mention our award abilities itself." Titus replied back. I nodded as it cleared some doubt I had. "From what you said and from my understanding it seems that an award user who is not an exorcist will take much longer to take out a ghost and grey zone, therefore it being simply a waste of time and resources to send an award user that is not an exorcist to a grey zone?" They all nodded. "Then proceeding to the last and final defence of a grey zone, which is itself. Grey zones absorb negative emotions like a sponge and feed on it. If no people enter a grey zone then the ghost itself will go out on behalf of the grey zone and collect negative emotions for it to feed itself. As the grey zone feed, it grows, and as it grows the ghost it manifested or created grows, which caused it to upgrade all its abilities and capabilities. This, in turn, causes the strength of undead under the ghosts to grow stronger due to their master growing stronger. Along with that, the grey zones forces anyone who enters it to think of negative thoughts thus feeding them negative emotions. However, the strength of negative emotions rises in proportion to the strength of the person. So, a rank 5 magi will emit much higher negative emotion or quality of negative emotion compared to a commoner who has experienced the same amount of negativity in his life as the rank 5 magi. This, therefore, enforces everyone to send as few people as possible into a grey zone and make sure the person or people they send is capable of taking out the grey zone very quickly. As staying there longer lets the grey zone grow stronger." There was a silence for a few seconds as everyone took in what I said, even though they already knew it. As it reminded them of their foolish time when they attempted to enter a grey zone and had to face its terrifying nature. "You are much more knowledgeable in the grey zones now. Do you still think you are capable of carrying out the assignment?" Dexter asked me after a while. "I am, I just need to get past the undead and directly reach to the ghost and I should be able to do my parlour tricks on it. So, all I need you guys to do for me is, find out the strength of the undead in the grey zone and send someone with me who is capable of taking those undeads down or clearing a path for me to the ghost." I smiled towards the trio. Seeing my confidence all three of them sighed in relief before Dexter replied smiling "The grey zone is a rank 2 zone, which means it is recommended for only rank 2 or above. As you are an awardless and not a magi I am pretty sure no one will object you taking a rank 2 with you. His name is Kristof. His award having the ability to set down rules, which will help you tremendously to clearing a pathway to the ghost and restricting all interference during your meeting with the ghost. How you use him is up for you to decide, is that fine for you?" "Yes, that''s fine. I will leave for the grey zone as soon as I get everything I ordered for." I replied as we all stood up and went our own ways. -------------------------- It''s now the end of July. It was a rainy day today, instead of it being sunny and warm like it is supposed to be. I sighed as I decided to go out and collect the Whizz board today. Dr Whizz had came to my restaurant to collect his payments but unfortunately, he forgot to bring the board. He wanted to go back and get it, but I stopped him and told him I will personally come and collect it later, as I wanted to test drive it. I looked at the black tattered and torn cloak, I had received from Spiders Silks, which seemed a little out of ordinary and out of fashion. I draped the cloak around me but didn''t bother to put the hood up, as I decided to go out and collect the board. I had received my weapon and the components from the crafter. I had spent quite a few hours of every day going to Dexter''s residence where no one would casually spy on me to build my toy with the components. I had decided to build this toy not because I was going to the grey zone but to survive the danger I will encounter if what I planned for the grey zone succeeds. I took out the umbrella, I recently bought, from the stand and opened it up before going out in the rain. Ellis offered to come with me, but I told him not to as it will be much faster if I go on my own. Since that day he often had a very guilty conscience when around me. But I just ignored it and pretended not to see it. I walked towards Whizzs'' apartment, protected from the rain by my dark blue umbrella. After collecting the Whizz board from Whizz, I looked at my future method of transportation, which i will use for a long time. It was simply a very thick and stylish skateboard without any wheels, not to mention the size of it is pretty big in my standards as 100 cm long with the width being 50 cm. I decided to start up the skateboard and heard it start with the low hum as it glowed a blue colour slightly, showing that it had started. While it put up the barrier around me I unfolded the umbrella and hooked it behind my collar. The barrier offered protection from the wind amongst other things from smacking onto your face and distracting you when travelling on the Whizz board. Without delaying any longer, I started my drive through the empty road on my board on a rainy day. Feeling the thrill at travelling at high speed after so long, along with seeing water under the board being repelled and splashing to the side, let me enjoy in this world after so long. Chapter 69 - Episode 68- Plan for tomorrow The escort for my safety, along the 3 of us arrived at the village, which was closest to the grey zone. For my safety, an escort of 12 royal bodyguards were sent with me. They were forced to swear an oath before coming with me, to not assist me in my assignments anyway or form, along with keeping me safe outside the grey zone and not betraying me till we reach back. Due to all of them being rank 3 and the captain himself being a rank 4 magi, none of them, other than me bothered to get a mode of transportation, as they could literally use a spell to travel. The captain, however, casted a support spell on Ellis to let them keep up with the speed of the group, as Ellis wasn''t fast enough with his rank 1 magi spells, The village was 3 hours walking distance away from the grey zone, thus putting them in relative safety. However, the gloomy atmosphere surrounding the air let one know that they weren''t completely free from the grey zones influence. The report stated few people have gone missing from this village along with neighbouring villages. The people who have gone missing are mostly men above the age of 18. Although it is a few people from each village, the total amount reaches to roughly 80 people if put together. That was enough people to form a small village. These numbers were not revealed to the public to stop them from panicking, which can lead to riots or even abandoning the village, which is not good for the local lord managing these areas. I directly came to this village and didn''t bother meeting the lord of this area, as any information he probably has for me will be either useless or are already tampered with. Along with not wanting to deal with any hassle he might bring to me. So not to waste time visiting him we directly came here. The villages'' scouts had seen us arriving from a long distance away and came to us inquiring about us and our purpose. Although they were at first guarded at the group of the armoured strangers they saw from afar, but as they approached us and saw the imperial badge on my chest they were shocked. The knelt down as they bowed towards me who was wielding the imperial badge. I had them rise as I told them I came for dealing with the recent reports about hauntings. They were happy and ecstatic as I send them ahead to the village to inform everyone. By the time we reached the village entrance there was quite a crowd, and standing in front of them was a lanky middle-aged man in his 30''s. He was the first to greet and welcome us. They were informed along with several neighbouring villages by the lord who controlled these areas that an important imperial official will be passing through here, to investigate the hauntings. However, they just didn''t that official to be staying here. I assumed he was the village chief and went to him and explained that we were going to stay here while dealing with the hauntings. We were taken to his house as he offered as accommodation, food and all the necessity we needed till we leave here. I just asked him about the route towards the grey zone and the history behind that particular area of grey zone. He said that the before the grey zone appeared there, it was the area of a certain bandit group. The bandit group occasionally pillaged and abducted women from any villages nearby or any travellers unfortunate enough to cross them. None of the people captured or taken by them ever returned. However, the local lord got word of this and send a team to take care of them. The soldiers who came killed every last one of the bandits, in a surprise attack, while only capturing their leader, who was later tortured to death. ''So that must be the reason for negative zone forming there, due to the number of innocents'' grief at being captured as well as being killed, along with the bandits that were killed.'' This had happened only a year ago, and it seems that the negative zone grew from the time it was left alone and coincidentally a mana zone just arrived there for it to transform into a grey zone. The people here believed that the bandit leader was soo furious and indignant about being captured, that he rose back from his grave to haunt them. They believed the grey zone to be the lair of the bandit lords ghost and none of them even dared to go near it. I nodded and dismissed the village chief as I sat on the chair while Kristof, Ellis, and the guards awaited my instructions. "We will move to the grey zone tomorrow by 3 pm from here. Till then rest and be refreshed. Dismissed." I informed the guards as they went out and dispersed, while Ellis and Kristoff stayed behind, to formulate a plan with me for tomorrow''s fight. "My lord do you have a plan for tomorrow?" asked Kristof while Ellis who seemed increasingly depressed just stayed by the side listening in silence. "I do but before that can you expand on your award for me?" I asked him as I wanted to know what he can do, from him rather than reading it from a paper. Kristof looked at me with his short blonde hair, for a moment before saying "My award is a one used to control everything in a specific area. I call it the Rule maker. I can set down rules in an area that will affect that area until I am there or for a maximum of 20 minutes if I am not in range of that area. However, there are quite some problems with my ability, and among them, there are 3 main ones. 1 is that it''s impartial to both allies and enemies, including me. If I were to set down a rule as in, no one can use weapons inside an area, it won''t let me, any allies or the enemies use weapons. The second problem with my ability is that my ability won''t affect someone stronger than me, or in simple terms, I can''t create a rule to affect someone stronger than me. 3rd problem is that I can''t create impossible rules. The rules I create should easily be able for everyone in that area to carry out. For example, if a paralysed man was in my area of award and I set down a rule such as ''No one should stay still.'', my award simply won''t work. It can''t force a paralysed man to move, so I won''t be able to create a rule there. Along with that, there are other similar conditions but these 3 are the main ones." Kristof replied. "That''s fine then. All I want you to do when we enter the grey zone is to create a pathway for me to the ghost. Then I want you to stop anyone or anything from interfering from my meeting with the ghost, after that both of you should get out of the grey zone, as I don''t want both of you to be feeding the grey zone while I am trying to do my thing in there. I then want both of you to come back in just 10 seconds before the effect of your Rule maker wears off, and try and avoid hunting the undeads when you come in. If you don''t see me after waiting for 1 minute and the undeads keeps on attacking you, that is the sign that everything has gone haywire and I am dead. So just run. If nothing like that happens then escort me out. Ellis, you are to provide support for Kristof through your magi. Any problems?" I asked them. Ellis frowned for a moment before saying "Your highness if you are still alive and incapacitated in there, how would you let us know without us abandoning?" "Ellis don''t underestimate a ghost. An award user who is not an exorcist will struggle to fight a ghost of same rank grey zone. If my plan with the ghost hasn''t gone as expected then 20 minutes is enough for it to kill me a hundred times or do with me what it wills. You expect me to let me live and stay incapacitated in there for 20 minutes with it if my plans have failed?" I replied back. He stood silent for a few minutes. I saw a struggle in his face as I smiled and guessed what he was about to say. "Then let one of us come with you." I shook my head as I replied "I can''t do that. As you have heard Kristof''s award isn''t focused on the attack direction but more towards restricting things. He would need your help if he encounters a troublesome situation." Kristof inputted into the conversation as well "Besides the rule I am going to set down will stop anyone other than his highness from going in there Ellis. Besides neither, you nor I can even possibly think of even helping him even if we accompany him. Along with that even if we were to team up against the ghost, the most we could do is stall it enough time for me to escape. None of you other than me would be able to escape from that ghost." Ellis sighed in defeat as he listened to both of us explaining why no one should be accompanying me. "If that''s all rest up both of. Both of you should be tired from the long journey to here and I need both of you in your top conditions tomorrow." I said as I dismissed them as well. Chapter 70 - Episode 69-A Trek through the Calm Forest It has been only 1 hour since we started our journey from the village, with our destination insight in 10 minutes. We would have reached our destination much earlier, but his highness ordered all of us to move slowly so as not to use too much energy from travelling. It has already started getting dark, but the moon''s light hardly reached us through the thick trees and the cloudy night. The grey zone is only able to be destroyed during the night because, it is during this time that we as living beings, emit the most negative thoughts, thus making the grey zone the most active. The captain of the protection squad has already set up a light source, using magi, to let us see ahead. I looked in front of me where his highness and his personal bodyguard Ellis moved. His highness as expected was stoic not even showing any emotions on his face, while the rest of us were very apprehensive and quick to respond to the tiniest of sound. Even Ellis the 2nd weakest in the group in terms of abilities seemed not confident about the danger ahead, and occasionally I saw him wiping the sweat gathering on his forehead. However, his highness showed no concern or fear on his face, despite being the most incapable of dealing with dangers. Either he is good at holding back his emotions or he is really not aware of the dangers ahead. I was debriefed by my superiors to assist his highness with his expedition to the grey zone. I was very reluctant and still am in doing this mission, but unfortunately, the moment I swore to serve them and accepted the award, I had abandoned my freedom. I have no idea of what his highness has planned for the grey zone. I had seen recordings of previous grey zone expeditions done by an exorcist, and from that, I have a clear idea of how terrifying they are, especially the ghosts in a grey zone. Well, the only good thing about this expedition is that we don''t have to directly deal with the ghost, and I don''t have to focus on his highness'' survival in the grey zone. Whatever his highness had planned to do with a ghost I had no desire to know or wanted to be anywhere near it when anything happened. When Ellis, had wanted someone to go in with him, I had felt like punching his face in for suggesting something suicidal. Luckily his highness was against that idea. A small gentle breeze blew towards us and left us. Suddenly his highness stopped moving forward and turned around. His eye went through each one of us, behind him, before landing on someone behind me and slowly a smile formed on his face. "I am sorry it''s nothing lets carry on." He said as he turned around while his black tied up hair waved around as he moved forward while riding on his Whizz board, with his umbrella hiding behind his hair. I had heard that his highness had a very weird sense of hairstyle. Originally his highness had a very big afro hair, which he had not bothered to cut and let it grow, however that changed just before the end of the plague. It was very weird seeing someone not getting a haircut and just letting their hair grow. I mean not including how out of fashion it is, how does someone even maintain a hair like that? After the plague, there was a rumour that his highness had a change in his hairstyle. Everyone once heard this had presumed he must have finally decided to get a haircut, but apparently that was not the case. Instead of cutting his hair, he decided to straighten his black afro hair like a woman. Even ladies I interacted with found that a hair that long was too much for any women and unsightly. This brought among another topic in the empire that everyone enjoyed talking about. And that was about how his highness John, had a terrible fashion sense. This was especially confirmed after everyone saw his new cloak. Usually, someone when buying cloak would look for something beautiful or intricate that displays a sense of awe or their glory, but instead, his highness brought a cloak that was torn and tattered, and not to mention the said material for the cloak was rumoured to have been taken from the beggars. From that moment onwards it was generally agreed if his highness had a weakness then it was his sense of fashion. I shook my head to get rid of these thoughts as I had to focus. I turned to look behind me to see who his highness was looking at. As I turned my head around while walking forward, there was no one there. Hmm did his highness notice something behind us? But that is not possible since we who have superior capability simply couldn''t detect anything or anyone. -------------------------------------------- I was walking quietly for the whole mission with his highness. Only occasionally looking at his highness feeling deep hatred and guilt for what I am about to do. I debated over myself many time whether to do this or not. However, that old man had promised me to tell me about the person who tipped us off to Phil. I was shocked at the fact that there was even someone like that. I had never expected someone would purposely destroy my life. Did they do all that for money? If so I would have gladly slaved under him as a rank 1 magi for the rest of my life, in return for my mum''s life. But no he/she wanted to just see my ruin. What harm had I done to them, for them to wish this upon me? I wanted to find that son/daughter of a b*tch and personally torture and make them suffer. When I first knew about it that night, I was enraged but I slowly got my emotions under control. I thought about the old man''s offer and wanted to reject it as I could ask his highness for help to find that person. However, as I was thinking about rejecting the old man, he told me if I were to even think about rejecting them then they would make sure that I or no one else will never see that person who destroyed my life and they will proceed to make sure that person enjoyed his/her life while I suffer in search of him/her. I was really furious and wanted to beat the crap out of him for what he said, but I kept the calm that I trained and built up inside the game realm. I had to play everything carefully otherwise this man, who is able to infiltrate into the residence of a commandment would actually do what he said, and let go of one of my targets. I don''t want any of them to escape, I wanted each and every one of them to suffer 10 times what I did on that night. I thought about what he said delicately. All I had to do was carry a recorder inside the grey zone when I went with his highness and in return, I would be able to know who it was that ruined me and my mum. After I know who it was then I would confess everything to his highness and apologise to him. Thinking up to this I decided to accept their deal much to the surprise of the old man. After that meeting with him, I would feel a sense of guilt whenever I saw his highness. I felt disgusted about what I was going to do. What difference was there between me and that person who betrayed me and my mum? We both betrayed someone else for a reward, which I expect that arse who betrayed me had already received. But I convinced myself that I would come clean about what I did to his highness, and that will be the difference between me and that basta*d. Currently, I was wearing the recorder as one of my buttons while I was walking to the grey zone. I was truly never aware of what a grey zone was until I was told about it roughly 1 week ago, in fact, I didn''t even know something terrifying like that could even exist as something very natural in this world. From this, I became aware of two things: 1- the empire made sure to keep us very safe from every possible form of threat, 2- the empire also hid important things from their people. At first, I was very angry at the fact these kinds of information were withheld from the people, and the danger it could pose to the ignorant. As I was about to object to Archer, who was the one who taught me everything about the grey zone, he told me a story. The story goes like this; One day as death was walking towards a village to collect the soul of a person, whose time in this world was done, he encountered a villager of that village. Death was stopped and asked about his intention about going to the village. Learning from death that someone was going to die today, the villager ran towards his village to inform everyone there, that death was coming to get someone. Abruptly the whole village was cascaded in fear and terror, not knowing who was to die. This caused the people in the whole village to run about and escape from the village before death arrived. By the time death had arrived he smiled at the scene before him. He had arrived to collect one soul but in the end, he had received much better treat, as he could now collect the soul of the whole village. I had thought about how it was possible for a whole village to die out when it was only supposed to be one person who was meant to die. Archer must have guessed what I was thinking and explained to me in his very serious face how each of the villager not wanting to die, started to run out of the village. This caused many to be trampled to death in their rush to get out, some to be mauled by the beasts hidden outside of the village (from which they were hiding from) and the rest from the evil people inside the village seeking to exploit the people in the moment of chaos. Archer finished off his story and left, while I who was left behind slowly understood why sometimes certain things had to be hidden from people and not be told. The panic and chaos ensured by telling people who were living close to a grey zone can be imagined. Suddenly I had to put a stop to my running thoughts as his highness, who I was moving beside me, stopped moving forward and turned back. We all paused and turned back with his highness. Only to see him shake his head and apologise before turning around, while smiling. There seemed to be nothing behind us other than the empty and dark forest. It seemed behind his calm face his highness must be panicking as well. ------------------------------- As the group of people moving towards the grey zone, a figure who was in a white tattered wedding dress turned visible behind them. Its face wasn''t clearly visible due to a veil covering its face. The figure walked right behind the group as it tasted the delicious flavour of fear and negative emotions in each of them. As the figure enjoyed its meal collectively from all of them, it abruptly sensed an odd one in the group. It gazed at the odd one in the group strangely as it stretched out its hand with elongated and thin fingers, towards him. Suddenly the odd one stopped and turned around and looked about before looking at where the strange being stood, who had turned invisible to the naked eye. The figure found the odd being even more odd as it looked it in the eye and smiled before turning back and moving forward, while other members around the odd one looked at where the odd one looked only to see nothing. Suddenly the being felt a rise in negative emotion, it sensed this emotion to be known as anxiety and alarmed, from everyone except the odd one. Although it wanted to stay and eat more, it realised that these people were going towards its sanctuary. So, it decided to move ahead and get ready to welcome these people to its home, where it can fully bring out the flavour of its meal. As it moved past the group, being invisible to their eyes, a slight breeze was felt among everyone, while the odd one traced the path of the breeze through his eyes, from his still smiling face. Chapter 71 - Episode 70- Undead Bandit cave We got out of the forest into a clearing surrounded by mist. I looked ahead to barely make clear of a small bump on the ground, which is the pothole leading to the ex-bandits underground lair. The group were on their guard and pretty tensed about their journey here. All of them probably just wanted to leave from here as soon as possible. "We will rest for 10 minutes before we go. You guys stay in a group and make sure none of you goes off to piss or whatever. If you want to take a leak do it now and here. I don''t want to waste my time when I come back to find one of you missing." I ordered them. They nodded in reply, as they were aware that there was a higher chance of danger present when a person inside a grey zone decided to go alone. As we were walking here I tried not to agitate them further, since the moment I became aware of the ghost following us, since it would just feed the ghost even more. I had first noticed it when I felt the unusual movement of air currents around me. A breeze when passing you should just keep on moving. Yet the breeze I felt decided to stay behind us and kept following us for a while. None of them noticed this, most likely due to throughout the journey the number of times they were jump scared because of an insect or bird has been countless already, so they must have thought nothing of the unusual tiniest sound of wind moving behind them. I had decided to ignore it till we reached the grey zone, but that changed when it suddenly changed its focus to me and started looking at me. I could feel it staring at me through my soul perception, although still limited in range, I could feel the emotion of hunger and curiosity redirected towards my body, which was picked up by me. As both emotions of hunger and curiosity grew I knew it was dangerous to be left alone, so I turned around to look where the unusual flow of air movement might be. I spotted it right behind Kristof. So instead of warning everyone I looked at where its eyes should be and smiled in greeting, before turning around in order to not increase their fear even more and carried on moving forward. I took out some rations from my bag to eat. I had cooked some beast ingredient as dried rations for everyone here. All of us here carried nothing else but a huge amount of dried rations just to eat, in our bag, as we would just simply stay in villages when we needed to sleep and cast magi to clean ourselves. Everyone proceeded to eat in silence for a while. Unpredictably halfway through the meal, Ellis started glowing for a short duration before it faded. Seems like he ranked up to become a rank 2. "Congratz Ellis. Kristof seems like we will have much more help than needed now." I said as I patted Ellis on his shoulder, who put up a fake smile of being happy to me. "Good work kid." The captain said as he nodded his head while eating the level 10 smoked meat. "Are you capable of any rank 1 spells?" The young man in his early 20''s asked as he smiled towards Ellis while acknowledging what I said. "Yes, I had learned few rank 1 destructive, defensive and support spells, which I had to learn in order to use in case of emergencies when I was rank 1." Ellis answered back, not being happy as what everyone would expect of a recently advanced rank 2. Kristof nodded, and soon we went back silently eating. As everyone finished eating and tidied up I got up with my board and umbrella. I placed the umbrella behind my collar as usual, while slowly riding on the board in walking pace. The 3 of us moved slowly towards the grey zone, although the 2 of them behind me were still slightly scared they were much more confident now that Ellis had just advanced. We walked towards the uneven ground, where the pothole to the underground bandit lair was covered by dead grass and a lid. I let Kristof find the handle and open the lid, as he was much more physically capable than any one of us. In front of us was a 5 meters tall ladder leading to an underground cave system. There seemed to be light in the underground caused by the somehow lit torches. As I got down I finally observed the cave system in front of me. It was a long, creepy and eerily silent corridor leading on to whatever room one wished to go to. We had received the map of the cave from the lord who had his men take care of the bandits before. So, we knew the general direction of where everything was and had a guess of where the ghost could be. Kristof and Ellis walked, while I hovered behind them in my board to the main hall from where we can guess where the ghost would be. I could hear both of their footsteps walking in rhythm in the quiet long corridor leading to the main hall. Both Kristof and Ellis were on guard while I casually strolled behind them. As both of them were walking forward suddenly, Kristof grabbed Ellis and moved back next to me. I looked forward to abruptly see 2 bloody hands coming out of the ground where they were staying a moment ago. The hands strangely crawled out of the ground and dragged itself towards us. Ellis casted 2 ice spike towards the hands and impaled them to the floor. The rotten and bloody hands squirmed for a while before staying still. "Thanks." Ellis said as he kept looking ahead, while Kristof just nodded. It seemed Kristof had only noticed because of his better-enhanced hearing than me. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder pushing me forwards along with Ellis. We noticed Kristof seemed to have pushed us out of danger again as this time 2 hands each failed to grab both me and Ellis and from each side of the walls, we were stood next to. The hand fell to the floor and Ellis quickly recovered to cast 2 ice spike again. But before the ice spike even reached, the two hands and impaled them, another set of hands crawled out of the holes left behind the two hands. Ellis casted another set of ice spikes and impaled them, as he let out his breath he was holding in, while I walked back to my board. We carried on moving forward in silence and kept listening for anything out of place. We came across a small crevice and moved forwards ignoring it. As we kept moving forwards the light from the torches strangely seemed to have gotten dimmer. Suddenly all of us turned around and witnessed something terrifying for the weak hearted. A small hand crawled out the crevice on the wall. We thought it would just be a hand but was proved wrong as the hand extended to become an arm which then slowly extended to reveal part of the tiny body that was slowly but silently getting out of the crevice. Ellis started casting ice spikes, but the small body ignored the ice spikes and kept on coming out. Kristof readied for combat, while I moved back to let them deal with the undead. Soon most of the body came out of the crevice. The body was that of a little girl between the age of 6 to 8, the only part left of her to come out was her left hand. Her dusty blond twin-tailed hair certainly didn''t complement her bloody tear-stained face. She finally freed her left hand from the crevice to reveal it held a short sword. If it was normal people they would have probably never noticed her, while she slowly stalked and caught up with her prey before stabbing them. Kristoff slowly took out the sword from his waist as he turned around to stab a hand that had come out of the ground behind us. The stab was the start sign as the undead little girl slowly but quietly walked towards us without making any sound. Ellis seeing that his ice spikes were ineffective against the undead was about to cast another spell when I told him "Aim the ice to her foot and head." He suddenly understood what I said and casted and threw 3 ice spikes. Two to a foot each which impaled her to the ground, while another went for her head. However, the little girl ignored the ice spike poking through her head and tore her foot through the ice spike impaling her and kept moving forward. I could still see some blood on the ice spike that momentarily stalled her. "Ellis cast an ice spike to stop her moving her left hand. Kristof as soon as the spell is cast chop the head off and stab her heart. But don''t let your guard down and come back as soon as possible." I ordered both of them, as Kristof took his sword out of the still and unmoving hand he just impaled. Ellis started casting an ice spike which travelled forwards to impale her left hand to her stomach. As soon as the ice restricted her left-hand Kristof ran forward to chop the head off very quickly followed by stabbing where her heart his. The head flew and hit the wall on the side before bouncing and rolling back to lay on its side, in front of her body, while the eyes on the head still seemed to be staring at us, with the previous casted ice spike still resting there. I had expected a blood fest but only a small amount of blood rolled from where her neck was and the place where her heart used to be. I ignored this and watched as Kristof moved back very quickly. It was a good thing he did because despite doing what is considered as fatal blows to all living she kept moving forward. Ellis and Kristof seemed to be getting frustrated at this unstoppable undead, and their fear seemed to be increasing as they suddenly realised, this wasn''t even the main part of the grey zone where the majority of the undead gathered. "Both of you keep calm. Don''t let the grey zone affect your thoughts and feed on you." I said as I watched the undead moving forward. This seemed to have relaxed them for a bit, but the undead just kept on moving forward. "Ellis cast a mud block in front of her left leg so she would trip up. And then proceed to impale her arms when she is down, followed by her legs." I instructed him. Ellis did as I instructed and managed to trip her up. As she was falling he started casting for another ice spike and got it ready to impale one of her arms. After a few seconds, the undead was stuck with no chance to escape from its imprisonment. However, the undead didn''t care as it struggled for a few more moments, but strangely after a while, it went still, just like the hands that were impaled before. Chapter 72 - Episode 71-Kite should be Kited Interesting it seems whatever is controlling these undeads, leaves them once it realises that they are bound and are incapable of escape. "Let''s keep moving" I instructed both of them. As we were getting close to a pillar suddenly it started shaking before cracks slowly formed upon the pillar. Before we knew it a hand came out of the pillar and slowly ripped the rest of its body out of the pillar. We haven''t even left the undead girls body for 10 meters before another variant undead showed up. This time instead of a little girl it was a 2m tall man this time. He had a hunchback but well-built body, covered in mould and various other worms and other insects which was feasting on his flesh. He came out facing the other way and slowly turned to us showing his partially decomposed face, along with some of his decayed internal organs spewing out of his hole in his abdomen. "Vitalise!" Ellis suddenly casted a spell on himself to help him not to vomit his stomach out. The undead started limping his way to us very quickly. "Ellis same as before." I quickly instructed Ellis as he was 7m away from us. He quickly casted a mud block to trip the undead up. However, due to the undead already travelling at a very fast speed, his momentum carried him as he fell forwards landing only 1 meter away from me. Seeing its prey within arm''s length he slowly stretched his rotten arm, with rotten vein partially visible which had some kind of worm living inside it twirling as it was being moved, to grab hold of me. However right before he even touched me an ice spike stabbed through his stretched-out arm and impaled it to the floor, followed by few more ice spike impaling the rest of the limbs. It seems this grey zone likes surprise attacks. If we hadn''t noticed the little girl undead, then this rotten man undead would have distracted us while the girl undead took one of us out by surprise. The man kept resisting and it even seemed he would break out of his imprisonment. Seeing this Ellis started casting more ice spikes individually to keep him in restraint, on his limbs. However, this didn''t stop the undead as he kept on twitching and shaking, while his intestines slowly started seeping out of the hole in his abdomen and being grinded against his own body to a paste. We still had to travel for few more minutes before getting to the main hall, that meant we will have to encounter other strange undead en route. I suddenly realised something and looked back at the little girls'' corpse. "Ellis cast a few more ice spike on him and come with me. Kristof keep watch and alert us when something goes wrong." I ordered as I hovered back to the body on my board. I looked at the head of the little girl which laid next to her body with her eyes closed. Ellis finished with his job came towards me and awaited further instruction. He looked pale and his expression suggested that he will be traumatised by what he saw today. "Ellis, do you have any magi that can take the ice spikes out of her body?" I asked him. Ellis looked at me strangely before shaking his head. "I can melt them though." "Do it and stay alert." I relayed my instructions and started watching as he melted the ice spike with a conjured fireball next to it. Both of us waited near the body and seeing nothing happen, I turned back mouthing something to Ellis. As both of us were walking back towards Kristof, Ellis suddenly turned around to cast ice spikes. I smiled as my theory was just proven right and turned around to see what was happening. The previously closed eyes of the undead seemed to have opened and was currently looking at me, while its body (that had just attempted to stand up and walk towards us in silence) was being bombarded with ice spike after ice spike to restrain it. So, whatever is controlling these undead leaves them when it sees its restraint and impossible to escape. But once its restraints are freed it will come back to take control. It''s a good thing I realised it now otherwise it would have been very dangerous when Kristof and Ellis had to travel back out and had to encounter these guys again when the ice had melted out. Suddenly Kristof took his sword out and ran towards me. I moved sideways to dodge his sword as he stabbed just a few centimetres behind where I stood before. I looked at the hand that had been impaled twice by Kristof so far. We can''t use fire to burn these things up, as it might reduce the already well below oxygen level in the underground, that is being burned up by the torches. Along with that, it will also emit smoke which will be very dangerous for me to breath in, with my weak body compared to these two. "When you two go back, while I am meeting with the ghost, remember that all hands that we thought we had subdued can be awakened." They nodded as they looked in fear at the hand in that had been stabbed twice already in a day. "Ellis impale the hand and free the restrains of the little girl and the man there." I said as I formulated a plan. Ellis and Kristof looked at me in shock while expecting an answer from me at what I had just said. "We can''t restrain them here, as they will just keep coming back after the ice has been melted. There is no point cutting their limbs off as the limbs work independently of the rest of the body. We could have impaled them with mud spikes and prevent the spikes from melting, but I presume you haven''t learned earth series spell much." Ellis nodded at what I said. "That means we will have to ..." I carried on explaining my plan to them. "It is very risky plan your highness. One wrong move and there will be no hope for us, going back alive, especially for you my lord." I nodded at what Kristof said. "But it''s the only one we have right now that can make sure these things don''t take us by surprise and ruin everything." I said Both of them finally relented and agreed to what I had planned. Ellis then proceeded to melt the ice on the girl undead and moved towards the male rotten undead. As she was free from her restraint she slowly stood up and walked towards us quietly, while Ellis was halfway done with melting all the ice on the other undead. As soon as his arms were free, the undead started struggling more and more to get free, while the girl got closer. And after a few second both undead were finally free to come at us. Both of them started moving towards us, while Ellis casted a speed boost magi spell on him, while casting a strength boost to Kristoff as his speed is superior to us even with the speed boost on us. This boost lasted a total of 2 minutes, which was plenty of time for what we needed to do. Then we started moving towards the main hall very quickly, me on my board and Ellis and Kristof running. We didn''t even stop for any undeads we passed along and let them follow us to the main hall as well. Soon by the time, the boost ran out we had reached the open door leading to the main hall, while a horde of undead followed us in the distance. What we had just done is something I usually do when playing games, kiting. Instead of restraining them one by one I led all of them to the main hall. The main hall had quite a few undeads as well. We entered the main hall, which was a wide and spacious room with a broken chair and tables lying around, with splattered blood everywhere. There were torches laid out on the wall around the hall, followed by 5 different doors leading to wherever they were supposed to be. The various undeads in the room started charging towards us. Ellis renewed the boost on Kristof and him. We started dodging them and moved around the room and waited till the horde that was following us entered as well and chased us about. I dodged each one of them after me on my board while Ellis ran using his superior movement. While Kristof just ran and occasionally just slammed some out of the way with his sword. This was the reason I chose to kite these undeads here. From the map we had received, we knew that the main hall was quite a large room. I was informed it was previously used to party for the bandit, hold the prisoners they captured along with the storing whatever they stole here. However after the bandits were killed, almost everything usable here was moved out, thus making this room more spacious. Bringing these undeads here can let us easily dodge them while clearing the path for Ellis and Kristof when going back, along with wasting time taking care of them while the grey zone feeds on the negative thoughts each second and grow stronger. As the final horde entered the room Kristof and Ellis slowly made their way out to exit the room, this caused quite a few undead to follow them as well. However, as soon as they got to door everything stood still. "No one will move." Kristof started using his award, and I felt that no matter what I do, I couldn''t move a millimetre. I saw that both Ellis and Kristof were standing still, while the rest of the undead followed suit and stood still while still moaning. "Those who have capabilities and strength below a rank 1 can move." Suddenly I felt that I could move. I looked around carefully where the room with the ghost could possibly be hosted. Suddenly I looked at one door which stood out to me more than the others. All the other doors had lit torches beside their walls. However, the light from the torches got dimmer and dimmer as it got close to the door, to the point that the torch next to the door wasn''t lit. I nodded at those two at the very back and walked towards the door I believed the ghost should be. From my memory, it should be the bandit leaders room. As I opened and entered the room, I heard Kristof saying something else before closing the door behind me. "No one will enter or leave that room." Chapter 73 - Episode 72-Ghostly Feelings I had roughly 20 minutes from now on to test what I concluded from the reports about the grey zone. Before that, I have to see if being termed and having the condition known as ''soulless'' lets me do what no others could do in the grey zone before, communicate. I waited for the ghost to show itself as I am pretty sure by now Ellis and Kristof would probably be running out. The room was very dark, but after a few seconds, my eyes adjusted to the darkness and let me see what was inside the room clearly. The room had a table and chair at a corner, followed by a bed which had some cuffs coming out of the headboard and footboard. Most likely what the bandit leader used as he tied up the girls and women, as he raped or tortured them. I waited for a few seconds, expecting the ghost will make itself visible. Seeing no one I walked forward to the table and chair at the corner. As I got closer I could strangely make out a few words written on the table in glowing red in the darkroom. It read ''Do Not Open''. I followed exactly the opposite of what it meant and opened the draw in the table to find a key. I took the key out and observed the brand new and polished silver key. *Clack* *Clack* Unexpectedly I could hear a series of clacking noise. Looking to my left I noticed that the bed seemed to be transforming. The headboard along with the footboard became smaller especially the footboard. The width of the bed got smaller to barely fit 1-person on it. A wood from underneath the bed came and covered the top half of the headboard and footboard as it was transforming. I abruptly realised what it was transforming into and waited patiently for it to transform. I looked back to the door to see that it had disappeared along with the table and chair, leaving behind my board where the door used to be. The room seemed to have gotten a lot smaller, as it had roughly enough space for me and the bed to be in. After what seemed to be roughly 30 seconds the bed had finished its transformation. A coffin. A sleek black wooden glistening coffin. I waited for a few more seconds. Seeing there was no response from the coffin I walked towards it. As I stood in front of it thinking about what I should do, I suddenly heard two knocks. *Knock* *Knock* It seemed to be coming from inside the coffin. Again, I heard a series of knocks from the coffin. *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* I breathed in as I got ready to lift the heavy lid, but as I held the lid it seemed to be very light. I moved the lid to a side a looked at what was inside the coffin. Inside the coffin laid a sleeping woman. I could see that the closed eyelids of the women through the white veil that covered her face. Her hands and legs seemed to be chained from the cuffs that were on the bed. She was in what I assumed to be a very old and tattered wedding dress. I looked at the cuff and noticed there seemed to be a keyhole in each of the cuffs. I looked at the key and proceeded to unchain her from the cuffs starting with her legs. As I finished releasing her hands and legs from the cuffs the key started glowing red. Feeling the heat about to be radiated from the key I threw it to the ground, which started absorbing the key back to the floor. I then looked down to the coffin to see that the women in it had disappeared. "Strange." I mused as I wondered what the whole fiasco was all about. As I looked up from the coffin to look around I suddenly saw a white veiled face staring at me, while standing from the roof of the room, being unaffected by gravity. "Ahhhhh" She screamed towards my face. Suddenly I felt a force knocking me back to the direction of the coffin. I somehow was lying inside the coffin perfectly. I looked back up at the ghost to see that she had disappeared. The cuffs that I had unlocked before started moving on its own and snaked its ways to my hands and legs to cuff them. I tried to resist or get out, but a force seemed to be blocking my way out and stopped me from moving, and soon both my legs and arms were restrained inside the coffin. "Can we talk before whatever you plan to do to me? I came in peace you know?" I said as I attempted to communicate to the ghost. Then I heard a rattling sound as the lid for the coffin rattled. It was slowly lifted off the floor and came to the coffin, intending to shut it along with me inside. Soon the only thing I saw was darkness, as the lid came and did its job of covering the coffin. ------------------------------------- The room with the coffin was silent for a long time. A being in a white wedding dress hovered in front of the coffin, which seemed to be standing upright. The ghost felt weird. It had never encountered anything this strange and odd. The odd being inside the box didn''t scream or shout like it knew the living should be doing. The odd being was strange. The odd being gave no food while in the forest and it gave no food while walking inside its house. It gave no food while inside the box like it should. The ghost waited for something to appear from the odd being. *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* Suddenly it heard the sound, the same as it made a while ago coming from the box. The ghost felt curious about why the odd being was making the same sound and started to walk closer, but something inside it didn''t want to go near the box. The ghost realised that maybe it shouldn''t go near the box, so it stayed. *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* Again, a series of sound was heard, the same one it makes when it''s inside the box. The ghost felt that maybe it should go a bit closer to the box but not near it. The ghost floated near the box. Suddenly it started hearing strange things from the box again, but this time it wasn''t the same sound but a noise. The ghost couldn''t clearly hear what the noise was, so it moved closer. It listened and realised the noise was something the odd one was making with his mouth like when the ghost used its mouth to scream at the odd one. The noise was quiet but not too loud, enough for someone very close to hear. What was the odd one saying? It wanted to hear what the odd one was saying. So, the ghost moved forward to hear what the odd one was saying. The ghost heard a deep and quiet noise from the box "Come..closer... Come..closer... Come..closer" but the noise kept breaking every now and then What does it mean? The ghost wanted to understand what the odd one was saying. So, it went forward while something in it told it to stop. The ghost listened to the voice inside it and stopped, but the voice from the box didn''t stop. The ghost wanted to see what the odd one meant and open the lid, but it knew if it did then the voice it always listened to wouldn''t be happy. The ghost felt tired and sleepy and wanted everything with the odd one to be done so it can rest. Suddenly the odd one and the box went silent. The ghost was confused at what it was doing inside the box and wanted to know, but it didn''t move. *Click* *Click* *Click* *Click* It heard 4 sounds again. That sound seemed familiar to it, like the one it heard when the key opened the chain on its arms and legs. The voice in its head told something. But the ghost didn''t understand what it meant. What does ''run'' mean, it asked back. Before the ghost got its answers the lid of the box moved. It saw the odd one inside the box smiling at it like it did back in the forest. Why is the odd one smiling again? The ghost thought. Suddenly the odd one lifted up his arms and grabbed hold of something in his head. It saw and realised that it''s like the pins the ghost on its head to hold the veil and its hair together. The odd one took quite a few pins out of its hair, while the strange voice kept telling it to run. But what does run mean? The odd one took a step out of the box while letting its held back hair fall to the floor. The odd one had really long hair. Longer than it did, but why does odd one have so much hair. Suddenly the voice in its head showed it how 2 people were moving away from something and then it said run. So that''s what it meant by running. But why should it run? However, the ghost decided its better to listen to the voice and started running away from the odd one. Yet strangely it couldn''t move. It could always move. Why can''t it move now? It looked towards the odd one to see that it''s still standing and smiling, but strangely the odd one seems much closer. It looked for the reason why it can''t move and noticed something was holding its arms and legs like the chains in the coffin. It looked where the chain-like things came from to suddenly see the odd ones face in front of it smiling. The ghost felt weird and tired, while the voice in its head kept repeating the same thing and showing the same thing, run. The ghost saw that the chain-like things came from the odd one''s hair. No, actually the chain was the hair of the odd one. Why is the odd one holding it and stopping it from running like the voice telling it to do so? It suddenly heard the odd one speak again "You are now so close little one. Are you hungry?" Hungry? It was hungry and tired. It needed to eat. But the odd one didn''t give anything to eat as other living beings did when they saw it. "It seems you are hungry. I will give you something to eat." Said the odd one. Suddenly it started feeling little less hungry. It realised the odd one is feeding it. It looked through the food it received while eating. The voice in its head kept telling it another new word along with run. But what does ''stop'' mean, it asked back. The voice very quickly showed it images of it stopping and not eating. But why does the voice don''t want it to eat? However, the ghost listened to the voice and stopped eating. But strangely as it tried it found it couldn''t stop, no matter what. It saw flashes of what it ate like it always does. It saw lots of fire and saw lots of people screaming. Suddenly the ghost felt pain. It felt pain all over its body. Why is it feeling pain when it''s eating? The voice kept telling it to stop and run more and more now. It kept on seeing different things in the fire and above it, all sat a very beautiful man, with wings like a bird it has seen outside, but his wings were black and broken. Then the man seemed to be looking at it and then he smiled like the odd one. Then it saw nothing and felt nothing. --------------------------------------------------------- The ashes of ghosts slowly left my hair. I didn''t let the negative emotions of what I felt inside hell from its countless residence stop as I kept on thinking about it and kept on feeding the grey zone. As I kept on projecting these negative thought I heard a very strained female voice "Stop... Please...Peace..." I smiled at the voice and didn''t stop the projections. I could hear the undeads outside pounding on the door and wall, as they tried to come in and stop me, overfeeding the grey zone. However, Kristof''s award stopped all their attempts to come in. *Click* Then suddenly I heard a very loud click and everything outside went silent. That was the sign that the grey zone has been vanquished. *Thud* *Thud* I heard a series of thud as what I presume the bodies of the undead must be falling down, without a grey zone to support their un-life. I kind of guessed what might happen very soon and quickly took the hairpins from the ground and tied back my hair as per normal. Before taking the Whiz board in my hand and opening the door. All the undeads that I had witnessed before simply laid on the floor. I put the board down and activated it. I started counting down mentally ''3..2..1... Go!'' I activated the board ran out as soon as the effect of the rule stopping me from going outside or anything coming inside faded out. Seeing a very surprised and shocked Ellis and Kristof as they witnessed the unmoving undead I shouted: "Run!" Chapter 74 - Episode 73- The boom "Initiate the plan." I said to Dexter who was watching the destruction before him through the communication crystal in pure shock, with Titus who had is mouth wide open by the side. *Boom* The remaining stable ground above the grey zone collapsed and fell down filling up the void that was under it. "This changes everything. Come back to the capital ASAP!" He cut the communication crystal off in a hurry, while I could feel the questioning gaze of everyone around me, amidst the heavy dust clinging onto the air. "Let''s go." I said as I got back onto the board after wiping the dust off me. ----------------------------------------------------- As we entered the capital the royal bodyguards hurried off to report to their superiors about the events taken place so far, as all forms of communications on them had to be taken off when travelling with me. I presume no one would want to hold off onto a report like someone who is not even a rank 1 magi vanquishing a grey zone and coming out unscathed. Kristof alerted me that quite a lot of agents were watching me, while a few were being restrained. I now knew we had to hurry to Dexter''s residence. It seems like the lord of that area had informed the emperor that the grey zone has been vanquished. This means all of the upper hierarchy is itching to know how I did it and wants to capture me if possible before I take something like the Test of Will. The trio must have spent quite some effort trying to restrain any agents from leaving the capital and coming close to me during my travel here, along with stopping all agents outside the capital as well. As we were about to move, a weary and tired Archer appeared before us and nodded. The four of us moved towards the residence as quickly as possible. I could hear and occasionally witness a silent battle raging behind the ordinary life of people, as agents fought with agents, very quietly while trying not to alert or disturb the daily life of citizens. We still needed roughly 2 minutes to reach Dexter''s location amidst the silent chaos in the background as we avoided wind blades, mud traps other forms of attack from agents occasionally on the side, who were later taken care of by Archer. As Archer disposed of another agent, who was trying to freeze us, and we were about to move forwards a man clocked in black similar to Archer appeared to stand in front of us. "Do we have to do this?" The man opposite us asked Archer lazily. Archer smiled before saying "How is that most of you guys under him are so lazy yet you do one the most strenuous jobs? Let''s move the location to the side, shall we? Don''t want to disturb the people after all." The man nodded and both of them disappeared. "Let''s move!" Ordered Kristof as he ignored the disappearance of Archer. We roughly were about 200 meters away from our objective when suddenly a woman in maid uniform appeared before us. She bowed slightly as she said, "Your highness please don''t make my job any harder than it is." Kristof and Ellis went on their guard as they observed the calm maid in front of us. "I must inform you that all commandment have been ordered to not interfere to not escalate the damage caused by their fight. So even if you were to be right in front of the gates of Lord Dexter''s residence, as long as you don''t step inside the residence he won''t come out to help you. And right now, all agents under your faction lords have been deployed to keep you safe from our agents. In simple term you are ..." "Outnumbered." I finished her sentence off. "I understand that the man Archer is fighting right now is someone from wonky old man''s division. So, looking from your clothing you must be from the caf¨¦ owned by Steven, therefore sent by him." She nodded in reply as she smiled "Your intelligence is not overpraised, your highness. But knowing who sent me will get you nowhere, so it''s better if you come back with me without any resistance. His highness has given us permission to use force if necessary on royal blood." "Oh, but that''s where you are wrong mam. Know your enemy and you will win the battle. If I am one to understand Steven, he is someone who won''t underestimate his enemies, especially someone like me. So that means your rank must be somewhere between rank 3 or 4." I said as I observed her expression calmly for any minute changes. "Don''t try and stall for time, there is no point. Everyone who can help you is occupied your highness." She said as she slowly unsheathed her sword, while Ellis started casting boost on both him and Kristof. The people by the side seeing 3 people standing off against women quickly cleared the streets for us and left it empty, knowing a fight was about to erupt. "So, you are a rank 4, now the trick is to find which group you belong to? Magi? No, you seem too confident unlike your calculative master so that means an award user." Her expression for a slight moment changed to that of shock and disbelief that I was able to find she was an award user along with her rank. "Attack award? No, your posture suggest you are confident in taking any attacks thrown at you. That means either a defensive award or a support kind of award." I observed her to find any form of weakness I can use against her. She quickly put up a stoic face, to not reveal any information to me as she started walking forward. "You are quite a terrifying person. No wonder I was told not to underestimate you, guessing my strength and type of power within seconds of seeing me. I guess it is true that the deities cursed you to be soulless otherwise even they would find it troublesome to handle someone like you." "How long do you think you can hold her off?" I asked as I turned to look at both Ellis and Kristof, while activating the communication crystal. "2 seconds for me." Kristof said as he looked at the approaching battle maid. "1 second at most with my 1st stage of Repelling sword art. But that only if she takes the initiative to attack." "Hmm, 2 seconds plus or minus 0.5 seconds. That''s fine. Dexter open your gates and get ingredients ready, also get ready to start emergency first aid." I informed Dexter as he answered my call with a worried face of Titus and Maximus behind him, as I activated my board. Seeing me planning to start my board to run off she started running towards us. "Everyone except his highness won''t move." Kristof activated his award as I moved past her in the first second. By the time the next second was over, I was 150 meters away. I could hear Ellis trying to attack her as Kristof''s rule was forcibly broken by her raw strength. 2.5 second and I was 100 meters away from my target. 3 second and 50 meters away. I could hear her trying to catch up behind me as I slowed down to a stop. "Give it up your highness. I told you even if you are 1 step away from the gates they won''t be able to do anything, as long as you are outside his residence. And you won''t be able to outrun my with that board." She smiled as she stood opposite me 10 meters away. "You know you should have never told me that." I smiled back as I pushed the board forward to her. She looked perplexedly at the board for a second while I started running away from the board. As she got ready to chase after me a sudden shockwave pushed her back. *Boom* My ears started ringing while the shockwave from the explosion of overcharging of the crystal battery in my board carried me forward. The shockwave from the explosion crushed my organs inside me while carrying me forward. Soon the shrapnel''s caught up with me due to their lightweight and many of them embedded themselves deep in many parts of my body. The fire from the explosion very quickly started running after me. I knew I wouldn''t be able to outrun the fire and was prepared for the baptism of fire as it slowly enveloped my whole body while I was rag dolling through the air. Fortunately, I moved far away to dodge the vacuum created by the explosion therefore to dodge the pull of void being refilled. ------------------------------------------------- As soon as the call from the crystal disconnected Dexter, Maximus and Titus ran off in 3 direction. Maximus to prepare the ingredients while Titus to get the resident magi healer to the gates. Dexter opened the gates just in time to witness how crazy their sponsee could be to get his ways. *Boom* A beautiful mushroom of yellow and orange grew in the distance while he saw John flying through the air towards the residence. "Madman!" Dexter stated as he caught him mid-air while slowly travelling with him to reduce the momentum he was travelling to stop further damage from the impact. Dexter slowly laid him on the floor as Titus appeared with the rank 4 magi who was the current resident doctor. "What a crazy bastard!" Titus exclaimed as he looked at the severely burned and bleeding body of John. His face was so badly burned that they could see the inside of his mouth through the gaping hole in his cheek. Some of his bones in his limbs were visible while part of his stomach along with other organs was severely burned and easily visible through the abdomen. Dexter turned to look at the women at the entrance of his residence that had part of her clothes torn and still being burned from the fire from the explosion. The minor burns on her body unlike John, however, were being visibly healed at a rate apparent to the human eyes. She looked at her target lying inside the gate that she so proudly thought he won''t get past. "You lost. So, reign you killing intent in before you force my hand." Dexter warned her. She nodded and bowed her head before walking away. Chapter 75 - Episode 74-Getting high "How did she get hurt?" Titus asked shocked that a rank 4 defence awards user was even hurt from an explosion of that range. "She must have let her guard down when she thought she got him. I mean other than this psycho, who would gamble with his life like its just a tool to be thrown away, normal people would just give up." I explained as I turned around to look at the fully burned and charred John who was being healed by my healer. "Report!" I ordered my healer who seemed to focused on stabilising his condition rather than healing his burns and removing the shards that were sticking out of his body from everywhere. "He is barely breathing my lord. I am doing everything I can to stabilise his conditions. I am going to need another pair of hands to make sure he survives." He reported while visibly sweating from the intense focus he had while casting his stabilising spell. "I will go and fetch my healer." Titus said and I nodded in reply as he ran off. Maximus arrived a few minutes later. "Son of a %$^&*" a bunch of profanities were uttered as he looked at gruesome injuries on John who seemed to be barely alive. "I thought you were used to seeing these things since a long time ago?" I asked surprised at his reaction like it was his first time seeing an injured person. "It''s not because of that look at his face." He said as he pointed towards John''s face. I didn''t notice it before but now I saw it. Although his face was severely burned his lips on the left side was drawn up as if he was enjoying his victory. I sighed at this hopeless situation; we truly are supporting a crazy maniac. If my hands were not tied I would have personally made sure he won''t live for another second. However, unfortunately, we needed him for all of our sake, as he needed us. I walked out leaving everything to Maximus in order to find and pick up the other two who should have been with him. As I walked I looked at the site of the explosion. Now I understood the smirk on his face. It was smirk that only he could do. I mean he could have flown over the walls but instead, he directly propelled himself through the gates. Being able to use the explosion to propel himself through the gate while at the same time calculating exactly where to stand and which angle to face. The nobles and everyone including us thought he would never even reach the gates. But there he was flying through the very gates we thought he would never even see. It was smirk of gloating and arrogance where he said, "In the end, I am still standing." I suddenly realised something. *Dhun**Dhun**Dhun** Dhun* My heart was beating erratically. I am feeling something I have never felt since so long ago. I have only felt this a very long time ago during my youthful days. A feeling akin to taking those kinds of drugs that I was offered, during those times. A feeling of high excitement and thrill. ------------------------------------ "Looks like we won." Archer said as stopped his attack midway while the green firework was going off in the background. "Seriously you did but how? We had Isabella after them?" Said the man opposite him as he retracted his dagger as well. "You did? Damn, I should have expected that." Archer said in disbelief. "Relax, you could have done nothing even if you knew it, as I was there to occupy you." Said the man as he took a cigarette packet out his pocket. The man proceeded to offer Archer one, who took one from the man. "True. So how do you think they escaped?" Archer asked as he inhaled the minty smoke into his airways and enjoyed as he slowly blew it out while smelling the minty smoke. The man shrugged his shoulder as both of them carried onto finish off their cigarette. "I have to get going now. What about you?" Archer asked the man opposite him. "Meh, I need to get some rest before I go back and report." He replied as he walked off. "You better not make Albert wait too long Shaun." Archer said as he shook off the dust in his body from all the fighting. Archer traced his way back from where he split with John. As he made his way back from there he saw the fainted bodies of the two who were supposed to be with John. "Seems like Isabella just knocked them unconscious." He chuckled as he saw them. Archer carried both of them on his shoulders and walked back to the residence. As he was not that far away from the residence he saw an area seemingly affected by some kind of explosion. But that wasn''t what drew his attention. It was the excited face of his lord who seemed to be standing amidst the remains of smoke and charred ground. ----------------------------------------------- "He is waking up my lord." My external wounds on my abdomen seem to be closed off, but the burns and damage to my organs were still present. It seems they have managed to take off all the shards in my body without creating more damage. I opened my eyes and turned to the direction of the voice to notice the healer talking with Dexter, Titus and Maximus. It seemed like I was laid at the corner of the kitchen in a bed. That''s good as I don''t have to walk far. I moved from my bed and proceeded to stand up. "Stop what are you doing? You will worsen your injuries." The healer tried to restrain me back to bed but was held back by Titus. "He knows what he is doing don''t worry." Titus said. "No stop him, my lord, he has severe 4th-degree burns among other wounds and if he keeps on moving his injuries will worsen." I ignored the middle-aged doctor and his conversation as I walked towards the table with the ingredients. They all seemed to be level 10 ingredients. If I am right I can use my body for 70 minutes before it collapses under reopening of wounds and injuries worsening. The effect of food will take a maximum of at least 5 minutes and eating all of it should take another 10 to 15 minutes. So, I have to make something under 50 minutes. I proceeded to start cooking with the vegetable and fruit ingredients laid before me. I made something simple and easy to eat in my present condition. In the end, I ended up with vegetable soup and a fruit salad. It would have usually taken me roughly 15 minutes to usually make something as simple as this. But due to the injuries, it took me 40 minutes to make this, almost 3 times the duration. I slowly ate and drank the soup while ignoring the searing pain from the exposed nerves in my burned tongue and throat. After that, I calmly proceeded to eat the fruit salad slowly as my gum screamed in pain at being moved too much. After I had finished I went back to lie on the bed. I waited for 10 minutes as my body slowly healed back to normal. The burned skin slowly dried and peeled off to be replaced by new fresh skin. All my external wounds started closing in and soon I was no different how I always looked. My burned and bald scalped head slowly started to grow a large afro hair. "How are you feeling?" Maximus asked me, as I ignored the open-mouthed doctor besides him. "Give me a minute." I said as I felt all my broken bones being mended and popping back in place. I slowly got up and stretched my arms and legs. "Back to normal. How long was I out?" I asked back as Dexter motioned all of us to follow him to his meeting room. "Roughly 6 hours." Titus replied as we walked back. Chapter 76 - Episode 75-Precious My Precious...Memories "So, you are telling me you overfed the grey zone to extinction?" Dexter asked with doubt and disbelief visible on his face. I nodded without replying anything. "Impossible." Titus smacked the table not being able to believe it. "You can''t simply overfeed it to death. Grey zones get stronger the more you feed it. What you said is not possible." I smiled at them. "Who said I simply fed it?" "Huh?" Titus looked at me confusedly. "I let it starve and experience hunger for the first time its life. Then when it was about to go into stasis I stuffed more food than it can take down its throat." Before they could ask me anything more I carried on. "All beings need some form of energy to sustain itself, and all being uses some of the energy gained from their food to gather more food. From all the information I received I about grey zone I noticed that the grey zone uses negative emotions to sustain itself like humans use food and water to sustain themselves. So that means it must use energy to sustain the ghost and all it abilities along with the massive amount of undead inside the grey zone. Now what would happen if you guys don''t get food or water? You would obviously starve and slowly lose energy, correspondingly the same happened to grey zone, hence the reason I had Kristof and Ellis run out of the grey zone while I encountered the ghost, so that it won''t feed on their emotions. While the ghost splurged its energy to get negative emotions from me it slowly got weaker without getting anything in return. Once any being is hungry it loses control of itself when food appears in front of it. So likewise, once I made sure the ghost was starving without any negative emotions from me, I simply started emitting so much negative emotions to the point it couldn''t handle it and overfed on it and burst from eating too much." I finished off my explanation. Dexter sighed as he rubbed his forehead, while Maximus seemed to be thinking of something. "I still can''t believe what you are saying brat. Do you think we didn''t know about the fact that negative emotions are its source of energy and haven''t starving it before? We have tried various methods before of suppressing peoples negative emotions and sending them all in. But none of it worked as some kind of negative emotions all was leaks out of those people. In fact, we have tried using mind-controlled slaves and send in undeads conjured by necromancers while their master stood outside. But it all failed, so how do you explain how you could succeed in holding back your negative emotions when all the others couldn''t?" Titus questioned. I smiled before pointing towards my head using my index finger "Unlike them this thing of mine is much more powerful than them." Titus seemed to be ticked off and was about to argue with me when Maximus interrupted "Fine say that you can perfectly control your emotions, how did you manage to overfeed it? You have to know that there are records of people once trying your method. They send hundreds of people into a grey zone at once in order to overfeed it with negative emotions, but in the end other than ranking that grey zone up and losing hundreds of lives it did nothing to that grey zone." "That''s easy," I smirked as all three of them seemed interested how 1 person managed to do what hundreds couldn''t. "I have so much negative emotions stored in here." I said as I pointed to my head again. There was a silence for a few moments before Titus couldn''t take the silence anymore. "Bull crap. You think you experienced worse things than any one of us in your feeble amount of lifespan let alone that of 100 people?" said an enraged Titus. "If you don''t want to tell us your methods just say it. You don''t have to lie about it." Dexter said as he shook his head. Before Maximus could also start I started off "If you don''t believe why don''t you get someone capable of reading minds. But let me warn you what happens to him after he reads my memories is none of my responsibility." I smiled at them. They turned silent for a while before someone initiated. "Are you serious? You would gladly let someone read your mind? You know we could get all your secrets from having your mind read." Maximus smirked as looked at me. "Brat there is no backing out now. I am going to have your mind read and find all your secrets." Titus had a smile plastered on his face. Except Dexter the other two seemed really excited to have my mind be read. "You seem awfully confident John. You do realise once someone enters your mind then you lose all advantage you hold over us?" "I do realise that, but that''s if he is capable of telling you what he sees in memories. You think that what a being whose very existence depends on feeding on negative emotion was unable to handle what it saw in my memory a normal being can?" Suddenly the smile on Titus'' and Maximus'' face froze. "Bring it on." I pronounced while smiling. ------------------------------------------- "Are you out of idea as well?" Steven asked me. "Yeah. I just can''t get how he managed to vanquish a grey zone. I thought he would have formed some kind of treaty with the grey zone. But instead, he managed to vanquish the grey zone in a record time of 30 minutes according to the reports from the guards." I replied. "What about the recording device from that brat?" I enquired. "Nothing much. Both of them ran out of the grey zone as soon as John entered the room. According to the footage, the vanquishing time is 20 minutes instead of the reported 30 minutes." I sighed thinking how someone could vanquish a grey zone so quickly. "How are your investigations going on the informer?" I asked Steven. "Again, nothing much. The person who delivered the letter to Springwood household apparently was hired by somebody to do it for them. From their description it seemed to be from a man, with very muscular build carrying a very large sword. That person tasked the messenger to deliver the letter on a set date and rewarded them 10 gold. The date seemed to be the day before the incident. They were told if the job was completed further reward would be given. However, it seemed that the talk about further reward was just a lie to make sure the messenger did the job and didn''t laze around, as the stranger never appeared to the messenger after that. The messenger didn''t seem too upset at losing his potential reward as 10 gold in itself is a huge reward for what he considered as a small job and considering his living condition as a low-class family man. We lost all track of the mysterious stranger after that." Steven replied visibly frustrated that number of shadows that aren''t being controlled by them seemed to have increased. "You think it could be interference from Dexter?" I asked as I felt a headache coming. "Not possible unless they detected you? Did they?" I shook my head as I personally made sure that none of them detected me on that day when I went to visit Ellis. "Then could he have betrayed us?" "That might be possible. But I would have to see him to know that. But why do you think it wasn''t Dexters interference?" I asked him. "He wouldn''t leave any trace. He would make sure to lick the plate clean if it was him, leaving not even the trace of messenger for us. So, either he didn''t know about this investigation or he simply concluded that investigating this mysterious strange would lead everyone to a dead end and didn''t bother." I nodded that seemed to be just like Dexter. I breathed and was about to leave when Smith arrived with a trace of perplexity and partial excitement. "His highness needs to see you both." He said. "What happened?" Steven asked. "Dexter just called in..." Smith trailed of excitedly as if he wanted us to ask him what it was. Seeing that we remained silent he carried on visibly annoyed "He wants to get Johns mind read." I froze for a moment. Not believing what he said. Countless thoughts and ideas whirled past my mind why he would request such a thing. "Could it be John pissed him off finally?" "The straw that broke the camel''s back." Smith chipped in as he started running off to the palace followed by us "Strange." Steven murmured. "What is?" I enquired. "Both of them know their boundary. They wouldn''t casually just annoy each to the state of intolerable. Besides Dexter is a very patient person, even if he managed to piss the other two off, Dexter''s not the kind of person to easily lose his calm." Steven explained. "You think they are trying to do something." I tried pondering what they could be planning. "I don''t know. We will find out soon enough." I said as all three of us increased our speed to the palace. Chapter 77 - Episode 76-Stable Minds "They will be here in a few minutes are you sure about this?" Maximus asked me worriedly. Having too many secrets can often paint a target on a person especially when one of the secrets is really not that important. So, it is devisable to sometimes get rid of those secrets, so you seem much more pleasing to the eyes of others. "Once we are done with this we can make sure those guys won''t ever team up again in the foreseeable future. That itself is worth the risk." I replied. "Again, I am not sure your plan will succeed. We don''t even know if they were fighting over her in that restaurant at that time. If they were sure your plan will succeed but what if they weren''t fighting over her?" Titus asked "The primary reward from this is getting their claws from my back. I have to let them know and see that I am capable of overfeeding the grey zone. The splitting of their alliance is only a secondary reward. Even if they weren''t fighting over her in the restaurant I am pretty sure they will be once they see what happens today." I smiled as I clarified the plan to Titus. "You guys relax. Either way, we win today. If they read his memory, it will prove our innocence. If they can''t read his memory then we just need to watch from the side-lines as they fight amongst themselves." Dexter calmly explained while smiling. "Hmm, that''s true. We got nothing to lose here. Hahaha" Titus started laughing while Maximus just smirked from the side. ------------------------------------------------ "Remember Jerry leave no memories unturned. His highness wants you to scourge through every single memory of him even if it leaves him dead. We will stop them if they interfere with your reading." Butler Smith instructed me for the 5th time, while Lord Cason and Lord Thorn moved ahead. Seriously I get it. Why are they so concerned? This is not my first memory reading not to mention this one is apparently being done out of self-voluntarily. Doing reading on a guarded person is hard but manageable for someone as experienced as I am in this field, so doing it to a person who is willingly opening his mind for me is like opening the gates to bandits and robbers, they leave no stone unturned. We arrived at the residence of Lord Dexter. Butler Smith went forward to knock on the door. We waited out in silence for only a few seconds before the butler of the household opened the door and welcomed us in. He kept looking at me as he guided us in. Is there something wrong with me? I checked myself over to see if there was anything on my clothes. Hmm, nothing then what''s wrong? We soon entered what seemed to be a visiting room. 4 people were sat on the couch on the left side as they observed us. I spotted his highness sat at the far end of left-hand side casually sleeping. "Why are you two here? I can understand Smith being here due to looking after the situation as the representative of his highness" Questioned Titus towards Lord Steven and Lord Albert. "I am here to make sure to provide support in case any mishaps happen. Hahaha. Also, I heard food was provided after everything is over is that true?" Albert asked while looking at the sleeping his highness John, who seemed pretty relaxed as if it wasn''t his memory which was going to be read. "I was asked to provide protection as the roads aren''t safe." Steven replied. These seemed to be the excuse Lord Thorn and Cason seemed to have prepared. They came here under the order of his majesty along with butler Smith to stop Lord Dexter and co, in case they wanted to stop the memory reading. Although not adequate enough Lord Bloodfist seemed satisfied by the answer. Seriously why do they not even question this lame excuse? Suddenly the room turned very quiet as everyone seemed to be having a staring contest. The tension in the room rose as I observed the silent war going on. I think I prefer being in the dark grim torture room obtaining memories from prisoners than being here. "Yawn... Oh, you guys are here. Let''s start, I need to sleep after this." Said his highness without a care as he stood up and walked towards me while breaking the tension in the room. "I am ready. What should I do?" His highness asked me as he stood in front of me. His thin frame along with his strange overgrown afro hair kept distracting me for a while before I started explaining. "Your highness I suggest you getting in the most comfortable position possible while letting your mind open for me." "Can you access my memories in sleep as I am most comfortable in my sleep?" "..." I was speechless for a few seconds. This is the first time I have ever seen anyone so relaxed at getting their memories read. Every person would show some kind of reluctance to let a person enter inside your mind and read your memories, but here was a person who didn''t give a damn. "Your highness I need you to be awake while I access your memories." I answered after a while. His highness nodded before walking back to the couch he was sat at. "Can you move? I need to lie down to be comfortable." His highness asked Lord Bloodfist who seemed to be sat on the same couch as his highness. "Get lost. I am not moving." Lord Bloodfist answered back. "Fine." His highness answered before grabbing the cushion on the couch. He threw the cushion on the floor before placing his head on the cushion and lying on the floor on his stomach as if he was sleeping. "I am ready." He mumbled. "This.." I turned towards butler Smith who just nodded along with Lord Cason. While Lord Thorn seemed too focused on glaring at Lord Maximus. I went towards his highness and was about to place my hand on his forehead when suddenly his highness got up. "Wait a second." Suddenly I could feel everyone''s gaze on us as his highness got few papers out his pocket. "Can one of you pass me a pen?" Lord Thorn suddenly threw a pen towards his highness who caught it. "Right I need you to sign these few papers along with the rest of you before we proceed." His highness explained while passing me few papers. "What is this, your highness?" I asked. "It''s a statement disclosure from you saying that if anything happens to you because of you reading my memory then I or anyone here will not be held responsible and is not responsible. Everyone here will sign it as being witness to this agreement and keep a copy including you and me. Along with you not objecting to the whole event here being recorded. This is just in case something happens and you all decide to sue me inside the royal courts." I suddenly felt not so confident at reading his highness'' memory. But I remembered the oath I took when I was offered the chance of awakening my award. Reluctantly I signed the many papers along with everyone else. "Here is your copy." His highness said as he passed a paper to each one of us. Lord Cason and butler Smith didn''t seem to happy at what his highness was doing as well as delaying the inevitable. "Ok, let''s carry on." His highness said as he lied back like he did before. Without wasting any more time I placed my hand on his highness'' forehead. I activated my award as I slowly felt myself entering into his highness'' mind. "Hmm, strange." I thought out loud as I observed very dark room with the only thing giving out brightness in here being a white door. This was one of the most stable minds I have ever seen. Usually when I enter a person''s mind what I first see is a very chaotic world. The more stable a person is the less chaotic it is in their mind. I walked towards the bright door. Everyone no matter how willing they are will always try and guard their memory subconsciously. Their mind does this automatically and most people guard it in different forms. The more willingly a person was when conscious when doing this, the less obstacle a reader like me have to face against the subconscious mind. His highness seemed to be very willing in the outside but part of his subconscious still guarded his mind in the form of a closed bright door. I walked towards the door but was surprised to see the door was not locked and easily opened when I pushed the handle down. I could feel something wet on my arm as I was slowly opening the door. I looked towards my naked arm to see it was droplets clear liquid. It seemed to be coming from my face. I touched my face to notice that I was crying. ''But why am I crying'' I thought as I fully opened the door. I opened the bright door and entered to see a shining person across me standing awaiting me in his glorious smile. Seeing him I wept and I cried but... Why? Chapter 78 - Episode 77-Innocence "Is that tears?" Albert asked as everyone observed the face of Jerry whose eyes started pouring tears out. "Something is wrong." Smith said as he prepared to move and interfere with the reading. "I am pretty sure his highness won''t appreciate that would he Smith?" Maximus said as he blocked Smith from interfering with the reading. "What are you doing?" Smith asked as faced against Maximus. "Simply doing the job you guys are supposed to be doing." Dexter replied as he blocked the fist of Steven, while the blast of their impact spread across the room, throwing everything in the room in chaos. "Just patiently wait until he finishes his reading then you guys can go check on him. Or you can try the hard way but unlike last time old man I am prepared this time" Titus said as crackled his fist while smiling towards Albert. "Hehehe strangely our roles indeed have been swapped. The defenders have become attackers and the attacker turns to be defenders. Hahaha" Albert laughed as he observed Titus. "Now Steven just stay calm and wait till everything is over. I am pretty sure the reading will be finished in the next few minutes. Do you want to ruin the memory of you visiting my home after so long?" Dexter said as he pushed Steven back. "You guys are planning something. I knew it the moment I saw how relaxed he was." Steven replied. "Now the worst that can happen is John dying. You guys have nothing to lose here by staying still. Otherwise, don''t force my hand as you maniacs fight and destroy my house. Remember you are in my territory right now." Dexter warned everyone. Suddenly everyone sensed the agents inside the house ready for battle. "Oi, oi we are in the same team. Why the hell are you threatening us as well?" Titus asked as he felt several agents targeting him as well. "Like I told him. You are inside my house and I don''t like it to see it damaged by anyone even if you are my son or friend." Dexter replied. "Smith stay back. They are right we got nothing to lose." Albert ordered while moving back to sit down. "Although you are getting old your brain hasn''t." Complimented Maximus. Everyone went back to sit in their old position as each one them waited for the reading to be finished, while observing Jerry and John will raising their guards up. After a few minutes John opened his eyes as he stood up and stretched, while Jerry was still kneeling on the floor. "Kid what did you do to him?" Smith questioned John. "*Yawn*...You guys wanted to know what happened at the grey zone right? Wait and see." John replied as he took the cushion from the floor and walked towards the couch and sat down after placing the cushion down. After hearing John everyone''s attention focused on the back of Jerry. Few seconds later he stood up while tears still dripped from his eyes to the floor. Everyone suddenly felt uneasy including Dexter and his group. Something didn''t feel right. As everyone watched Jerry he slowly took the dagger he hid inside his sleeves out and unsheathed it. He pointed the dagger above his heart and was about to stab when Steven moved in and held his arms. While Albert started casting a restriction spell. "What did you do to him?" Steven asked in shock as he finally saw the face of Jerry who was facing away from the rest of the people. Amidst the teary and snotty face, he had a smile, a beautiful and innocent smile that was lost to a person like Steven as he witnessed the darkness of the world. "He wanted to see my memories, so I showed it to him." John replied while Albert turned towards Smith who nodded. Smith started using his award, the mirror, on Jerry. "This is strange. I can''t sense any other emotions other than happiness ... wait, no, not happiness but something more than that." Smith shouted out what he sensed using his award from Jerry''s emotions. "Shit! ALBERT he is corrupting himself. Do something old man!" Steven screamed as he saw Jerry''s eyes getting extremely red while vein slowly popped out of his body, all the whilst tears flowed out of his eyes while not letting go of the smile on his face. Slowly Jerry freed himself from the restriction placed upon him as his strength grew as he slowly started to be corrupted. "It''s too late. Get ready for a fight." Albert said as he weaved a spell to fight the very soon to be corrupted, Jerry. Steven moved back while all the commandments and Smith got ready to put down the corrupted Jerry. Jerry turned around to face them as his body slowly started gaining a reddish tint. For the first time, everyone else apart from Steven and John saw his face. They too for a moment were lost at seeing that innocent eyes and smile on his face. All of them had a feeling that they would never forget that brown eyes and tear stricken smile for the rest of their life. "Thank you" Those were his final words amidst his teary and smiling face as suddenly his body started bloating. "The flip. Steven get back." Albert shouted. Steven quickly moved back towards the group while Albert casted a barrier around the bloating body. *Boom* Although the barrier stopped the shard of flesh and bones from flying everywhere and impaling everyone, the loud sound of the explosion couldn''t be stopped. Everyone kept their silence as they stared at the remains of what seemed to be Jerry for a few seconds before turning to look at John who seemed to be dozing off into sleep, in the couch. All their expression darkened. "Dexter, did you guys know?" Steven turned towards Dexter who was shaking in rage and fury. "No." He replied in a hoarse voice. "John did you cause him to corrupt himself?" Dexter asked as he reigned in his surging killing intent while Titus and Maximus didn''t care as they released it uncontrollably, wanting to slaughter John. "Hmm corrupt, who me? I have nothing to do with that." John said as he finally seemed to have woken up from his sleep. "Then how do you explain that mans fate?" Steven interjected. John took out a paper from his pocket and placed it on the table. "He did sign this. Remember that. It''s his own fault for not taking seriously of the warning I threw at him." "Brat take this more seriously. Do you have any idea the amount of pain induced by corruption? Even if you are an enemy you will feel sorry for the person going through corruption. Not to mention the other side effect of corruption if he had been fully corrupted. Now tell us whether you had anything to do with his corruption or not?" Albert said finally showing his serious side after a long time. John stood up and went to a corner to pick up something, while everyone watched him in patience. John went back and sat down on his couch as he threw the thing he picked up towards Albert. "Play it." John ordered. Albert played the recording device while he projected it so that everyone could see what was happening. "Fast forward it just after he corrupts himself." Albert followed as what he said while everyone watched in mourning at Jerry''s corruption. They saw how Steven alerted everyone then Albert ordering everyone to prepare for a fight. Followed by Jerry turning around and saying ''thank you'' before exploding. "Play the thank you again." John casually told Albert as everyone focused on the screen. "Thank you" They repeatedly heard Jerry saying his last final words over and over again. "He is happy he died." John gave his verdict and his explanation without any emotion, as he relaxed back into his couch. Everyone suddenly realised how ruthless and emotionless he was. Not even bothered about the death of a person who was nearly corrupted. Even they who witnessed the scene felt guilty for something like this happening yet the person who caused all this sat there as if nothing had ever happened. Suddenly Smith ran towards John with bloodshot eyes. "Restrain." Albert casted another of the same spell on Smith who would have killed John in the next second. "RELEASE ME! FREAKS LIKE HIM SHOULDN''T LIVE! HE SHOULD DIE AND SUFFER!" Screamed Smith while being restrained. "SHUT UP! JOHN, do you have any idea of what you nearly cursed Jerry with? Now tell us what you did or even I won''t stop him." Albert shouted in rage. "Hahahahahahahahaha!" John started laughing like a mad man for a while before he stopped. "I did it? You think I corrupted him? Rewind the video and watch him from the moment he stands up. Then see who is the one who caused him to be corrupted you blind fools." They did as he said, thinking they might have missed something out. However, after watching the video again with careful vigilance and observation they noticed out the ordinary other than Steven restraining Jerry while Albert casted restraining spell to stop him from killing himself. They all turned towards John waiting for an explanation, "You guys don''t see it do you. You guys caused his corruption." John blamed everyone as he finally sat straight up and looked at each one them. All of them shook in fury and some of them were to about to vent their anger on John for the misfortune Jerry just experienced. But before they could move John interrupted their action as he said "Who was the one who coerced that person to come here and get my mind read? You lot and your almighty emperor. For what? Nothing other than your greed and pride at wanting everything from me and that muppet in the shadows wanting to be in control." Smith''s eyes shone in resentment as he struggled to free himself even more while hearing how the person he loyally swore to serve was being blatantly being insulted by the same person again and again now. "I warned all of you and had Dexter inform to you guys before you came here that whoever read my mind will not be able to handle it. I even warned the very person reading my mind and had him sign a declaration, warning him of his death in front of you all. Yet you fools who thought you are always in control and wanted everything couldn''t help at the face of greed could you. I saw the reluctance in his eyes as he signed the contract. The oath binding him to follow your orders to his death. You guys wanted to read my memory so he entered my mind and I showed him my memories. What he saw in my memories couldn''t be handled by him. But you fools out of your own greed had to stop him from killing himself. He didn''t want to wait any longer to die and knew you guys wouldn''t let him die any time soon till he spilt everything he saw. So, he chose the next best thing he could do to die soon. Corruption. Did you guys even bother to think for a moment who he was thanking and why before he died? Let me tell you it wasn''t me he was thanking but you blinded greedy rats. He was glad that you greed blinded idiots wouldn''t at least prevent his last attempt to aim for death before he got corrupted and had to spend the rest of eternity suffering. You guys still don''t get it do you. Then let me make this clear to you. When he was about to choose death you guys stopped him and forced him to corrupt himself. So, tell me who corrupted him? You guys are the very reason he was corrupted." John explained as everyone went silent. Dexter along with Maximus and Titus remembered what John had told them a few hours ago ''If you don''t believe why don''t you get someone capable of reading minds. But let me warn you what happens to him after he reads my memories is none of my responsibility.'' They had thought from his warning that the reader would utmost be depressed and have severe psychological trauma, but never expected him to suicide like this. While Smith suddenly remembered the message, Dexter passed onto him ''John is willing to let someone read his mind. But what happens to him afterwards wouldn''t be our or his responsibility.'' "Smith, did Dexter warn you something like that?" Steven asked Smith as he turned around to glare at him. Smith slowly lost his strength as he finally became free from the restraint spell. He felt stupid for not taking the warning seriously. "Smith..." Albert started off but was soon interrupted by Steven. "The alliance is off." Steven said as he walked out. "Steven wait." Albert called out. "Don''t think I don''t know what you guys are planning to do next. It''s impossible to read his memory without a person going mad to the point of corrupting themselves. It''s also pointless of trying to get his secrets from his own mouth so you will definitely let her out." Steven paused for a moment to let what he said sink in. "Albert don''t think for a moment I will hold back if I see her." Steven said as he slowly walked out with rising killing intent. "Kid, do me a favour when you meet her?" He stopped beside the door for as he called out to John, who in turn looked at him from his couch. "Make her regret living for every second she has lived or is living." Steven left as the air grew heavy while Jerry''s blood slowly flowed towards them. Albert slowly casted a spell to gather the remains of Jerry together in a ball before walking out, followed by a dejected Smith. "Do you know who won this time Smith?" Albert asked as Smith followed him out. "They did." Smith stated dejectedly from behind. "No." Albert shook his head while Smith looked up to see what Albert had to say. "They didn''t win, neither did we." Albert finished off as he sighed while carefully carried the remains of Jerry that was meant to be send for burial to his family. "Then who?" Smith asked "He did." Chapter 79 - Episode 78-The Web Spins "Why are you here?" Titus stood opposite me in clear annoyance. "Can''t I come in to order some food?" He asked me while eating his hot level 10 food I just cooked for him. "No, you would usually get your agents to do that for you. The only reason you would come here is for something important. What is it?" I asked as I moved away from him to not be dazed by the bright light from eating high-level food. "Let me finish this first." I nodded as I went back to lie down on my desk, while slowly drifting to sleep. The sleep didn''t last long as I was soon woken up by Titus. "What''s happening this time?" I asked him as I tried to stifle a yawn. "As you know due to the plague and the time it took to recover from it most academies are closing late." I nodded as I was aware of how all school dates have been extended into students'' summer holiday to catch up with the missed work. Usually, the academic year starts on mid-September and ends on mid-May. And the time in between was given as holiday for students. However, due to the ''plague'', all schools had to shut down from March till the end of April. To cover for the lost time the schools replaced the lost time by teaching during the holidays and shortening the holidays this year. So instead of finishing on the usual time of mid-May students finished on mid-July with their usual annual exams. I was sure if there were a group of people who held the most hatred towards the person who caused the plague it would be the students. At first, all of them were affected by the plague and had to suffer. Then when they came back to their school they had to find out their 4 months summer holiday has been shortened to 2 months. I am pretty sure their grievance would be countless times more than what the royal court held towards me. "So what? How is it our business whether they finish early or not?" I asked back curious at what new problems the emperor could now dump on me. "You see the magi academy always held their annual graduation exams 1 month after the start of summer holidays, mid-June. However, since classes were still going on during that time this year they had to postpone their exams till mid-August." I nodded as I understood where this was going. Before the start of the competition, the graduation exam of magi academy in the capital was directed and hosted by the emperor every year. However, since the start of the competition, it was the heirs'' job to host and direct the graduation exam each year, along with sponsoring the prize for the top ranks. Jack and James have been hosting and directing the exams each year separately for the past 5 years since the start of the competition. It was decided that James the crown prince was to do it this year as per the rota between the 2 heirs, as this is the 6th year since the start of the competition. In spite of this, I entered the competition abruptly which meant it would be my turn next year. So from Titus'' unusual visit, I can conclude the court to probably have pressured Dexter and co, into accepting this years responsibility on my behalf, so suddenly. Giving me less time to prepare for an adequate exam along with getting a satisfying reward for the participants, thus straining my reputation among the students in the empire. Before Titus could carry on explaining what I just deduced I raised my hands to interrupt him. "When is the exam?" Annoyed at being interrupted mid-way through his grand explanation he grunted "In 1 week." Then he carried on "Prepare a report of how you want to carry out the exam by tomorrow. I know it''s too abrupt, but Dexter said you could manage it somehow by tomorrow with that head of yours. Remember not to screw this up. Most higher-ups in the magi association hate you already due to the antics you pulled out a few months ago inside the courtroom along with suspecting you to be the reason for the plague. It''s a chance to present yourself to the future of magi society and build relations with some talents in the academy and slowly bring them to our side." I smiled as I thought about the future of those apparently talented mages. "What''s with that smile of yours? What are you planning? Brat if you are planning to fail all of them or screw them all up during the exam then I am going to butcher you. You think failing everyone will make them like you. Majority of the upper echelon of magi association already hates you, don''t bring that hatred down to the lower echelons. Along with that there are heirs of many nobles, merchants and mercenaries taking the exam. Screw this up and you screw our relationship with all of them up." Titus advised me in visible frustration as he knew whenever the same smile crept up on my face trouble ensures. "Relax. I know what I am doing." I assured him as I had thought of just the right format of test for this graduation exam this year. ----------------------------------------- "So that''s the general situation. Since you took the day off on that day, do you want to take part in the test since you still seem to be a student from the magi academy? But do note, you won''t be given any special privilege just because you are my follower." I asked Ellis as I looked at his guilt-ridden face that tried to hide everything he was holding back. Without waiting a second to think he shook his head. "Thank you for the opportunity your highness, but I had decided to take the day off to rest my mind." "That''s fine. Remember you can still change your mind till right before the start of exams." I told him as I left his room and went back to the kitchen for the awaiting customers/agents. ---------------------------------------- "I hope you know what you are doing." Dexter said as he finished reading the report I had on how I wanted the exam to go on. "I do. I want you to do something for me when I am away for the exam." I requested to him as I drank the glass of water. "As long as it''s not too excessive of a request." Dexter replied curiously. "Observe Ellis." I stated the simple job I wanted him to do. "You think this whole thing was staged just so they could meet again?" Dexter asked in worry. I shook my head "That might just be their secondary objective, diverting all of our attention to exam so they could meet. I am pretty sure their primary reason for forcing me to host the exam is something else." I thought back to how Ellis had reacted to Albert a few days ago. While Ellis was being treated in the medical ward of Dexter, Albert had approached him with all their findings on the man who sold him and his mother to the Springwood family. Ellis at first was very apprehensive and nervous because by the time he woke up from the severe beating he took from Isabella he noticed that the recording device he hid in his shirt had disappeared. He was worried that he had lost them on the way here. Nonetheless, all that pent-up worry and nervousness faded away when Albert informed him that they received the recording. In return Albert gave him a file containing all the details about the person who sold them off to Phil. ---------------------------------------- "This is not what you promised me?" I threw the paper down as I looked at the old man in anger that I had tried so hard to restrain, from my bed. This man had given me hope that night and today he comes in to tell me that they couldn''t find much about that person other than him being a male carrying a giant sword on his back. "You think the information that we wanted from you was adequate? We wanted you to follow him inside the Grey zone with the recording device, yet you came out just when we came to the crucial point. You are lucky that we even decided to reward you with this piece of information for your worthless piece of information. In all honesty this was a loss for us, yet you imply that we scammed you." The old man replied calmly with a subtle hint of threat in his voice. After a few moments I calmed down, as I understood their point of view. "The only thing you told me was to follow his highness inside the grey zone and I did it. According to the contract we had I partially fulfilled my part and you only partially fulfilled yours, so we are even. So now get lost and never let me see your face again. And tell whoever that send you that I won''t work for you guys anymore." I finally said it. Now I can for the first time in a while follow his highness without any guilt or regret in my heart. I plan to come clean to his highness as soon as I see him. I don''t want to carry this heavy burden around my heart while betraying the person who saved and gave me hope twice. "Hahaha, You think it that easy?" After a few moments of laughter, the old man questioned me while smirking. "You seriously have no idea about the damage and pain you caused do you?" What is he on about? What damage and pain? Probably seeing my confused look, he carried on "Let me show you a photo we took." He said as he pressed onto a button on a small cube which popped up a widescreen that showed me a picture of what could be barely described as a living person anymore. Chapter 80 - Episode 79-The Prey Caught in the Web The person in the photo could be seen heavily bleeding with several shards poking out, while his whole body was severely burned while parts of his organs were impending to escape out of his body. This is disgusting, even for someone like me who had to experience the gruesome world of the game realm. "Your mental fortitude is better than I expected, to not be overreacting to this picture. As you can see the person in this picture is suffering a lot. Care to take a guess who it is?" The old man arrogantly asked while holding the device for me to look. Something feels wrong. Why do I have the feeling that the person on the image is related to me somehow? Wait it can''t be ... "His highness?" I asked in trepidation and fear while praying that what I guessed shouldn''t come true. "Correct. Although right now, he is in a much better state." The old man smiled as he started clapping. "That''s not POSSIBLE! I was told his highness was safe and well. You are lying!" I rejected what he said, but in my heart, I knew I was trying to just deny the truth. "Do you know why his enemies launched an attack on him? Let me give you a clue, it something to do with you." No, it can''t be true. I was the reason for the attack we faced as soon as we entered the capital. I loathed myself for letting revenge blind me and let it harm the person I decided for the first time in my life to protect. "No, you are lying. I am sure I didn''t lose the device until I entered the capital. So how were you all prepared before that without even knowing the contents of the recording device." I still tried to deny everything going as far as possible to shift the blame away from me. "You are very smart and observant. No wonder that brat took a liking to you." The old mans smiling grew as he carried on. "You see that device is not your everyday simple recording device. It''s a live transmission recording device. Whatever is recorded in it was transmitted to us in that second. As soon as we realised John was capable of vanquishing a grey zone from your transmission we prepared our forces to capture him." "Damn it. Damn it. DAMN IT!" I clenched my fist tightly as the wound on my arm, from my fight with the maid, tore open again. "Imagine how much pain John had to go through in that state. Now imagine what he would do if he found out the person who caused him to go through that hellish pain was the very person he saved and promised to help." There was no one better than me who understood the pain of being scorched alive better than me. I had once half my body scorched alive in one of my mission in the game realm. But luckily the timer reached zero before I was killed. I only had to endure the pain for a few seconds before I was brought back and healed in the rest area. The pain I had endured that day raised conflicting questions in myself if I wanted to carry on with my path of revenge through the game realm. And here was his highness who had to go through the whole thing. But unlike me, his highness couldn''t escape from the pain in a second. He had to suffer through it most likely for a long time before a healer got there. "Any person that went through that sort of pain and agony would most likely have their mental state slowly go unstable. So in your case, imagine what would happen if he finds out you were the cause? Forget him forgiving you, he would gladly make sure to show you what true hell is for what you made him go through. Even if he pardoned you do you think he will remain sane for long, with the pain he had to endure that day?" Reality struck me hard as I realised the consequence of what I did. "If you are to backstab us let me tell you the very next moment this piece of device will arrive in John''s hands." The old man said as he activated another crystal showing the deal I made with him when he came to me that night. "YOU BASTARD!!" I jumped out of my bed as I grabbed him by his neck. "Hehehe, you think killing me will make your problems disappear? This is just a copy of the original. If my superiors found out that I died by your hands then they will make sure to deliver this on my behalf. So, think this through properly. Hahaha." The old man started laughing, while I slowly lowered him in despair. "I can''t do this. I made an oath to him that I will serve him." I tried explaining to the old man as much as I could for him to not use me. "Relax we know about your oath. We are not asking you to betray him or anything. We will just occasionally just ask you for certain information about John from you. That''s all we need. We won''t put him in danger using your information trust me. We just need to know what he is hiding from us. I will contact you again when needed. Take a rest and get well soon." He said while casting a spell to heal my bleeding arm. Suddenly I was in shock. That spell... It was a rank 4 magi spell. I never had the chance to kill him. He was simply toying with me. Oh gods, what have I done? ---------------------------------------------- Albert hadn''t checked the room for any bugs as he simply didn''t expect us to know about their secret deal. Besides he was in a hurry as he had to leave quickly before Dexter, Titus and Maximus noticed that he was not with Smith. We fully knew that whatever Albert was spouting to Ellis was mostly bullshit. Especially about the live transmission. Live transmission device required its receiver to be at least within a 100m radius of the device. If a receiver were to follow us, it would have seemed weird to the Emperor and Steven that our faction agents never spotted them and let them follow us, while travelling through our factions base to get to the grey zone. We had decided not to let Ellis know the truth about us knowing about his deal for now, as we could pretend to be ignorant about it while feeding those idiots the wrong info and moving them to our will. He will be living in agony for a while being controlled and manipulated for a while, but he has to face the consequence of his actions. "Most likely Albert might contact him. Otherwise, why would a training maniac like him decide to take a day off, considering the same person skips sleep for extra training. Something is suspicious when someone likes him want to take a day off." I replied to Dexter. Dexter nodded as he folded the report he just read. "Dexter I want no leaks about the exam even if they are in our faction. Is it possible?" I asked him. "That''s possible but the people in our faction wouldn''t be happy about having one of their family member failing when the exam is monitored by their own faction." He replied while sighing. "That''s why I will give people like them a golden ticket." "That idea of your is unique and effective but trust me it will cause a lot of annoyance among everyone including the commoners if you don''t explain it properly. Anyway, I need to get everything ready for your exams." He smiled in excitement. I shrugged my shoulder without a care as I walked out with the new hoverboard I had Dr Whizz make for me. ------------------------------------------------ The fire in the torches gave a fading light to the dark hallways of the prison under the royal palace. *Tap**Tap**Tap**Tap**Tap**Tap* The sound of several footsteps echoed back and forth across the dark hallway. Albert and Smith finally arrived in front of a cell and peered into the ragged figure sitting inside the dark cell. "Why are the dogs of the almighty empress here?" A cold sarcastic voice rang out from the cell to Albert and Smith. "You weren''t informed?" Albert asked in shock as he looked at Smith who in turn shook his head. "Inform what?" The cold voice asked out with curiosity. There was a brief moment of silence before Smith spoke up in sadness "The empress passed away 12 years ago." There was a 1 second of silence before a burst of boisterous laughter rang out "Hahaha no wonder her pathetic dogs are here looking so helpless." Albert clenched his fist tightly for a few moments before slowly releasing them with a sigh. "Did that women die yet? I can''t wait to see the look on his helpless face as his world crumbles before him." Albert and Smith listened impassively as the figure in the cell wished calamity upon Steven. "It seems like she hasn''t from how calm you two seem. Oh well, I won''t have to wait long before it happens anyway." Albert and Smith waited calmly as the person kept on talking. "Hmm since you dogs are so patient it seems you really do need something of me. It''s inevitable since you guys lost your master and have become stray dogs. So, what is it you want from me?" The voice rang out amusingly. Although the words coming from the cell was very insolent Albert and Smith listened to that person''s insults, without reacting as only that person could help them right now. "We need someone to talk." Albert replied calmly. "Hmm, is that person the reason behind both of your eternal youth? Especially you cunning fox, I wouldn''t even have recognised you if it wasn''t for your clothes and voice. But it is strange how the almighty commandments can''t get a piece of single information out of a person. That person must have either got unpredictably strong right under your noses or is very interesting. Who is it?" The voice now contained a tinge of curiosity. "3rd Prince John Field." Smith''s voice rang out in the cold and dark cell, carrying his hatred and rage for that name. "Oh, the son of the unrelenting berserker? " The figure in the dark stood up and came forth to the light revealing a very beautiful female of early ''20s. Her long smooth blonde hair followed behind her as she walked towards where Albert and Smith stood. Her ragged and torn clothes along with the dirt and grime on her body not decaying her extraordinary beauty at all. "Tell me what have I missed in the past 13 years?" The beautifully bewitching women asked as her cold green eyes pierced into Smith and Albert. Chapter 81 - Episode 80- Exam Preparations I slowed down the Whizz board as I finally arrived at the largest magi academy in the empire by 4 am. As the host for the exam, I am supposed to be here from the start to the ending ceremony of the exam. Dexter, Titus and Maximus had organised everything I needed for the long graduation exam I had prepared for the students. I walked to stop in front of the huge academy doors and knocked on it. It took only a few minutes before the huge ornated door was opened by Archer. He seemed to have been inside since yesterday ''preventing'' any leaks for the first stages of the exams from occurring. "Good morning your highness." He greeted me cheerfully as he closed the massive golden doors behind me. "Morning. Any leaks?" I asked back while observing the long empty corridor brightly lit from the lights on the ceiling. "Quite a few, including from our own faction your highness." He replied while smirking at those peoples misfortune. "Excellent. Here." I said as I handed him a container wrapped in foiled paper. "I was told by Dexter to make this for your." I said as I saw his barely contained excitement of wanting to eat a pie made out of Level 11 beast ingredient. "Thank you, your highness. I was informed you wanted to see the location of the first exam?" He asked me while holding the box close to him. I nodded as I followed him through the long corridor decorated with many awards and certificates along with other things on either side of the walls. After a walk of 10 minutes, we arrived at the massive exam hall constructed in the past few days. It had enough space to contain the registered 10,000 participants coming to participate in the graduation exam from all over the empire. Although the exam is held at the magi academy in the capital, the participant for the exam comes from all over the empire. The official magi graduation exam every year is held in the capital inside the best academy in the empire. This is because it''s close to the magi association HQ and therefore they can get the paperwork done immediately and pass the information to all branches. Rather than having a mini branch complete the exam send it to the major branch, then the major branch has to see if the test was conducted properly among other things, to finally pass the official graduation record to all branches, which requires much more effort from the associations part. Holding it in one place was a lot less effort and free of hassle for the magi association. However, a local examination can be done, only in extenuating circumstances such as not being able to make it to the HQ or if the particular kingdom under the empire was going through war etc. All those that want to work as a certifiable magi have to graduate from the exam. It''s a bit like getting a degree in my past life on the 21st century Earth. Those who have a degree are usually more reliable than those who don''t have one when hiring a person. Although a graduation certificate isn''t necessary to apply for ranking in magi association, but when applying for important jobs both a certificate and a ranking is required, especially for the big shots. It''s a bit like have both a degree and work experience on Earth as this is what an ideal employee is to an employer. "What about the invigilators?" I asked as I became satisfied at the layout of the exam hall-100 rows with 100 columns. Each student had a chair and desk each for their first exam. The desk had an in-built screen, that during the exam will showcase their question paper. There was a clock function built-in on the screen that displayed the remaining time for each student. Every 10 rows there was a row of screens displayed on the top, that was meant for announcements. "All of them are ready and have been informed. But I still don''t understand why you wouldn''t want the invigilators for the first part to be our own men, your highness?" The confusion and curiosity were easily visible on his face. Usually, invigilators for an exam would be a neutral third party, that has no association with the students, but for this exam, I hired 100 invigilators equally from each faction in the empire, including magi, mercenaries, merchants, nobles etc who had some kind of relationship with most of the high social standing students here. This sort of selection of invigilators will bound to have more people cheating and encourage people to cheat during the first part of the exam, as students could get help from their allied faction invigilator to help them. "It''s more fun this way. I would love to see what they come up with as they realise all their planning has been for nought. I have split 10,000 students into groups of 100. Each invigilator will monitor an area of 10*10 students, and they won''t be allowed into other invigilators monitoring area. "Has all students been given their unique numbered id along with the invigilators?" I asked Archer as I took a document from my bag to look at the special seating plan I had just prepared. "Yes. Each of them was given their unique id during the past few days including the chosen invigilators." Archer nodded whilst replying. "Ok. Make sure to inform our agents to double-check if they have the right id before giving them their badge during the registration process outside." Archer nodded while being distracted by the fragrant smell from the container. "Now we just have to wait. Take me to the waiting area, you can eat your food whilst I sleep." ------------------------------------------- I felt someone blocking my airflow which soon woke me up from my dream, only to see Albert pinching my nose, with his cheeky smile. "Hahaha, finally, you are awake. I wish I could sleep and laze around like you." He laughed while still holding onto my nose. "Why are you here?" I asked as I moved his hand and stood up from the couch. "Few bigshots decided to participate in the opening ceremony, especially your two brothers, so I thought I might as well join in the fun. You wanna guess why?" He asked me excitedly. "I have heard that one of my siblings have been charmed by your magi skills and had rejected awakening an award. Due to this, she enrolled in the academy." I replied as I stretched. "Yeah, but what does that have to do with all this?" He asked me back. "The day that sibling of mine entered the magi academy, it caused quite the sensation especially when the said sibling of mine is one of the fabled royal princesses of great beauty. That was the year that the magi academy received the highest amount of applicants, especially from boys of high influential families. So, it is only fair that when she takes the test those horny kids take it with her to show off and get her attention. Not to mention a few of these brats have quite the arrogance and the talent to back it. Which means these boys had rivals, who are not interested in my sibling, who decided to take the exam at the same time to challenge their rivals, along with few rivals of my own sibling princess. When the top magi academies most influential and talented students are taking the exams, it won''t be a small issue. This, in turn, started a domino effect where most major talents across all the academies in the empire learned that this year''s magi graduation exam will have lots of talents from the capital competing, causing the other magi academies to send their major talents as well to compete with them. So, it''s no wonder lots of important people turned up for the opening ceremony, including the other 2 Princes. As this year a lot of important peoples descendants are taking the exam." I explained to him while looking at his smug grin. Hence the reason why they wanted me to take up this year''s exam. As it has lots of major figures and talents participating, the exam needed to be suitable for them. If I failed to give a test suitable for their talent, then I lose the support of quite a lot of people who has high expectations of me, especially when I am so constrained in time. If I win nothing was lost or gained, as it assures those who back me that I am capable while proving to Steven''s faction that I am a serious threat and they need to take me seriously and slightly forcing Steven to bring the alliance back. The emperor and this old man must have spent quite the time thinking this through. Quite a brilliant plan. "Meh you are always so serious and no fun kid. Besides most of them are the same age as you if not older. Why the hell are you addressing them as if you are an ancient sage of some kind? Just relax will you?" He said as while poking his nose bored at my explanation. "They may be the same age as me, but they lack what I have, Wisdom. And sages are known for their wisdom old man." I humoured back, smiling at him. "I don''t know if that is a joke or not since it''s coming from you." He said as he walked back to the door, rolling the treasure he dug from his nose on his fingers. "Let''s go brat. Its almost time. I was told to bring you to the stage." I followed him, remembering how he skilfully evaded my first question to him. ''Why are you here?''. Most people in the empire don''t know the exact identity of the current commandment other an insignia representing that particular commandments family. This nut jobs insignia is a rose flower with 10 different petals of a different colour. So even if he entered the opening ceremony no one is going to recognise him as the commandment, other than the top league big shots, who will be forbidden from even revealing his identity. The only thing the rest of the people are going to know is that he is someone from a specific commandments family. But it still is a problem, if he were to sit with the big shots during the opening ceremony it will raise the doubts that he is a commandment among the public thus revealing his identity, which wouldn''t be exactly what he wants as the commandment who rules over information. If he were to act inconspicuous it would raise doubt that he is staying low as he really is a commandment. Besides, I doubt this nut job can sit still through the whole opening ceremony of plain old boring motivational speeches. So, he must be here for something or someone! Chapter 82 - Episode 81- A Good Person The entrance ceremony was held outside in a wide-open field, where a stage was built for the opening/ award ceremony. The first few rows near the stage had decorated and fancy chairs and table for the important people, and as it went further back these chairs and tables disappeared only to be replaced by posh long white benches. Each bench had a range of number engraved on their sides. This was for the award ceremony where the students would sit in their own seating plan given to them according to their id numbers. Right now the students were sat with their friends or acquaintances, while the teacher stood by the side in order to watch them like hawks and spot anyone making nuisance during the ceremony. I walked in with Albert while the noisy and talkative students were too immersed in their own world to notice me, except for a select few, however before even they could do anything I walked past them. The teachers that stood by the side bowed their heads in greeting as I went past them, with my usual smile. I could imagine the glaring looks they would give the students who didn''t notice me and carried on talking with their friends. I soon noticed a particular person sitting a few rows ahead of us as we walked forward. "This is getting interesting." I murmured as I walked forward. "Who?" Albert asked as he turned to look where my eyes were pointing. Amongst a group of people gathered around a bench a single person stood out amongst them, a very beautiful person whose smile brought light to the hearts of anyone looking at her. He smiled as he saw the only royal princess participating in this exam "Did you know I once thought making genuine friends with our status is impossible? And here I stand corrected as I look at her now." He lamented as we both walked. "You are not wrong old man. Making genuine friends with our status is barely possible. There is not a single person who we meet, who doesn''t hold a single thought of using our position or wealth to benefit their needs." I replied. "Are you saying those people around her are fake? Kid, I may be old but I am not blind. I can see that their smiles are genuine and hold no ill, towards her." He countered me with a wave of slight anger. "You care for her? Since when?" I asked him curiously. "Of course, I care for her. She is the only one among your siblings, who sincerely decided to follow the path of magi. As a person using magi wouldn''t I be proud and happy when someone chooses my same path when they are offered an even greater power." He replied back. "Anyway, I am not saying that her group of friends is fake. All I am saying is that she is not capable of bringing together a group of friends like that. Look at that group, it has a mix of people from all social standing. Do you think she is capable of that?" "So, what if she couldn''t? What are you trying to imply here?" He asked me curiously. "That group is brought together by someone else. That group is made up of a person who has a common link to all of them. Someone capable of bringing a group of nobles and peasants together and makes them ignore their status towards each other. Someone who is unprejudiced and loyal to their friends. Someone who is frankly a good person." I said as the princess finally noticed 2 people staring at her. She turned around to look at me and Albert as fear and shock crept up on her face. Seeing her unresponsive her group of friends turned around to notice us with surprise at seeing the fabled 3rd Prince of the empire, Natasha, while the princess was shocked at seeing Albert. ''Seems like she has been partially informed about me from her family.'' I smiled and nodded to the group and walked past them with Albert in tow who smiled towards the princess. ''Someone who is not here yet someone whom the whole group is eagerly waiting for. Either you are extremely good at manipulating and evading not only Natasha''s family agents but the other noble children''s family agents putting a background check on you, or you are a genuinely good person. I wonder who exactly you are.'' Probably due to the eye of this whole storm being silent and staring at us, slowly the noisy hall became quiet as I started feeling everyone''s gaze on me. We soon reached the front where a bunch of important nobles, businessmen, Magis etc sat. I smiled towards them as Albert led me to the stage, where amidst the headteacher and other important people of the academy sat Merlin (The head of magi association) and the other two princes; James and Jack. Each of them having their own respective bodyguard/ assistant behind them, including Tom. After greeting everyone along my way I walked towards Merlin who stood up to greet me. I could see beads of sweat rolling off his forehead. "Good morning Merlin. I believe we haven''t met since the last court summoning a few months ago." I greeted the anti-social head of magi association and shook his shaking and sweaty hands. "Good morning your highness." He kept his greetings simple as he looked at me in trepidation. "Relax." I whispered to him as I walked past him to my two brothers. I walked past him and stood in front of the childish crown prince. "Good morning brother." "Don''t you dare call me brother, you piece of shit after what you did to dad." He scolded me in anger. Before he could carry on Tom, who stood behind him, placed a hand on his shoulder. Feeling the hand James reluctantly looked at Tom who shook his head, while James helplessly sighed. "Looks like your bodyguard has been trained to retain you as well dear brother. You better heed his advice. You are lucky I stood in front of you to cover you from the public as you insulted their beloved saviour and hero. You can meet me in the observation room if you want to talk after the ceremony, brother." I warned him with my smiling face as he quickly became aware of where he was and his face turned ugly, as the realisation set in. I carried on forward without even waiting to hear what he had to say to my next brother. "I don''t think we have met properly. John Field." I extended my hand towards Jack who smiled back as he stood up. "No, we haven''t, Jack Luminity." He took my hand for a shake. "Let''s meet in the observation room after the ceremony, for some entertainment if you want." I winked as I let go of his hand as he let go of my hand. "Sure, I am quite curious at how you have planned the exams for this year." He mocked me knowing full well that there were leaks in the exam. I nodded and went to sit beside him while observing Isabella who stood behind him. I could feel reluctance and anger radiating from her. I showed her my typical smile as I sat down. Albert sat right next to me, while Archer stood behind me, looking very energetic and ready for anything. Soon the whole field quieted down as the headteacher of the academy went forward to inaugurate the opening ceremony. Not even 2 minutes into his speech I saw Albert casting a spell. "Now we can talk." He said as he started leaning back on his chair. "Did you cast an illusion for both of us or just you?" I asked back without turning around to look at him. "I thought you would appreciate it as well since you seem bored." He replied back. "Wake me up if there is anything important or if it is my turn." I told him as I prepared to doze off. "Wait don''t sleep. I am bored, talk to me." He said as he started shaking me. "Fine if you are bored I will give you something to occupy you. See if you can find the person that not only befriend Natasha but managed to bring about a group of people from different social classes together, without using any help from your network, other than your eyes and observation skills before this ceremony ends. If you do I will cook you for free the next time you come with ingredients." I said as I sat back to prepare for sleep after getting rid of his hands that were shaking me. "Hehehe, just get ready to cook for me for free you stingy brat." He replied, excitedly at the challenge he just received, with his cheeky smile. "Also, if you plan to pull a prank on me or seemingly forget to keep up the spell on me while looking for the person who befriended Natasha, just remember that next time you eat your food it can taste like shit." I warned him, just in case he decides to remove the spell he cast around me. "Say what?! Oi kid don''t do that. I wasn''t even thinking of anything like that." He screamed as he started shaking me. I ignored him as I went to my dreamland peacefully. Chapter 83 - Episode 82- The streets today was very busy due to the magi examination being held at the academy today. Many shops and stalls opened early in order to catch extra sales from the passing students. A boy with short brown hair walked rushed along the streets amidst the other young teenagers from all over the empire. He had promised his group of friends to go together for the opening ceremony. Although he was not late the young man preferred to be there first. As he slowly invaded to the front of the crowd he suddenly noticed something strange. A girl in front of him had just been yanked into a dark alleyway. Due to the victim''s mouth being covered and dragged into the alleyway so suddenly and quietly, no one noticed her except for the keen situational awareness he had trained since he was a child. The boy slowed down as he neared the alleyway. Casually as if looking around like he has been lost he wandered into the alleyway. The alleyway was littered with overflowing bins, shards of glass etc, before a short wall ahead, cutting the alleyway short. He observed the area and noticed the girl that was dragged here was not here anymore. The boy using his astute hearing noticed faint muffled cries coming from across the walls. Using his magi, he empowered himself as he ran forward and jumped across the wall and landed valiantly across it. He landed just in time to a figure layered in dark clothes, covering the figures whole body except her bright green eyes, slashing an ornate dagger across the girl, just for her to miss due to the black-haired girl moving back and possibly due to being surprised by timely teenagers arrival. "Move back!" The boy shouted as he launched a stun spell at the dark clothed figure. As the spell hit the figure, the girl who had a wound across her forearm moved towards the boy for protection. Seeing her forearm bleeding from the small slash he asked her as she cried "Are you able to cast a restoration spell?" As she nodded the boy sighed in relief before turning around to the person holding the dagger in anger. "Who are you? What were you trying to do to her?" He asked as he prepared and threw a restriction spell before the stun spell wore off. But the boy in response got only silence from the dark figure. Suddenly the boy became aware of the danger behind him and moved forward only for the ice knife coming for his neck to miss its target and caress his cheek slightly while leaving a small opening for blood to creep out. "What are you doing?" He asked as he became very alert now while looking at the girl who he just saved preparing another ice knife spell. The boy received no reply from her, other than a seeing a creepy look in her eyes, as she prepared to throw another knife at him. "Stop. That''s all I need." A sweet melodious voice came from behind him while the knife was lowered. The boy turned around to see what was happening, only to be stunned to see that the knife the girl threw earlier was held in the hand of the dark figure. The figure swiped the small trace of his blood from the ice knife and held it in his/her pale smooth fingers. Suddenly the boy felt a sense of adoration towards the dark figure. He could feel his heart beating so hard that he felt it would jump out of him. As the figure walked into the light he saw her beautiful long blond hair adorning her green lustrous eyes. Her beauty and figure were incomparable even when compared to one of his best friend who is known for her beauty across the empire, Natasha. As she walked close to him he could smell the faint aroma of sweet rose filling his airways gently. He wanted this feeling to last all eternity. But suddenly a voice in his head woke him up. [Stable Mind has levelled up] [Host has resisted the mind control effect] ''Shit! I was mind-controlled. She has got to be a rank 4 magi or higher to use such powerful mind control without me noticing.'' Although the boy woke up from the beautiful figures charm he acted like he was still entranced by her. He knew whoever the other party is he had no chance to win if he fought her head on, due to her being possibly a higher-ranked mage. He was only able to resist her mind control, due to him training the stable mind skill since he was born in this world. ''I will strike when she least expects it.'' The boy calmly stood by the side and saw the girl who he came in to save standing by his side. "Follow me." The women who tried to control him ordered him. Both of them followed her silently into a house by the side. She opened the door and motioned for them to walk inside. He walked inside in trepidation and fear. As soon as he walked in he was shocked and bit freaked out at the sight before him. There were numerous students which he recognised by their different uniforms signifying that they were from different academies. They were all stood still perfectly without moving like a pre-programmed robot army. He recognised some if not most of them as some of the talented students from other academies. The black-haired girl went and joined their ranks silently. He followed suite to not arouse any suspicion. The beautiful women closed the door and came in front of us. "If there are any group activities I want the arranged member to team up with me, while the rest of you join whichever group seems the best to get a higher rank. I want at least 1 of you to get into the top 10 places. So, try hard by any means necessary without getting disqualified to place into the top 10 if not top 100." ''Crap! Is she planning something for the exam? Shit, everyone must be there by now. I have to somehow let everyone know.'' The boy slightly panicked as he realised the exam he and his friends were participating might become very dangerous. Probably due to the slight agitation and nervousness caused by his realisation the beautiful women noticed him and looked at him. Seeing that his pretence was discovered he quickly moved forward, after making a quick judgement. The women probably were in shock, seeing as someone managed to escape her allure, as she stayed unmoving from her spot while the boy came up behind her. "A cut on your neck will make sure to kill if not prove fatal to you, even if you are a rank 5 magi." The boy whispered as he held a sharp blade to the side of her throat. "Don''t even bother trying to cast other forms of spell to case you neck or towards me. I am pretty sure a knife this close can cut through your skin before you even cast a stone armour." He warned her in case she retaliated. After a few seconds of silence, the fair women ordered. "Stand down!" The boy suddenly saw all the battle-ready unresponsive student lower their spell aimed towards him in union. "Who are you? What have you done to them? What are you planning to do in the graduation exam?" He asked the women. "Don''t you think you are asking way too much for what little you are offering." The women retorted back. "I am not offering anything neither is this a trade. Now if you want to continue living answer my questions." Although the boy was very tense the words coming out of his mouth were very calm. "I don''t want to. The most you can do is slit my throat. Do you believe you will be able to escape from here after you do that? Even if you manage to kill me and escape my minions here, my subordinates have already infiltrated into the exam hall, they will take care of you." She replied back as a smile slowly formed on her lips. The boy hesitated for a moment before replying "I am sorry. If we had met in a different situation I could have convinced you otherwise. I wish there was another way at this." He apologised as he slit both sides of her throat before running out, following him were a barrage of spells which he barely dodged while some made their targets. The women laid on the floor twitching for a few seconds as blood seeped out of her wounds without any break, before she became still. Her hair slowly seeped into the blood and became entangled with it as strangely the wounds on her neck visibly started closing up. The women puller herself back up, while holding onto the side of her neck where the boy had earlier touched her. "Come back!" She ordered the minions chasing after the boy, knowing full well the jeopardy he might cause if he were to get to the exam hall. A small smile became drawn into her unreal beauty as she reminisced the warm hands she felt on her body after a long time. The warm hands of a good person. A good person like her mother. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Special Authors note- I just noticed a website which is publishing my novel (https://fastnovel.net/pandemonium-of-a-lazy-soul-1485/) without my permission, although still under my name. I can understand this website lets you read privileged and locked chapters for free. But I don''t see what''s the point, when they did it for my novel since my novel here is completely free and will stay that way, till the end, without being locked behind any paywalls. Also, I suggest all readers on that website to read it on the original website (https://www.webnovel.com/book/14447318306461405/Pandemonium-of-a-Lazy-Soul) aka webnovel. Not because they didn''t take my permission before publishing it, but because most of you reader are missing out on the periodic updates I do on each chapter along with the fun facts I do at the end of each chapter on authors comment section which is not visible to you guys which I had checked. Along with that, I add important information relevant to the novel on the public comment section asked by the readers on the original publishing platform and I want to hear your question and opinions on the original platform. If you don''t still don''t want to read on this website due to other reasons, I suggest you to at least leave a review and comments on the original website, so that I know you guys are receiving your weekly chapter properly. Chapter 84 - Episode 83-Short and Sweet like Potatoes I slowly opened my eyes as I felt Albert nudging me. "Is it my turn yet?" I asked him as I saw the first prince standing in front of the podium talking about the mighty empire and its great ruler. "After him." He replied with his typical grinning face. Seeing his excitedness I asked him "You found that person?" "Of course, who do you think I am. He is the 3-last row on the far-right hand side. In fact, he has been looking your way for quite a while now." I turned to look where Albert pointed out for me and found him looking at me with anxiousness and impatience. "Prove you are not bluffing." I answered back. "I believe you must have noticed before; Natasha and her friends have been anxiously waiting for someone. Which means he wasn''t here when we arrived. The total number of students in the auditorium at that time was 9,863 meaning there were only 137 students not present in the auditorium. I was pretty sure they will notice him when he arrived, so all I had to do was wait for those 137 students to come in and see if I could get any reaction from Natasha and her group when they see him/her. He came in after the 47th student and that too in a mess. Parts of his uniforms have a small tear and wear as if he was in a fight. If you don''t still, believe me, you can look at Natasha and her group, they keep taking glances back at him." Albert replied proudly. As expected there is no better counter than a commandment. From the numbers I got him to do for me, sneakily, it is likely that we are still missing 89 students, but that number should be less now considering the time that''s passed. "Fine, your next meal would be for free." I replied just before a round of applause thundered across the hall. I checked the time to notice it has been 2 hours since the start of opening ceremony. The headteacher walked towards the podium stood there as the applause died down for the crown prince as he sat back in his chair pleased with his speech (probably written by the best scholar in the empire for him). The order at which people gives their speech was decided by me. 1st was the Merlin, then Albert, followed by Jack, James and finally me. "Finally, we have our host for this year''s graduation exam, His Highness 3rd Prince John." The headteacher welcomed me as I stood up and walked towards the podium. A massive round of applause soon followed, and I had to wait a while before it died down. "Thank you, everyone. I won''t take too much of your time as you must all be pretty tired from facing a harder challenge than the exams. Listening to all of us torturing you with our speeches, right?" Suddenly few bouts of laughter and giggles erupted from the students scattered out everywhere. I knew these muppets never understood the meaning of ''short and sweet''. It is almost a custom to have long speeches and talks for whatever function that is being held. In fact, anyone who never held long speeches was seen as illiterates. But what these guys forgot was these were 15-year-old hot-blooded, energetic teenagers, not 30-year-old office workers who needed annual company retreat to boost their morale. If there is one thing teenagers hates it''s listening to hours of long dragged out speeches, which is repeated by another person using similar words. "Jokes aside, I won''t repeat anything they have said as I am pretty sure you had fair deal of advice given to you in the past 2 hours about the seriousness of the exam and how to face it, along with its importance. This is my first public appearance and my first public work since my elevation to a royal heir. Due to that, I have given this exam everything I have got and hope you guys will do the same. Also, a small tip to you guys for the exam... Shortcuts will reward less." Suddenly the hall became extremely quiet as everyone tried to comprehend what I said. "The time now is 10 am. I believe I have arranged for a 1-and-a-half-hour break for you all now, to rest and relax outside with snacks and drinks. Your first exam starts at 12:30 pm but all of you are required to be present before the exam hall before 12pm. Thank you and have a good day and good luck." My speech didn''t even take 5 minutes and probably due to how short it was everyone was surprised including the students. The hall was silent for a short while before cheerful applause followed suite by the thankful students. This was precisely why I decided to assign all these idiots to go first, so they would torture these kids with hours long speech. So, when it came to my turn I would keep it short and simple and become the saviour of these bored students. "Thank you, your highness for that wonderful encouragement. As you have heard we will be having a break..." The headteacher carried on as I walked back to my seat while looking at the annoyed stares of James while Merlin was probably pondering at the effectiveness of my short speech. After I sat down Albert chirped in "You know although we are in opposite teams I have to let you know that was a really short speech. Those guys are not going to like it." He said as he nodded towards the group of important figures sat next to the stadium shaking their head towards me. "I don''t care. If those idiots avoid me for the shortness of my speech, then it''s their loss." I replied. The ceremony ended after a few minutes of instructions. All of us except the students and staffs left through the side door to a separate hall for V.I.P''s. ----------------------------------- Damn it these guys are really planning something. Not long after I had somehow escaped those mind-controlled students, I saw something scary as soon as I entered and waited in the ceremony hall amongst thousands of other people. Amidst the students, few of them turned around and looked at me, with the same emotionless eyes I saw back with that women. But strangely this time all of them smiled towards me at the same time and turned around. After a few minutes of that creepy event I saw the previous mind-controlled students from the house coming in. They chose to sit around me and looked straight towards the podium. After a while, I suddenly heard a voice "Miss me?" I could feel my hairs standing up as I remembered that same melodious and beautiful voice. I whipped my head to the side where the sound came from and saw no one other than one of the mind-controlled students sitting by my side. It''s that same voice. I swear, it''s her voice, but she is dead. Hang on this smell of rose fragrance. It''s the same, she is not dead!? But how? I could have sworn I killed her. Wait she said something about allies. Could one of her allies have healed her? That means he/she is also a high ranking magi. If that is so why didn''t that ally stop me? No, in fact, the better question is why did they let me go? "Stop looking around and calm down. You are acting like a crazy person." I could hear her soft voice again. I quickly realised due to my panic few teachers were glancing at me. I let the effects of stable mind come in and calm me down. "I am not here for you, so don''t worry. As long as you don''t interfere with my plans I won''t do anything to your very special group of friends." Suddenly my blood boiled as she threatened to harm my friends. "Calm down, like I said I am not here to harm anyone. I just want to get close to the 3rd prince, John Emberson. As you have already guessed and witnessed I specialise in controlling the minds of people. The people that hired me wants the same thing done to John Emberson for certain complicated reasons." I was baffled for a few seconds as she laid out her plans bare before me. Why is she doing that? "You may be wondering right now, why I am telling you all this? You see so far in my life everyone has succumbed to my power, man or women, beast or animals. Any person I tried to befriend I could control them and reveal their true thoughts to me. There was no mystery, secrets, surprises etc in my life. Life was getting very boring for me. But suddenly you turn up in my life being the first person to be unaffected by my power while being only a rank 2 magi. In simple words, you are a match made for me, so I have decided to fall in love with you." The hell? [Stable Mind has levelled up] I blanked out for a few seconds before coming out of my shock. What kind of confession is this? I have lived 2 lives, and this is the first time I am encountering a situation like this. The shock I received was so great that my skill Stable Mind levelled up instantly being already levelled up a while ago. I have received 2 level-ups for a skill I found so hard to level for the past 15 years of my life, in one day due to this single women. "I don''t want you to interfere in my plans, because if you do I won''t harm you, but I will harm those close to you. I can''t bear to see you hurt and broken, so I came here to warn you so you will stay out of my way. Please don''t come in my way. See you soon and love you." Suddenly everything around me turned silent as the 2nd prince Jack Emberson started his speech. -------------------------------------------- Read the original chapter at We b no vel. Chapter 85 - Episode 84-Oaths are Bad for your Life "Law, where were you man? It strange of you to be so late." Rondell asked me as I waited outside by the door for them. "Are you ok Law? Your clothes are torn? What happened?" Natasha clearly noticed the small details and questioned me even more deeply. Damn, I can''t tell them the truth, especially with Natasha here, since 3rd Prince John is still her brother, even if she doesn''t talk about them much. I worry what she will do when she knows someone is targeting her brother, and if that woman finds out then it''s all over. "Just fought with a thief, who tried to steal from me. Don''t worry about it. What did I miss?" I asked back trying to divert the topic. "Nothing much just the same boring speech, except for prince John''s speech. But you were there for that right? Best speech ever. People really should start doing what he does and stop boring us to death." Lewies replied as he stretched his lanky arms out, while Natasha furrowed her brows while remaining silent. "I agree, with that. I thought I would have to endure another 1 hour of words dishing to my face, but thankfully we were saved. Hey, Natasha if you ever see his highness John say thanks to him for me will you?" Rondell asked Natasha. "I told you although we are related by the emperor, us siblings are not close to each other. We don''t talk with each other much let alone see each other, especially John." Natasha answered back with a frown. "Although I agree with you Lewies that his highness had a short speech that made our lives better, he could have added more interesting vocabulary instead of using plain words." Ruby replied while pushing her glasses back. "I agree it was too plain for a noble, especially for a prince, no offence guys." Ian responded agreeing with Ruby while looking at us apologetically. "None taken, I understand what you mean" Ruby replied. "Not to interfere with you political bla, bla, bla but can we go somewhere else? This place is getting too crowded." The talkative and gossipy Maisy spoke up as she saw that her personal space was getting smaller by the second. We moved towards another spot away from the door after getting some small snacks and a drink each. "You guys prepared for the exam then?" Ruby asked as she wiped her glasses slowly. "Yeah, I have been training very hard for the past few weeks." Rondell replied as he fletched his muscles. "You do realise that we might have theoretical exams as well?" Ian questioned Rondell whose excitement slowly disappeared. "Yeah, I know. I did some revision." We laughed at our groups only so-called ''muscle brain''. Rondell was very bad at theoretical knowledge but when it came to practical he was a born genius, compared to most people, able to understand everything and anything once he tries it out. "Hey, did you guys hear about what happened to Ellis?" Maisy suddenly brought up a topic which silenced all of us. Ellis, also known as the talentless genius. The only magi apprentice who could understand both the practical and theoretical knowledge of higher-ranked magi spell perfectly. However, fate was against him due to his limited talent in magi accumulation, if not he would have been one of the few able to contend against me in this academy. "What happened?" I quickly asked as I wanted to know what happened to one of the genii of the academy. "I heard that he got beat up pretty bad and a few days later his mom died from her severe illness. Probably due to the sudden shock he received he quit the academy and went missing." Maisy replied back. I was shocked at this information. "Was it Phil?" Lewies asked. Everyone knew that both Ellis and Phil fancied Ava, due to this Phil would end up doing unspeakable things to him, such as beating him up, breaking his bones. He couldn''t even report him as Phil would make sure to heal him before he could report him, covering up all evidence and eye witness with his power and influence. We often kept an eye on Ellis inside the academy in order to stop Phil from doing anything against him, but Phil often found holes through our net and escaped our eyes. "I don''t know. But I bet it would be him." Maisy answered back. I sighed at this. Ellis was a very quiet person keeping to himself and avoiding everyone else. Due to his solitary nature along with not wanting to offend Phil, people avoided him, making him a loner. I often tried to talk to him and tried to offer help, but he simply shrugged it all and walked away. "I hope he comes back safely." I murmured worriedly. "Don''t worry he is safe." Natasha suddenly chipped in surprising all of us. Seeing all of suddenly whip our heads towards her, the beauty queen suddenly started getting nervous. "I can''t reveal much, but he is safe and doing well." She replied as she tried to smile us off. "Why don''t you tell me what happened to him, Tash? Girls secret." Maisy started poking around for information around the uncomfortable Natasha. "She probably can''t Maisy. Look at her struggling, she probably had to swear an oath." Ruby tried to pull back Maisy from Natasha. Oath. Something only Magis are capable of doing. Oath was the primary reason why most children aren''t taught magi until after a certain age or until they seem mature and wise enough to their supervising adult or teacher. There have been cases of immature children that have been taught magi to go around casually swearing oath for everything and later on ending up following the ridiculous oath they swore or facing the consequence of breaking an oath. Oath once sworn has to be kept for their whole life. If it was broken then the Magi will have to face a constant barrage of their own magi particles attacks inside their body, while unable to cast even a single spell no matter the rank, till they die. Swearing an oath is a great way of making sure one is loyal or honest to someone. However, oaths have also been known to throw relationships in chaos. If someone was asked to swear an oath, it is equal to doubting their integrity and honesty. So, when someone swore an oath without anyone asking them of it, it was seen as a great act of courage and loyalty. "Oh sorry." Maisy apologised seeing the seriousness of the situation. "That means he is under the protection of a commandment if you had to swear an oath of secrecy. But what would a commandment family want with a talentless person like him?" Ian being one of the 3 nobles among our group tried to guess Ellis''s situation. "Many things man. Although he is talentless, he is a brilliant genius. One of the commandment family must have hired him to tutor their kids, in exchange for resources." Rondell guessed. It must be true. All of the upper nobles, commandments and all the royal children was never once seen in the magi academy training. I can understand why the royal children or the children of commandment families never came to the magi academy but what about the children of upper nobles? Natasha was the only odd one amongst them. When we had asked Natasha once she in reply said for security reasons and that they have much better tutors at home. But that raised another question in me, why did she come to the academy if she had much better tutors at home along with having to face security problems? "Sorry guys but I am not under any oath." Natasha who turned quiet in front of Maisy suddenly spoke up. We all turned towards her, especially Maisy with a bright face. "Before that let me give you guys a warning and some background information. There is a name that brings sheer rage and fear to any upper echelons of the empire. Don''t ask me why, as even I am not sure why everyone fears that person? Anyone found to be in his association or in his presence without the other nobles'' knowledge are put under extreme scrutiny to the point that you will only have 2 choices after that: die or willingly serve that person. My family warned me that if I were to even be approached by him then they will willingly disown me and personally offer my head to others to prove their loyalty." Maisy suddenly gasped while the others including me were shocked beyond words. I have heard of how strict the life of nobles was after a certain age from Maisy once. She had told me that the pressure and stress she is facing is nothing compared to what Ian or Natasha is facing as she belongs only to a low standing noble family. Most people including me had assumed being a noble or heir of a noble was such an easy life. Drinking, partying, having money for anything and everything. However, this was only the case for low ranking noble families or children of nobles who abandoned their rights to be heir to their family. I wasn''t told much other than this. At first, it was a hard thing to believe until Ian pointed out to me how serious a person Natasha was when studying and always maintaining the perfect image of a princess. Till then I had always thought it was her arrogance of being a princess, from that moment on I truly understood the meaning of ''Never judge a book by its cover.''. She was always working hard and keeping up her facade even in front of us, not trying to ruin the reputation of her family. But being disowned and killed for being in the association of a person? Even when the said person gives her all to uphold her families image and reputation. This kind of uncivilised barbarism made me miss my home back on Earth, but I made a promise back then and I will fulfil it. Chapter 86 - Episode 85- Opening Locked Secrets "Why is it that I have never heard of this person?" Ian asked in confusion due to his family being a pretty well standing noble family. "That is to be expected and no offence, but your family is what is known as a mid-ranked noble house. This information is only circulated among the high ranked nobles and those that have the right to privileges." Natasha nodded as she replied to Ian''s question. "Does Ellis works for this person?" Ruby asked what we all wanted to know. "I can''t say much, other than what I have said so far. You can guess whatever you want from what I told you. I have already told you guys way too much." She replied as she looked around warily. "Why are you so reluctant to say the rest when you are halfway done, Tash? Come on just finish it, don''t let us hanging on the cliff." Maisy tried prying for more information from her seemingly not satisfied. "I can''t Maisy. As you know each noble family have their ears and eyes in places depending on their family strength. How powerfully strong do you think the information network, of a person who is the cause of many sleepless nights to many high ranking nobles, would be? Also, where would you think the eyes and ears of the whole nobles of the empire would be today? The only reason why I was able to say this much without getting his attention is because of a certain person here, and I believe he will protect me from that person''s eyes and ears for a short while." Natasha finished off as she looked towards the hall where all the V.I.P''s where gathered. I am curious now. There are way too many unknown things among the upper nobles of the empire. Who is this terrifying person the whole empire is guarded against? Why are they so wary towards him? If they are so guarded against him why don''t they just join hands and outright kill him rather than let him grow? Then there is the mysterious protector of Natasha. She said that person is here today. Who could it be? Could it be that person from the Thorn commandment family that was here today? But that can''t be possible. From what Natasha told me before, commandments won''t protect a royal child unless they prove their worth. Then there is the Supreme Magi Merlin. But it is a commonly known fact that the Supreme magi is a very anti-social person. But I can''t eliminate that possibility too. How about one of the 3 royal princes? But didn''t Natasha say that each of her siblings was strangers to each other? Wait... Could it be Prince John? He is known for his benevolence amongst the people. From what I have heard so far he seems to be the only kind person amongst the nobles who would help someone out. I have heard he visited the slums a few weeks ago with carrying one of its residents in his arms, that was beaten to half death. Not only did he treat that person but made sure to provide them with enough funds to move out of the slum. This became a huge sensation due to the fact that it was the first time ever that a noble had ever taken a foot into the slums(let alone acknowledge their existence) and that too carrying one of its own residence in his own hand. Usually, nobles won''t even touch anything as they had their servant carry everything for them. And here was a noble and that to a possible future emperor of the empire, carrying a filthy person from the slum. Not only that, but he is also in charge of the exam this time, meaning he is in full control of who is here and who is not, therefore being able to perfectly stop all eyes and ears spying on us. -------------------------------- As the ice crept close to my ice intending to finally freeze me fully the timer reached ''0''. The familiar distortion of space appeared before me. I closed my eyes in relief as my plan worked right on time. [Fully Restored after Mission] [All Assigned Missions Completed- 4 points] [Completed an Easy difficulty scenario ¨C 1 Point] I looked at the interface to notice I had about 153 points cumulated from all the scenarios and missions I had worked hard to complete today. Last month when I had first arrived at the game realm I could barely survive each scenario let alone do the missions assigned to me. My guess was right, personal skills weren''t included in the calculation for the difficulty of scenario. My sword art had helped me massively in many of the scenarios in not only surviving but helping me to complete the main missions along with many other side missions. I have done roughly 30 or 40 something scenarios. I had lost count after getting to 29. I decided that would be it for today as I wanted to see and hear something other than the darkness around me and the whispers, along with being put into situations where everything is trying to kill me. 153 point, I had gathered more than enough points to change my talent. I chose the power option from the menu of the shop. [Magi] [Unlock?-Level 1 K.I. acquired for this power] [Locked- Level 3 of K.I. about this power required to unlock] What! When did I unlock the level 1 K.I. for that power? If I remember correctly it cost about 50 points to unlock K.I. for that power? "When did I unlock the level 1 K.I. for the ability under Magi?" I asked bewilderedly to the whispers as I double checked my points to make sure none was deducted or taken from there. "Unlock the power then you shall understand." The many mixed voices of young, old and of many genders still freaked me out. Listening to what the whispers said I did as it asked, as there was no other way to find out when I unlocked it. I clicked the confirmation button asking if I wanted to unlock the power and waited as the words slowly faded away to be slowly replaced by new notifications. [Unlocked Award] [Award is now available in the Power tab] What!? Award! Of course, how could I be so stupid? "Show me the level 1 K.I. of Award." I ordered the whispers as I tried to settle my excitement and see if what I guessed could be true. [Award a power that you can unlock giving you access to one of any form of abilities which you can evolve and upgrade to your desire. Award users have much higher physical capabilities than a Magi user, along with their abilities being much stronger than their Magi counterpart.] This is the same thing I learned from Lord Bloodfist about award users. This means I don''t have to pay for these K.I. but instead, acquire them outside of the game realm. That makes K.I. all the more valuable. Over the last month, I have learnt many things, and the most important thing among it is there were too many secrets in the world I lived. Take for example grey zones and award users. If not for me being involved so deeply with his highness I would have never learned about these things. This means I can learn of all the secrets of the world and the only conditions were paying some points in return, while not being kept in the dark. The information I unlocked for level 1 gave me so much information about award, then what about level 2 or level 3 K.I. I had thought K.I. was a useless thing but now I understood that K.I. is the most useful if not an important feature in the game realm. As the saying goes knowledge is power. Just before doing anything I checked the price of Level 2 K.I. for award. [Level 2-250 points] It was too much point. I couldn''t afford such a price right now unless I did some more scenarios. Wait... I suddenly went back to the power tab as I suddenly realised something. [Magi] [Award] [Locked- Level 3 of K.I. about this power required to unlock] "Show me the price for Level 1 K.I. of the 3rd power." I ordered the whispers hurriedly. [Level 1- 250 points] As I guessed. If the 2nd power, an award, which is so strong compared to magi was expensive, then the third power must be something beyond the words strong, in order for it to require so many points for just to unlock the 1st level of K.I. Not just that, in order to unlock the whole power, I have to amass 1750 points. This just proves how absurdly helpful/strong that power could be. Chapter 87 - Episode 86-Golden Tickets All that was for the future. I ignored everything and opened the tab for Award. [Unlock and Create your Award-1000 points] [Warning once you unlock Award you will lose all your progress in your magi path that you have achieved so far, along with being completely incapable of wielding a magi particles and casting spells.] [Note-You can get it back if you pay for it from the Magi tab but doing so will cause you to lose all your progress in the award user path and have to start again from your Magi path.] Darn, it''s just like Lord Bloodfist told me. But this is new information, being able to revert back to a magi user once you are an award user. I was told once someone chose to become an award user, then that person will forever abandon any chance of being a magi. But here I am told that I can get that chance back, although the price of it is having to start from the beginning along with spending points. I was also told that the award you unlocked was random, but here I am able to customise and create my own award. But I couldn''t become an award user just yet, due to two main reasons. 1- I don''t have enough point to unlock my award. 2- if I were to suddenly become an award user I am pretty sure it would raise everyone suspicions of where and how I unlocked my award. And I can''t ever reveal the secrets of the game realm if I do then death will just be a sweet release for me from Lord Fake. So, therefore, I carried onto do what I originally planned. I opened the talent section from the Magi tab and decided to upgrade my talent. [Upgrading from Low talent to Medium talent] [Talent Upgraded] I felt no different despite just getting what I always dreamed to, strangely there was no sense of happiness or any sort of positive emotion in me. Why is this? Isn''t this what I always wanted? To have a talent for being a magi. Then why am I not happy? I stood there in silence for a few moments calming my mind before looking at the changes made on the talent tab. [Upgrade talent, from Medium talent to High talent- 1000 points] 1000 points just to become a high talent. It seems so ...cheap. I felt something wet falling from my face. I wiped my hand on my face to see what it was to notice tears. Of course, why would I be happy? The price I had to pay for getting my dream was my mother. This power is not worth it for what I had to give in exchange. If I could, then I would give up this power to anyone just to see my mum''s beautiful smile one more time. After a while, I closed the talent tab and decided to finish everything off by visiting the accumulation tab. Although I just recently became a rank 2 magi, I felt through my accumulation that my next ranking would be a long way off, due to it requiring at least 200 years of low talent accumulation. I knew this is just the beginning as each time I rank up, the accumulation I require for the rank after will increase exponentially. Hence the reason not many low talent magi ends up being a high-ranking magi. [1-point equals 1 year of low talent accumulation.] [Trade your points for accumulation?] The only reason I was able to rank up so quickly last time was due to his highness'' cooking along with eating high-level ingredients. It took me 3 weeks to rank up and that was for 20 years of accumulation. So, I guess that means it will take me 30 weeks minimum to become rank 3, which is roughly 7 months if I were to just eat the food his highness cooked. I can''t waste time as I had to get stronger. Especially if I want to escape from that old man''s clutches. Power and might speak better than words and I will prove that to the old man. "Use all remaining points for accumulation." I ordered. I soon saw all my points disappear while feeling my accumulation increasing by about 25%. I exited from the accumulation tab to the main screen. As per usual the whisper came back "Would you like to carry on or leave?" "Leave." I replied. "Very well. But remember you shall only get as much as you give, Hahahahaha" The whispers soon started to do their creepy weird combination of laughing and crying, while the view in front of me slowly distorted. I closed my eyes in order not to be nauseated by the distortion. After a few seconds I opened my eyes to see the familiar white ceiling I have been looking at for the past 1 month since I have been living here. I got up from the bed and walked towards kitchen to collect my breakfast from his highness. As I walked in I noticed the busy and open restaurant was unusually silent and empty today, not to mention the close sign was drawn up on the door. Where did his highness go? I am pretty sure he told me but having spent more than a few months inside the scenarios caused me to forget about it. I stood there thinking about where his highness could have gone. After a few minutes, I opened my eyes as I remembered. Today was the beginning of graduation exams. I went back to my room and checked the time. The exam starts in 30 minutes. The question is do I want to participate in the exam? I decided not to. There was no point in participating in the exam. The exam was mainly aimed at rank 1 magi students. I am already a rank 2 magi so going there would be pointless. Besides what am I to do with a certificate saying I graduated? I am playing with fire; I could die any time in the game realm or be assassinated here. A certificate saying, I graduated from the academy is pointless to a dead person. Having made up my mind I went towards the kitchen to see if there was anything there to eat. As I entered the kitchen I noticed a note on the fridge. ''Ellis I have prepared your food for today and left it inside the fridge. Just take it out and reheat it. As you know I am going to host the graduation exam. Although I already know your answer, I still suggest you come and take the exam. I am not asking because I want you to collect your graduation certificate, but if you make it here in time, I can grant a part of your revenge early.'' Attached behind the note was another paper. I turned the paper around to see what it was. ''Name- Phil Springwood.'' As soon as I saw the first line I dropped the paper and ran out, hoping I make it in time to the exam. ------------------------------------------------ The time now was 11:30 am. The students slowly poured into the exam hall, and gradually filled it up. Each student was given their own unique id number. Each desk had a label with a similar unique id to each student. The seating plan seemed rather random as everyone sat where they were assigned. It was rare for the students to have any form of seating plan during their theoretical exams, as their teacher and invigilators could easily spot if they were cheating, so students usually avoided cheating. It took would have taken some time for each student to find their individual seats. But luckily the seat were all numerically ordered from lowest to highest from each row, so that the front of the first row became number 1 and the end of the first row being number 100. Then the second row carried on from the last number, 101 to 200, and so on. Teachers were positioned accordingly throughout the massive exam hall to guide the students if they were lost or couldn''t find their seats. Soon before it was even 12pm everyone gradually got seated and comfortable in their own desk. As they all had a few more minutes till it was 12pm the students decided to talk with their neighbours to get rid of their boredom. However, to most of their annoyance, they found that either they were sat with people they don''t like, or a pompous noble or annoying rich brats instead of their friends or someone they knew or even a random stranger. So instead they all kept their silence instead of talking with each other till 12 pm. As time finally arrived a person walked through the side door at the front of the hall. He wore a simple casual black suit and white shirt. His short black hair was perfect contrast for his pale face. "Welcome everyone. I will be the examiner for the 1st phase of the exam. You can call me Mr. A or simply A." Archer walked in announcing the beginnings of the exams. "The exam this year is bit unique. You will find more about it as you go through each phase of the exams." The students carefully listened as Archer or A began his instructions. "Before we start, let me get you all familiarised with something you all will want to encounter within the exam." Archer took out a small piece of gold paper out of his pocket and held it up. The screens situated throughout the hall suddenly made the gold paper visible to everyone at the back or those who couldn''t see it clearly. "This here is what I call a golden ticket. This ticket has many uses, but its main use is being your life saviour. You see as long as you have this ticket you qualify to directly pass the whole exam instantly." Archer stayed silent for a few moments to let the information sink in while the teacher standing by the side suddenly received a shock and started talking with each other, to confirm if what they heard were right. Chapter 88 - Episode 87- Trolled You have been trolled!!! I am joking. I released this chapter to thank you guys and to give you an advanced notification. Usually, my novels rank is in between rank 1200 to 1600. For the first time ever my novel was above rank 1000, the past week. My novel got to be rank 970 something. Due to all of your support for me, I decided to show my thanks to you guys and prepared a gift. My gift for you guys have been in preparation for the past few days since I saw the massive influx of power stones since the beginning of last week. Wait for a while, and you will see what it is. This message will be taken down when the next chapter comes along. Enjoy reading. Chapter 89 - Episode 88-I Dont Always Get Flash Banged, But when I do its Because I Threw It "I still don''t understand what he is trying to do?" Albert looked at the screen blatantly confused as he sat down in the room specially designed for them, to talk freely away from the other bootlickers in the V.I.P hall. Letting all the children of nobles and high standing people cheat, this would obviously be noticed by magi associations eyes. The would obviously invalidate this exam and therefore ruin John''s image, by saying he is incapable of running the exam. "Maybe our guess of him was wrong, he simply wouldn''t have been capable of managing something of a large scale like this at a short notice. What do you say, little bro?" Jack replied as he relaxed on his couch while observing the screen. "Don''t call me little you piece of shit. There is nothing to say. He obviously failed since the moment he couldn''t control or stop the leaks that happened. Maybe he thought the magi association won''t notice if it was such a massive hall, but he was wrong right Merlin?" James replied as he caressed the beautiful women by his side, on the couch next to Jack. Merlin hated being in-crowd, he had thought maybe he could leave right after the opening ceremony. However, his assistant had forced him to be here by saying the HQ got some information that there might be possible misconduct during the exam. He had thought his assistant made it up to make him stay here but now he realised that it was true. ''Why do I have to deal with him? I really don''t like messing with him. '' "You may be right your highness. He could have quite possibly thought the nobles or other figures will vouch for him since he allowed their kids to cheat. But he is unfortunately wrong the Magi Association take these kinds of things ver...." Suddenly Merlin became quiet as he looked at the screen. Seeing him suddenly go silent everyone stared at him and looked where he was looking, the screen. The screen showed many of the students in the hall, looking at their invigilators. ''Did he notice her? Not possible, even he should find it extremely hard to notice her with both our combined efforts. But since it''s this freak he might notice something.'' Albert thought as he started to slowly sweat and realise they may have to enforce plan B. Abruptly the glass Merlin was holding dropped towards the floor as he started to sweat. "My gods, he truly is one of a kind." Seeing Merlin''s sudden change of demeanour, they patiently waited for him to explain. "Uhhh... Sorry, but I think it''s better for you to wait and see. If my guess is true, then I am pretty we are screwed." Both Jack and James'' face turned ugly as they realised John wasn''t possibly making a mistake, while Albert secretly released the breath he was holding. --------------------------------- "Now since everything is set, let me announce the name of Phase 1 of this exam." Archer was silent for a while as everyone wondered why bother announcing the name of the phase when they all knew it was going to be theoretical written test? "This exam is called Counter-Strike! Remember that name. Most of you will find it helpful if you do." Suddenly everyone looked at Archer confusingly. Why would someone name a theoretical test as ''Counter-Strike? "As you all know his highness prince John is the director of the exam this year. Do you know what the first thing he did when he was informed he was to be the host?" Archer questioned them. Seeing them silent Archer smiled as he carried on "He had collected all the data of reported suppression and bullying percentage, collected from all the participating academies throughout the empire. And to say the least, he was not impressed by the numbers. People of high-status bullying those of great talent just because they were of a lesser family." Those in the exam half who had experienced this clenched their fist tightly as they remembered their time being in suppression. "You see his highness had decided to punish these people today by humiliating them in public." Suddenly the blood of all those students who longed for revenge boiled as they finally saw someone taking action against the mistreats they had faced. "The security we had here to protect the Question paper and its answers were top levels, making it impossible for anyone to infiltrate. However, over the past few days, however, we have had leaks for this phase of the exam and the people who did it made sure to taunt us in the process and humiliate our efforts also humiliating our attempt to punish the wrongdoers. Due to this, his highness decided not to punish those people who have been suppressing the majority of you." Archer smiled as he suddenly saw more than half the students in the hall turning red from rage and having their hopes crushed at revenge. ''Noble scum.'', ''Bootlicker'', and much thoughts were going through their minds against Archer and John. But they dared not say it out loud in fear of being charged for treason. ''What''s happening? How is all this related to the exam? If they don''t do something things will go out of control.'' Thought Law as he started panicking while looking at the enraged students across the hall. "You see what the sneaky thieves never realised when infiltrating our defence was that it was all a trap." Suddenly the expression of all the people in the V.I.P hall turned ugly as they realised they have might have been tricked. "Each thief who came in was followed. We tracked down who they were working for, who they shared the leaked papers with etc. We observed these cheaters until they entered this exam hall and sat down. Through this, we became aware of the students who are in here right now that came here prepared to cheat." Although the students were still infuriated and angry towards John hearing this was like dousing the flames in their heart, as they knew these people were screwed. "However, fortunately for them, his highness decided not to disqualify them but instead give them another chance and let them write the exam inconsideration to their family and masters." ''What is he doing? There will be riot soon at this rate.'' Law looked for his friends who nodded in reply in case things go wrong. "His highness, however, had decided that it won''t be fair for them to write the same paper as you innocent lot since they already know the answers. So, with this in mind, he prepared separate questions that are way more difficult than the original paper." At the news of this many of the high standing students'' face turned grim. "However, his highness decided to leave a bit of hope for them. By having a messenger deliver the answer for those people during the exam." "That''s it! I am done with this shit. How is this fair towards us when those guys get to cheat, and we don''t?" One boy stood up in anger. "That''s right. Just because we are poor and not wealthy doesn''t mean you have to treat us all unjustly." Another girl stood up supporting the boy. Soon more students started joining them in protest, while the invigilators slowly closed in on their masters or allies suddenly on guard fearing that it might soon get physical. ''Get ready guys'' Law though as he started to gather his magi particles. "Sit down." Archer calmly replied to them in a subtle voice that was somehow heard till the back of the hall. Suddenly a terrifying feeling passed through all the students. The feeling couldn''t be explained. All the students had goosebumps and felt that something was about to go wrong. They felt blood flowing through their head very quickly as if someone had a sword on the neck. ''What the hell is that terrifying feeling?'' Law thought as he felt cold all over his body. [Stable mind has levelled up] [Host was barely able to resist the killing intent] Slowly each student that was standing up, slumped down onto their chairs, while the other looked at this event incredulously. "As I was saying before, his highness John has decided not to punish them before. The reason for that is simple." ''What simple? We know he is not punishing them because we are not nobles and they are.'' Many collectively thought as tears slowly welled up in their eyes at this unfair life. "The reason is he decided that instead of punishing them himself, he will hand them over to you for you to control their fate as they did with yours inside the academy." "Huh!?" Many of them were shocked while the invigilators got anxious and started preparing their defensive spells, fearing that Archer might send them the wrong message, and attack their young masters. Chapter 90 - Episode 89-Messengers "Look around your grid carefully and remember what you see." Archer replied as all the students started looking around to spot anything unusual. Not seeing anything unusual many got confused. "Look at where the messengers are standing right now. Look how closely they are next to their masters and remember that." This sudden revelation caused all students to realise something as they suddenly noticed that the invigilator in their grid was standing next to a noble or a rich person. "You see your exam will be a theoretical test and all of you will be answering the questions. However, the cheaters have an extremely difficult test, that without the help of their messenger they barely have any chance to pass the exam. Unless of course, they are a genius in which I wonder why the hell did they even bother trying to cheat. Your job as the non-cheaters is to spot these cheaters and make sure the invigilators never pass the answer to their masters. You see the people the invigilator are standing near are not the only people they serve in each of your grid. Each of your grid consists of at least 1 or more of these cheaters. There is another problem for you guys though and that is to spot these cheaters. You should note that not all of the nobles or high social standing people here are cheaters, so beware who you call out as cheaters as there are many good high standing people amongst you." Archer paused to let what he said sink down for the students. ''This is not a test, but rather a vengeance. All the rotten nobles/rich people are right now at the mercy of their subjects whom they looked down upon. But there should be more to this test other than this.'' Law pondered. ''What the hell is he doing? Does he not fear the repercussions of the nobles? No wonder grandpa called him a mad man.'' Natasha gulped as she looked around her seeing the prejudiced stare of many students on her. "How is this fair on us? There are many among us who aren''t what you accuse us of, do we have to suffer for what those people did. If any of us gets a different paper I will personally go to the magi association and file a complaint about having a different paper compared to the rest." A girl heavily loaded in makeup stood up and argued her case. Seeing that more of these rich snobby brats were about to have an uprising Archer spoke up "As I said and you have my assurance, only those who attempted to cheat will have the hard paper. Those who didn''t succumb to the temptation of cheating will have their normal paper. Now you may be wondering on what basis we are choosing the cheaters. I don''t have to tell you lot that, so shut up and sit down." Suddenly all the nobles/rich that wanted to protest sat there receiving the same feeling as earlier. They sat on their seats without hope as they realised their situation with rage. "If you still have a problem after this exam you can ask your family to come to take it up with his highness if you so wish." In the V.I.P hall, many of the nobles and rich gritted their teeth in anger seeing Archers provocative behaviour. Never have they ever been insulted so blatantly in front of so many people and could do nothing about it. "However, let''s not forget that this is also a theoretical test, therefore you lots should focus on getting the necessary marks to pass. Anyone less than 40% will instantly fail and discontinue from the exam along with any cheater reported and found, and they will be guided out of the academy after the results are out." Hearing this many nobles already lost their hope at even taking the exam. "This means you shouldn''t focus only on the cheaters but on your exam as well. Knowing that you will do anything we have installed cameras in each grid, capturing all the movements of people in that grid. This may seem like a massive disadvantage to the cheaters, however, fret not. The person behind the screens watching you cheat or me myself won''t disqualify you if we find you cheating. Instead, we will just let that person carry on. You see we encourage you to cheat or do whatever it is for you to pass this test. However, we will disqualify you if someone reports you for cheating. The cameras are there merely to prove that you cheated. So, until someone accuses you of cheating you are all free to cheat however much you want." The students were suddenly confused as they all thought ''What kind of exam is this?'' "Also, to protect the good people, all reporters identities will be kept confidential and to do that we have added a special feature on your desk." Suddenly everyone looked at their desk to notice a button on the top right-hand corner. "As you all can see this button lets us alert that there is a cheater within your grid. Within 20 seconds of pressing it, you will have to write down the name of the person you found cheating or any way to identify him, on the screen that will pop up above your answer sheet. I advise all of you to try it." The students followed what Archer said and pressed the button to notice a screen popping out asking them to write the identifications of the cheater. "Invigilators, you all know your roll pretty well by now. You guys should have memorised the answer sheet we gave during your wait inside the waiting room. I know you guys will be busy trying to sneak the answer to your masters, so here is something so that you won''t forget your original purpose at being here. Any cheater that you catch that we find is valid, will reward you with 1000 gold notes." Suddenly the students felt that their job as a student was worthless, and felt they rather worked as invigilators. "However, invigilators please do remember, if at least 2 reported cheaters are found in your grid without you noticing it first, then we will replace you with someone who will be absolutely useless to your masters. This also applies if someone reports you for aiding in someone else cheating. So, you guys better do your job properly and make sure you stay in the game." The invigilators suddenly felt a rising amount of hatred to the 3rd prince who designed this stupid exam. ''Why does he dump all the burdens into our shoulder? If they fail, those stuck up asses are going to blame us for their children''s stupidity.'' "If taking revenge on your bullies isn''t an incentive for you lot, then let me give extra motivation." Archer carried on to bring the attention of students back to him. "Any students here who find a cheater, who we find was actually cheating at that moment, will be awarded 100 gold. If you find any invigilators aiding in the act of cheating will reward you with 500 gold notes" Suddenly most of the students gasped in shock, as they heard the figure. ''Most of the students here come from a middle-class family or lower. Receiving 100 gold is like receiving $10,000 to them not to mention 500 gold. Along with that taking revenge on the people who suppressed them. If they spot a cheater it''s like getting two birds with one stone.'' Law mused at the rewards for the exam. ------------------------------------- "Unbelievable!" Jack stated in amazement. "What is?" James asked puzzled "That mad brat just gathered the trust and faith of almost all the students in there in one fell swoop, except for those of high status." Albert replied knowing that most of the new generation of magi will have their loyalty to John, due to what he did for them in this 1st test. "How did you notice it?" Jack asked Merlin remembering his statement from before. "Was it the golden ticket?" Albert asked as he slowly caught on how Merlin could have guessed. Merlin nodded "Amongst few other things like how blatantly he was allowing cheating to happen despite knowing that the head of magi association watching the exam, along with Archers subtle message of saying he was there to judge the invigilators as well." Albert suddenly realised what the odd feeling was. It was when Archer said '' I won''t be invigilating any of you, rather I am here to judge ... and the invigilators''. He should have paid more attention to what Archer said. "Although the one that kick-started my guess was the moment the nobles changed their seat when they saw the invigilators being someone they know in the grid they were supposed to be at." "Of course, how could I miss that?" Albert smiled as he realised where the first piece of the puzzle laid all along was. "What is it, old man? Tell me, don''t keep me waiting." James ordered impatiently. "It was their face little brother. Those invigilators were panicking when they realised their masters were coming towards them. They were probably informed of the partial rules while in the waiting room. They knew how screwed up they would be if they didn''t help their masters. Besides given the rule if they were helping their masters they along with their masters would become disqualified. They simply didn''t want to be in the same grid as their masters, so they panicked " Jack said teasingly to his brother. "Looks like all your effort just been drained down the hole Merlin." Jack turned towards Merlin and wondered what they would do next, while he rubbed his head with his glass which contained ice to cool of his rising headache. Chapter 91 - Episode 90- Alert! Alert! James looked at Merlin in confusion, seeing this Merlin asked, "Your highness do you know what the percentage of commoners is compared to the rich and nobles are in the magi academies throughout the empire?" James shook his head wondering how this was related to what Jack just asked. "Its 80%. The rest 20% forms the nobles, rich etc. During these exams, 95% of those high standing students pass with their families help or rarely with their own talent. The pass rate of commoners is another thing, being at 78%. This was and is through their own sheer hard work or talent and rarely ever been through cheating. Most of these commoners once graduated gets offer to work for some businessmen, nobles, or to join the army." Merlin explained in detail. "So what?" James asked still not understanding the situation. "You idiot, do you think of those people who could pass the graduation exam are useless people!?" Jack shouted back in annoyance seeing how stupid he was. Not waiting for him to reply Jack carried on. "They are talented people. Due to the problem we had a few months ago inside the royal court the magi and merchant association not only started fearing him but the repercussions they will face from the emperor if they were to be found in league with him." Jack slumped back tiredly seeing the clueless look on his brothers face. He gave up at trying to explain everything step by step to his half-brother while looking at his stupid face, wondering how he even became his opponent. James was about to respond harshly to Jack but was suddenly interrupted. "James although Jack was harsh he is right. Majority of the low-ranking roles in army, mercenaries, guards, police etc are taken by the commoners. And these roles are what''s keeping the empire economy and security together. Imagine what would happen if John were to raise a coup. Due to him being their saviour and having a high reputation among the public, combined with his notoriously powerful mind, we would have faced a severe defeat economically, thus having to enthrone him as the new emperor." Albert explained to James calmly, while James'' eyes bulged in shock at how the throne nearly went away from him. "So, to avoid all this along with to appease and show our loyalty to his highness, the associations'' upper echelon slowly started their brainwashing programme to make sure no one was to ally with him. We did this by providing false rumour along with many other things in places people gathered a lot. This is what caused the current split in the empire of some people favouring him and some not." Merlin began where Albert left off, while James sighed in relief knowing that there was no way for John to ever make a comeback. "This exam was set up to screw him up big time by the magi association and your faction. He would have either done terribly or done averagely in such a short notice and lack of preparation. Either way, he would have lost his reputation among the magis of the lower ranks." Jack began. "Now do you see what he has done. Not only has the exam preparations so far been good, but he has gathered the trust of all the future magis from here. Once the exam is over, word will spread of the compassionate Prince John, who fights for the poor and those who are suppressed. All of the association''s effort at subduing him or painting a bad image on him has vanished just like that." Terror began to creep on to James as he realised the seriousness of what was really happening inside the exam hall. But suddenly he calmed down as he suddenly remembered something "I don''t see what the big deal is. That guy screwed up big time annoying those nobles. A single bee can be easy to deal with, but that doesn''t mean it''s alright to go and poke their hive." James replied arrogantly, feeling pleased with himself that he said something smart. Jack threw his glass to the floor in anger and hopelessness, seeing James'' smug grin. "Seriously are you pretending to be dumb or are you really an idiot?" He shouted in anger. "Your highness it is not possible. They won''t complain, neither will their family allow them to." Merlin quickly explained to James before he got in a fight with Jack. "Why?" James asked back in rage. "The nobles along with others in the V.I.P hall must have realised by now the opportunity to steal the exam papers was a trap. John probably must have all the evidence ready by now of their attempt to leak the questions. If any of them as much as raise an objection then John will release those evidence to the public and thereby screwing them up. Not only that by trying to steal and leak the papers of a magi academy graduation exam they will have to face serious punishment. Banning their children from ever graduating is one of the least punishment that they can face, not to mention the disgrace they have to carry." Merlin replied in a serious voice. As James was about to ask another question Albert interrupted "The magi association can''t and won''t ignore the case. If John were to reveal to the public that the magi association did nothing to the cheaters then the magi association will take the full brunt of the public outrage. So, they will do a fair trial to appease the public." Seeing that Albert answered his question, James finally realised despite being so weak why his brother was considered so scary and powerful by everyone especially Smith and his dad. ----------------------------------------------- The administrator was sorting out all the registration paper and finally closing up the stall. Suddenly a boy came running towards the desk in a hurry. "I want to participate in the exam!" The boy declared while trying to get his breathing back to normal. "Sorry, you are too late. The time now is 12:10 pm, you were supposed to be here at least before 12 pm if you had wanted to enrol in the exam." The administrating women said in a plain face while wondering how laid back the boy was forgetting his own exam time. "Please, I don''t mind graduating from the exam, but please just let me take the exam." The boy started pleading to the women. The women became confused at why someone wanted to take the exam and didn''t want to graduate. "I am sorry, but his highness Prince John has strict orders that anyone who is had not filled out the pre-registration application along with the declaration form before the registration process, will not be allowed inside the exam centre." The women explained thinking the boy just wanted to take the exam as a trial run before his proper exam next year. The boy became dejected and turned back walking away. Suddenly he remembered what his master said to him a week ago ''You can change your mind till right before the start of the exam.''. "What time does the exam start?" The boy''s abrupt turn to question surprised the women, who nearly attacked him thinking he was about to retaliate for his lost opportunity. "Uhh..12:30pm." The women answered wondering what the boy was up to, seeing that his dejected face was replaced by a face of victory. "I was told I can enter the exam as long as it hadn''t started. So, let me enter, please." The boy begged finally seeing there was hope. "Boy, I don''t know who you think you are, but I was told not to even let the heir of a commandment into the exam centre if they hadn''t registered." The women started getting angry at him. "But can you please check the list. I might be on there." Finally, the women relented wanting to get rid of the harasser from here. "What is your full name?" she asked him. "Ellis Wright." The boy gave his reply very quickly in order to not waste any time. The women went through the files looking through the files of all the people with ''W'' as their surname. "You said Ellis Wright right?" The women asked him as she looked at him suspiciously. "Yes." Ellis answered. "Ok let me see there is Eliot Wing ..." The women swiped her fingers through each name looking for Ellis'' name. Unknown to Ellis however was that the women had already pressed a switch under a table, requesting assistance from the security to get rid of a potential disruptor to the exam. "Can you hurry up please the exam will start soon? Do you want my help?" The boy started getting impatient, feeling that the lady was taking too long. If this lady took too long then his highness might not allow him into the exam hall. He tried reaching for the files in the ladies hand to help her, only to find she moved back very quickly with the files. "Don''t move from your position!" The lady ordered as she suddenly threw the files down and started preparing a restriction spell and threw it at Ellis. "What are you doing?" The boy quickly dodged the spell and prepared his defences. "He is fighting back. Possible rank 2 magi, Amber alert stage 2. Requesting immediate back up to successfully capture target." The lady started spewing word that common people could make no sense of. Suddenly the boy quickly realised what the lady was doing as he was occasionally trained and informed of these thing as his master was target of high protection value. "Stop! I am not a threat. I will stay here. I thought you were attacking and preparing my defence." He shouted to the lady while looking around to find an adequate place to run if things go south. Chapter 92 - Episode 91-Clueless? In a timely manner, the lady heard a voice speaking into her ear "East wing what is the commotion there?" "Host, there is a potential disruptor of rank 2 magi here, claiming he wants to enter the exam since he was allowed to. He said he wanted to enter just to experience the exam and not participate in it. He said his name was on the list, but his name wasn''t there. While I was delaying for back up he tried to grab the confidential details of the students participating in the exam. Thus, I requested immediate back up along with an amber warning, in order to capture him." The lady gave a brief detail of the events to John through the communication device on her ear. "What is his name?" The voice asked back. "He said it was Ellis Wright." The lady replied while not letting her eyes off her target. "Ask him to provide his proof of identity." The voice ordered. The lady complied to the order of the voice "Show me your identity proof." The boy suddenly threw a card he took from his pocket to the lady. As the lady caught the card, the reinforcement she requested arrived and surrounded Ellis. "Stay on the ground boy and place your arms above your head. Any suspicious movement and we will use extreme force on you." The leader of the reinforcement declared while Ellis knelt down. While the women started looking through his I.D. "Target was stating the truth. His name is Ellis Wright. His photo on the I.D matches him." She replied while watching one of the agents of the team cast paralysis on the boy. "Has the squad leader began?" John''s voice came through the communication device on her ear again. "He just started." The lady watched as the squad leader started casting anti-disguise spells among other spells to see if the target was hiding his identity. "No trace of spells on him other than a rank 1-speed boost." The squad leader shouted out his report. "No trace other than rank 1-speed boost Host." The women professionally replied as one of the agents started patting down Ellis from head to toe, while he helplessly laid there. "Alright tell them to stop and remove the paralysis after the body check." John requested. "Host wants to halt all procedure immediately and remove his stasis, after the body check." She relayed the order while the squad leader visibly frowned, while still on guard for any action Ellis could make. After a while, he signalled everyone to halt and removed the restraint spell on Ellis. "Pass your communication device to him." John ordered. The lady became bewildered at her orders, but she complied with it and removed the tiny circular device from her ear. She walked forward with it while the squad leader closely observed Ellis trying to get up wearily from the paralysis. She went up to him and placed the communication device into the still weary Ellis'' ears. "Ellis, did you forget the protocols they usually arrange for me in public?" John asked through the other end. "Your hig..." Ellis was about to exclaim before suddenly being interrupted by John. "Ellis careful! Don''t call out onto my name or anything that can reveal my identity as the person behind this call. We already suspect of a breach and are patiently looking out for the mastermind and their crew and what their intentions are. They could be watching and listening to what you are saying closely." John warned. Ellis started sweating as he suddenly saw the squad leader form a silencing barrier around him. "We don''t know if they can lip-read so just say nod or shake in response to everything I say. I will start off with some questions just to make sure it''s really you followed by other questions. Remember there should be no delay to the answers." Ellis looked down to the floor, to stop anyone from lip-reading him. "I forced you to join my alliance?" "Shake." Elliot replied "You ranked up to rank 2 magi on your way to the village near grey zone." "Shake." "You were knocked out by a woman you never knew, while trying to protect me." "Nod." "You have learnt 1 sword art." "Nod." "Good its really you. Now, do you want to participate in the exam?" "Nod." "Ok, pass the communication device to its owner. I will make sure she guides you to the exam hall. This is all the help you will get from me Ellis, during the exam. Try not to disclose your relationship with me in there." John instructed Ellis. "Nod." Ellis gave his final reply as he took the device out of his ear and passed it to the lady. Before wearing it she cast a cleaning spell on it. Seeing this annoyed Ellis, who had to wear the device which wasn''t cleaned. "Arms down and back to positions. The host has ordered to escort the target to the exam hall." The lady replied in a shocked tone. The squad leader of the reinforcement team frowned before disappearing followed by his team. Ellis soon pulled himself back from the floor and followed behind the women, who quietly walked without asking him many questions to his preference, while most people would be brimming with question at this point. Especially his relation with his highness, and why he is taking the exam if he knows an heir to the empire? ------------------------------------------------ "Archer, just giving you a heads up. Ellis will be taking the exam. I have briefly told him of the possible breach. He is being guided there right now. No preferential treatment, deal with him as you would with others." John spoke through the communication device in Archer''s ears. Archer''s eyes gleamed as he looked at the door at the very back waiting to be opened by Ellis. "Now since you lot are informed of the rules, get ready. Your exam will start in 5 minutes." He informed the students as he watched the clock ticking. The clock ticked by and Ellis still didn''t make it through the door. Just 3 minute before the start of the exam the door at the back opened and in came Ellis. As the door closed and made a large sound in the quiet hall it took everyone attention as they turned around to see who came in so late. "Kid, you are late." Archer bellowed. Before Ellis could say anything "Save your excuse and apologies. As your punishment I won''t repeat you of the rules and guidelines of this exam, along with that you will be receiving a harder paper. You can figure out what I meant on your own." Archer said as he slowly walked back towards Ellis. The people who recognised him became surprised while suddenly the rest gasped at how merciless Mr A was towards the late person. ''He is here. I thought he is working for a powerful person. Why is he here to take the exam?'' Law thought as he saw Ellis at the back. ''Something is going on here. Otherwise, why would John send him here?'' Natasha thought as she looked at Ellis in shock. She suddenly remembered something her agents informed her and looked around for a certain person. ''There he is. No wonder he is here. But is John not afraid of the consequence he will have to face.'' Natasha wondered as she ripped her sight away from Phil who was looking at Ellis in shock. As Archer finally reached where Ellis was he said to him "Follow me to your seat." Ellis was surprised to see Archer as the proctor for the exam. He had seen Archer quite a few times at Lord Raynott''s house beside Lord Raynott, while he was visiting there with his highness. However, knowing the importance of the exam, having a possible breach and wanting to keep his current identity a secret he followed him silently and treated him as a stranger like Archer did. As Ellis sat down on one of the few empty seats Archer pointed towards, he saw Archer arriving back to the front of the hall. "Your exam starts in 10 seconds. Oh, I forgot to tell you guys but you all will have roughly 3 hours for this exam." As he finished Ellis suddenly saw a timer appears on the screen in front of him showing 3:00:00. Ellis guessed from the screen on his desk that this test was going to be a theoretical test. But something was odd here. The invigilators and few of the students looks extremely worried, while most other students have a satisfying smile on their face. ''What is going on? Does it have something to do with the harder paper?'' He pondered without any worry despite having to take a harder paper. Suddenly he saw someone sitting far away from him looking at him. The very sight of him made his blood boil before he suddenly calmed down. ''You bastard, pray that I don''t accidentally finish you quickly.'' Phil smirked after his sudden shock at seeing Ellis, before dragging his index finger across his neck. Chapter 93 - Episode 92- Counter "Begin" Archer shouted followed by the scene of all students swiping their hands on the screen on their desk. Ellis saw the small timer on the corner of his screen saying 3:59:57. However, he was still distracted by something else. A small button on the corner of his desk. ''What is it for? Maybe I could press it and see. No, what if that button was there for those who wanted to give up? I don''t want to end up accidentally disqualifying myself. I will just observe and see for now.'' He thought as he finally looked at his question paper. [1a.) State and describe the effects of 3 magi spells of rank 3. (6 Marks)] ''What the heck? Isn''t this supposed to be a graduation exam for rank 1 magis? Why is the 1st question itself about a rank 3 magi spell?'' Ellis frowned and started to scroll through the remaining questions. He was shocked beyond anything as he got to the last page. ''What has his highness done? This paper is impossible for any normal magi of rank 1.'' The questions got harder and harder as it went on. However, unlike the usual paper where there were 100 questions with there being few multiple option questions, this paper only had 20 main questions which were occasionally split into parts, with there being no multiple option questions. Usually, the mock exam they took had 100 questions. They could often afford to miss out few questions as all questions were worth 1 marks, with the students only needing 100 marks to get a perfect score. However, in this paper if any students missed out 1 question it would cost them a hefty amount of mark. So, it seemed like not only was the paper hard but not a single question should be missed out. ''Wait, hang on. Didn''t Archer say I would receive a harder paper? Doesn''t that mean there are people here who are taking a harder exam? But why would someone do that? Are there extra rewards or benefits in doing so?'' Ellis got more puzzled as he thought about it. Soon his eye caught the timer ticking down. 3:55:07 ''5 minutes wasted. Let''s start.'' Ellis started scribbling his answer for the 1st question onto the screen. Meanwhile, Rondell who was known as the muscle brain among Law''s group looked at his paper in shock. [1a.) State and describe the effects of 1 magi spells of rank 1. (2 Marks)] ''I am really grateful for not being the son of a noble or rich person. This paper is so darn easy.'' He thought excitedly, as he flew into his paper, glad that his hard work at revision finally paid off. Law carefully looked through the paper and frowned. [5.) Explain the symptoms of a person affected by a rank 1 ice spell and how to cure/ treat them. (6 Marks)] ''These questions are not hard at all. It''s like anyone who attempted to do any basic theory revision could easily answer these questions. Wouldn''t that mean the association won''t accept this exam if it''s made too easy? Or is there a reason more to this than what it seems?'' Meanwhile, Natasha looked at her paper and sighed in relief. [9c.) State the duration of rank 1 paralysis on a commoner in comparison to a rank 1 magi. (2 Marks)] ''Looks like they didn''t attempt to get the answers for me from his leak. Did they expect his trap? Most likely not. They probably wanted me to fail and learn my lesson. However, they never expected their ruthlessness to turn in my favour. But the problems remain, the questions are way too easy for a graduation exam, along with having way too much time. Usually, a 100-mark question received a 1 hour 50 minutes time. But here we received an extra 2 hour and 10 minutes. Why?'' She pondered as she flew through the papers. Phil cursed under his breath as he looked at his paper. [2e.) Calculate using the Friona''s theorem how far one can travel after casting a rank 2-speed boost in combination with a rank 1-physical boost. (9 Marks)] ''Damn it. I should have never asked for dad''s help. Now I am screwed.'' Phil suddenly looked at the invigilator in his grid in desperation. The invigilator in this grid was someone he knew of. He was his families head butler. The invigilator looked at his master in hopelessness across the grid. The students in this grid had somehow come to an agreement. Phil was right in the centre of his grid. All the students adjacent to him decided to take rotations to keep watch of him and the invigilator, therefore giving no chance for the butler to send the answers to his master. ''If only a few students in this grid had the same difficult paper as his master, then he could have convinced them to work for him, in return for the answers. But it seems like all of them here abhors young master, that they won''t even co-operate'' The butler thought as he looked for some kind of opening. ''Hang on... They never said anything about using spells.'' The butler smiled as he realised a flaw in the princes'' plan. Suddenly the grid that contained Phil slowly started getting foggy. Strangely though the fog, never spread to the adjacent grid, being confined in that grid. It soon turned into a strange view as all the people in the back could see was a cuboid of grey fog. ''Darn he is using the fog as a cover.'' Many students inside the grid started coming up with countermeasures after seeing that pressing the button had no effect. They quickly realised the camera probably was blocked by the fog hence the proper moderators couldn''t do anything. So, they quickly used wind magi to restrain all the fog to the upper section. So that the cameras in the adjacent grids might be able to help them out While this was happening, the butler knew he didn''t have much time, so he quickly made his way towards his master. He soon was 2 desks away from his master while the wind spells were slowly taking effect, but he still had plenty of time to give the answer and get back to his position somewhere else. ''Fools, it''s over.'' He screamed inside as he leapt the final section... *Pak* Only to hit something solid. The butler tried to see through his teary eyes, barely able to see the barrier around his master and the students adjacent to him. ''This... Were they prepared for this? No, it''s more like they came up with it at the last second. But they shouldn''t be allowed to communi... Shit! Shit! Shit! I forgot I blocked the camera. So, these guys used it to their advantage along with me.'' There were only 5 seconds before the adjacent camera could get visibility in their zone. ''I hope this would be enough. Physical boost. Speed boost.'' The butler chanted in his mind and ran towards the barrier intending to break it. 4 seconds. The students surrounding his master looked at him in panic as he easily broke the barrier. 3 seconds He arrived before his master and quickly took out the answer sheet in his pocket and stretched it towards his master, who was grinning while stretching his hands to receive the paper. 2 seconds. *Pak* ''Shit another barrier. Are you kidding me?'' The butler quickly moved back away from his master putting his hand back inside his pocket with the paper. 1 second. The visibility slowly returned as the camera in adjacent grid finally took hold of that zone, trying to see what the reported accusation of cheating was about. Everyone noticed how all the students in that zone were smirking except for Phil and the invigilator. ''How? I thought the kids next to him summoned the barrier. If so how did they summon another one so quickly and that too the instant I broke their barrier?'' The butler thought as he looked around his master from far away in order to not arouse suspicion from those observing him now. ''Shit! How could I forget? That was a protection barrier. Its casters can''t stay inside the barrier. They have to stay outside of it while protecting their targets within it. That means.'' He looked at the students next to his master. ''They have formed a ring. An outer ring and inner ring. The outer ring casted a spell to protect the inner ring. While the inner ring casted a spell to protect their target. They fooled me. Damn. These brats are not fools. They are very smart and calm. They know what they are doing.'' However, outside of that grid, everyone had a gobsmacked face as they realised what just happened, especially when they saw Mr.A taking no action towards what happened in that grid. He just stood there smiling Suddenly Natasha and Law suddenly realised what this exam was all about. ''It''s a defence capability test. The invigilators attack while the students defend and try to stop them from reaching their masters. So that''s what he meant by counter strike.'' Chapter 94 - Episode 93- Infiltrators "Smith, how is the infiltration going?" James the 2nd asked. "Your highness, so far so good with the assistance of Albert, she has successfully entered the hall. Now all she needs to do is stay there till the end of the exam. Albert said he would stay inside the venue to prevent any mishap from happening." Smith replied as he opened the door for James to walk out. "Do you think he might have foreseen her arrival?" James asked as he rubbed his forehead as he walked towards the meeting room to hold the daily meetings of the court. "Most likely. But I think it''s futile since she has had 13 years to develop her award from her awakening stage. None of them will expect the new form of her award." Smith smirked. "No Smith, as much as I hate to compare him to my wife, I know for sure they are much alike in their way of thinking and planning. If my predictions are correct I think he might have already guessed and planned all countermeasures against all form of her award." James halted before the door to the meeting hall. The shouting and arguments from the other side clearly audible through the thick doors. "Your highness, even if he could plan a countermeasure to all forms of her award, there will still be a loophole for her to get through. I suggest you don''t worry about it much, let her take care of the problems, for now, Albert is there in case she needs any help." Smith reassured as he opened the door for the emperor. Welcoming his sights were a bunch of people arguing with each other about numerous developments. -------------------------------------------------------- "Sir, Alpha has successfully entered the target area." A woman dressed in a black tight skirt, blacktop and a black service cap reported to her commander. The commander whose back was facing her, looked at a screen, filled with drawings and markings of all kinds on a map, in confusion. "Is the live feed on Alpha still coming through?" The commander deep voice resonated through the room. "Successfully sir!" The women replied, with head raised high and hands behind her. "What is Alpha doing right now?" The commander turned away from the screen and walked towards the table picking up his black service cap, which matched his black shirt and pants. The top left-hand side of his shirt decorated with medals and stars. The woman was silent for a while not knowing how to report. Seeing the stare of her commander she replied, "It seems Alpha is doing some kind of exam sir." The commanders'' eyebrows twitched for a few seconds at the ridiculous report. ----------------------------------------------------------- "Archbishop Robert, are you sure it was the right decision to sent the children of the almighty to that empire?" A very old woman asked the youngest archbishop of the church, kneeling in front of her, in anger. "Your Holiness, I know this may sound like heresy, but I think and fear that we have been looking in the wrong place for the chosen one for a long time." Archbishop Robert replied reverently to the pope of the church. "Robert, if you weren''t an Archbishop and not in a private meeting with me this would be your trial of judgement now for what you just said." The women replied as she looked at Robert in growing anger. "I know your holiness. That''s why I wanted to confess this sin to you personally before someone else did and you got the wrong idea. But please listen to what I have to say." The archbishop requested while perspiration slowly gathered on his head and back. "Speak, I am listening." The women calmed down in order to hear what Robert''s reason was. "What if it is through the chosen ones that we can finally spread the faith of the almighty to that forsaken empire finally?" Robert asked. Seeing the pope was silent he carried on "Once the prophecy come to pass and it goes in our favour, that empire will finally see that we were right all along about the almighty, and we will have the chosen one and the prophecy to speak as evidence. Then even if the rulers of that land goes against our faith, the people will finally see the truth. Then it''s just a matter of time before they accept the almighty one." Robert explained. The pope was silent for a while thinking about his words before sighing in reluctance "Robert you have convinced me, but it won''t be the same for the other cardinals. So, I suggest this stays between us. We can only reveal this to others once the chosen one has been found." Both could feel the headache that would arrive if the other members of the church found out what Robert had done. "Tell me, Robert, how are they coping with temptation?" The women enquired in worry. "So far they are doing well. I hold counselling session with them once every 3 days, and none of them seems to have fallen to the allure of magi even though they are practising it." Robert replied proudly. "Are they children you personally know of?" The women asked knowingly seeing Roberts proud smile. "Yes, your holiness. They are my children." Robert replied with his smile. The women smiled seeing his joy. "What are they doing now?" The old women asked. Suddenly Tom''s smile started fading as he went silent not knowing what to say. The pope waited patiently for an answer from Tom. "They are taking an exam to be officially announced as a magi user." Tom said as his face darkened. "Why?" The old woman''s smile faded as anger crept through her voice. "We might have a lead for the chosen one." He hurriedly replied before any sort of misunderstanding could occur. --------------------------------------- Linda was always weak and sick, since the day she was born. Her father died 1 year after she was born when he went out to hunt for food. Her mother always blamed her for her father''s death. Saying something she was cursed. She didn''t understand the meaning of that word until years later. Since then her older brother provided for her and mother. Everyone made fun of her or talked behind her when she was out. Children her age avoided her and picked on her. She always cried, but there was always someone there. That persons smile made her worries fade to emptiness. When she was 5 years old she found out about magi. She knew she could be strong if she was magi. So, she along with most of the children in the village was taken to be tested for magi talent. However, her hopes and dreams were crushed when she was told she had no talent and regular capacity for magi. As she got older she started to get weaker. Her brother found it hard to make food for the table during the winter. She knew she was slowly becoming a burden to her family. She could see it in her mother''s eyes the loathing she carried for Linda. Unnoticed by her brother, she received less portion during the winter and her condition always got worse. Her brother never noticed how he always received the same portion as he would during spring and summer. Her mother told her to keep quiet about it if she wanted her brother to be well and not sick like her. By the time winter was over it takes her at least 3 months to become well again. Her brother worked hard to bring in money to treat her during the spring. Her brother was the only one who she found was kind to her. Her mother always blamed her saying she was the cause of unhappiness to her brother. When the plague came everyone in the village blamed it on her including her mother. Her brother tried to defend her, but no one listened. Everyone wanted to throw her out of the village, including mother. As the plague in the village got worse people wanted to kill her. Luckily everyone got too ill before they could do anything to her. Her condition got worse as she to finally got ill from the plague. She felt tiredness like never before. She struggled to open even her eyes. However, when she opened her eyes she saw her starving and hungry brother. Days went by like this. She loathed herself, for bringing the plague on everyone. She could slowly feel a voice telling her to let go. As she decided to finally let go, she tasted something warm and beautiful like she has never tasted before. She would never forget that taste. She slowly went into sleep. When she opened her eye, she could see her brother shouting at his mom and a few of our neighbours. It turned out everyone in the empire had the plague and she wasn''t the cause of it. Strangely she felt relief knowing she wasn''t finally the cause of burden or suffering of everyone, and she liked that feeling. Her brother was angry at everyone for nearly killing her and throwing her out of the village. From that day on brother never spoke to mother. Mother hated her even more. Even though she was cured of the plague her sickness never went away, she was always weak, unable to do anything. Her condition also got worse as she slowly started coughing and vomiting blood. Her brown hair started falling of overtime leaving her bold. She rarely saw her brother as he always worked really hard trying to bring in extra money to get her to a healer. Her brother finally managed to save enough to take her to the healer, even though her mother was against it, saying she was cursed, and it was a waste of money. The healer said there was nothing he could do, and she didn''t have much time left. She slowly started losing awareness of her surroundings. However, her comfort during these times was the touch of her brother on her hands. Finally, one day she could hear or feel nothing. She wanted to let go. She didn''t want to be a burden to her brother. She could hear the same voice telling her to let go. But something kept her back. It was her brother. She wanted to see her brothers smile one more time. But she remembered what her mother told her, that ''she was the cause of unhappiness to her brother.''. So, for her brother she let go. And then it was darkness. Chapter 95 - Episode 94- Tragic Life Here we are bois and gals. Close to chapter and episode 100. You will be receiving a special gift as part of the special occasion. Also, I have and will be doing a writing experiment. Tell me how it was? Linda''s story previous chapter was part of it, along with a few chapters in the future. Trying out various new styles of writing. Now all you got to do is wait for the gift to launch. Sos for pranking again, lol. This arc may be very confusing as the world-building isn''t completed yet but I intend the world-building to be completed slowly. Try to observe and interpret, very closely for any foreshadowing or clues I leave about many things in this novel and connect them like a puzzle before I reveal it to truly enjoy my novel. I won''t hold your hands as an author and reveal everything in my story, through every step of the novel as somethings have to be interpreted by yourself as a reader. But do ask me questions and I will answer them. I like people who ask questions and talk in my comment section. Chapter 96 - Episode 95- Apostle Carrying Linda, he went to their spot from where he had made his 1st promise to her of not looking at the sun. He laid her on the floor. He placed the necklace he made out of flower on her forehead like a crown and watched her. He knew if he stayed in that village any longer then he would go on a killing spree, especially that women he and his sister called mother. To him of the present, she was nothing but a wretch. He only stayed with her because of his sister. It was only a few weeks after his sister died in his past life that he found out the truth. If it wasn''t because of that woman his sister could have maybe lived longer. 3 weeks from now, in my past life, that women started to approach me. It was then he realised that she married his father for him. It was sick and revolting to realise she had this kind of motive. The motherly affection I received from her was all lust. Seeing that I was not being co-operative she tried to force herself. But she was no match for the hunter I am as I beat her to ground. As she laid there crying I left the house. As I was about to leave she pleaded that everything she did was for me. She confessed to everything she did from not feeding my sister properly to abusing her. She had claimed that my sister was the obstacle between her and my love and that''s why she wanted her to die. It was at that moment I realised it was only because of my sister that I was saved from sexual assault. I had thought I was protecting my sister all this time, but then I realised that it was my sister whose life was used to give me a wonderful life. I left never to return amidst the pleading of that whore. From that day I started dancing with death. A regret that always was inside me was never punishing that women enough for what she did to Linda. But in a twisted game of fate I am now able to fulfil that wish. I left there before that women could even confess to me. Knowing she wasted 14 years of her life pointlessly without even letting me know of her feelings, she will suffer in agony. There is no more psychological pain I could inflict on her more than this. --------------------------------------------- Linda stayed beside brother and watched as he slept calmly. She knew she was not of this world anymore and should pass on. But she didn''t want to leave her brothers side anymore. Suddenly she watched how her brother woke up and looking around as if he was lost. As soon as he saw her body he started screaming in pain. Linda saw how blood was dripping off his nose. She tried to do something to help but knew there was nothing. She hated this feeling of being weak and useless. For once she desperately yearned to be useful to her brother. But there was nothing she could do. Mother came in worried and left saying she would bring a healer. She saw how her brother walked towards her body. He started screaming "Why?!". Linda could feel the anger and rage emanating through that scream. ''Who was brother so angry too?'' She wondered. Then she saw how after shouting at the healer and mother he left the village carrying her body. Linda had given up trying to let her presence know. She decided even if her brother doesn''t realise it she will just follow him and watch over him. She saw how brother placed the flower necklace like a crown on my head. Soon she saw her brother gathering wood and stacking it on top of her. Then he raised his hand and waved it in the air. Suddenly flames sprung up on the wood and set everything on fire. She quickly realised that her brother is a Magi, something that she yearned to be. But why was he cremating her instead of burying her, according to customs and tradition? She saw how tears dripped off his face as he saw her burn to ash. She saw him wait and stay until only ashes were remaining. Linda saw how her brother knelt down and collected her ashes and put it in his pouch. He then stood up and walked in the opposite direction of the village. She didn''t understand why brother wanted to leave the village, but she followed him. Suddenly Linda found that she couldn''t move from her spot. She watched as her brother got further and further away. She wanted to go after him. She tried shouting for his name. She felt so helpless. Suddenly darkness assaulted her. She was surrounded by emptiness. ----------------------------------------- Luke walked away from the village. He had decided to cremate his sister because he knew of the war in the future. He knew how easy it was for people to trace back to his origin. He remembered how a certain necromancer had raised his sister and defiled her body with other undeads. Although that was the end of that dreaded necromancer, he never wanted her peaceful rest being disturbed by any necromancer. Besides this way, he could carry her with him. After the chaotic day, he started thinking properly. He knew there was some kind of purpose for him to be back here. But what was it? He remembered what his sister told him after his death, ''it''s not time yet.''. ''What is not time yet? What did she mean by that? Was she watching over him during his past life? Did she send him back? If so how?'' Many questions as such popped up one after another. Suddenly he felt his heavy pouch getting very light. A sense of dread filled him as he quickly opened his pouch to find that the ashes of his sister were not in there anymore. There was no hole in the pouch neither was there any way the ashes could have left his pouch. So how did the ashes leave the pouch? He suddenly turned around and started running in the direction of the cremation. As he finally arrived at where he had cremated his sister, he at first saw nothing out of the ordinary, other than the floor covered in ash. But something caught his eyes. There were footsteps on the ashes. Someone had walked on the ashes barefoot. He followed the footsteps to see where it was leading. He was able to trace the footsteps to a river. As the footsteps ended he saw something that shook him. He bent down to pick up the item and felt the warmth emanating from it. It was the necklace of flower he made for his sister, and he knew for sure it was his due to the way he tied it together. She was alive?! ------------------------------------------------ She was disgusted at what that women she called mother had planned to do with her brother. She was so ignorant and weak. She would have remained that way if she wasn''t shown the truth. She vowed to not remain like that again, ever. The promise she made to that person for this new life; she will fulfil it at any cost. But before that, she had something personal to do. Her smooth black her waved through the air as she walked towards the origin of everything. The place where their suffering had started. No, the place where his past and future sufferings had all started. --------------------------------------- Luke ran back to the village hoping what he guessed was just a false alarm. He had been searching everywhere for where she could possibly be. Luke knew better than anyone the power certain people possessed, and revival just after death was the least crazy ones. Someone had revived his sister, but who and for what reason? He knew for sure someone had revived her, as that could be the only possible explanation for the sudden disappearance of her ashes along with the perfect state of flower crown that was burned along with her. While searching for her, he had seen the sudden flight of birds and wild animals. It was as if they were fleeing from a certain direction. Looking at the direction they were coming from he concluded something was happening to the village. This was not right. This didn''t happen last time. What is happening? Luke quickly made his way back to the village. The gates were the guards were supposed to be was where flies had gathered. The bustling entrance of his village were adults roamed was empty. The corners where children''s played was vacant and silent in their absence. He weaved through the village pathway to his home and what he finally saw made him understand where the guards had disappeared to. The very sight of this can make a normal person sick to the bones. The path leading to his house was strewn with bodies of guards and their weapons. Their bodies were twisted like how one would twist clothes to get rid of water. Blood streamed from their bodies to the ground and gathered together in a puddle. He didn''t work in the torture unit but in the special ops unit. The most he did was slash, stab and sometimes magi spells to kill his enemies, and the battlefield he was in, everyone either died by magi attacks or physical attacks. So, the bodies he has seen on the battlefield was often less gruesome than this. The times he had seen things this gruesome was when he went to visit the torture unit. "Aha...aha...ahahahahaha! ...Ice...him..."Suddenly in a house close to him he started hearing laughter and murmuring. He realised it was the house of blacksmith Joshua. He remembered Joshua as he had a son who he had personally killed in his past life. He had met Joshua''s son in the army, a few weeks after he first joined the army. Joshua''s son was his superior along with being a fellow villager he wanted to show off to, he had started getting overly familiar with him. Seeing that Luke was ignoring him and not bothered about him and his achievement he had started to insulting his sister in the cafeteria by calling her a retard. He didn''t live to see another day as Luke made sure he granted him the most painful death there itself. Even his superior couldn''t stop the torture he inflicted upon his comrade. In the end, they had to evacuate the whole facility, until he finished his rampage on Joshua''s son. From that day onwards the whole empire realised if there was one person who they shouldn''t insult in front of him, it was his sister. He had hoped that he will meet his end that day, for the murder of a subordinate and a superior but unfortunately, his misfortune of good luck pulled him through on that situation as well. He hesitated before slowly making his way there, while gathering the magi particle he had trained since his childhood for defence. He opened the door to his house and the thick stench of blood assaulted him. He walked inside after casting a barrier on himself. He opened the door to the room from where he could hear the sound from. "Ice...him...Hahahaha" He could constantly hear the murmurings of a man from the room. As he opened the door what greeted him was the sight of a man writing on the walls. He recognised the man as Joshua. Joshua''s fingers were trembling as he wrote on the wall. The whole room was covered with the writings ''Praise him'' in dark red. He soon realised what Joshua saying wasn''t ''Ice him'' but rather ''Praise Him''. As the ink ran out on his fingers Joshua dipped his fingers in the blood of his son''s crushed body, before proceeding to write while laughing and repeating "Praise him." Luke quickly shut the door and proceeded to walk out quickly. As he walked out he saw a woman crouched and huddled in a corner trembling. Upon a closer look, he realised her to be Joshua''s wife. Her hair was a mess as tears streamed through her face while mumbling "Praise him." Luke hurriedly left the house and made his way to his home between the corpses of guards and some villagers. "...le ..the..ake...as...vied." He could make out that someone was singing inside his and his sister''s home for the past few years. He opened the door to see there were quite a few bodies of guards littered there. All mangled in together like a big ball of flesh. "...cake...has...arrived..." He could hear the same voice singing again. But this time more clearly and he realised it belonged to that wretch of a woman. Fearing the worst, he conjured an earth spike and held it out like a sword. As he opened the door slowly he saw the women he called his mother sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall. Her limbs torn apart and twisted beyond humanly possible, while few of her teeth laid on the floor in blood. What has once been the most beautiful women in the village turned out to be the most grotesque being. "Ohhh." She still seemed to be singing. He walked in wondering how she was still alive and who did this? He stood in front of her and looked at her lifeless eyes. She didn''t seem to recognise him. ''I would say she deserved what she got, but what happened to the rest of the village.'' Luke thought. Finally, he managed to clearly hear what she was singing. "The apostle of the Fake has arrived. Ohhh." Chapter 97 - Episode 96- The recordings Luke quickly walked out. He knew whoever did this must have not left anyone in a normal state or alive. He quickly made his way to the healers'' house, hoping the healer had made a recording crystal. Unknown to the village and the rest of the people, was the fact that the empire post a magi to every settlement under the empire. These magis arrive in the village pretending to be a retired warrior, soldier, mercenary etc. They have few responsibilities and one of them includes teaching talented children magi. Usually, the magis who undertake these jobs know that it''s a lifelong job, with a chance to die if someone powerful attacked the village. But most low ranking magis take it due to how lucratively paid the job is along with getting the chance to build connections with future talented magis from the village. Their most important job is to leave a secret recording behind in case any sort of mishap fell to the village. The empire can then use these recordings device to determine what had happened to the village and take action accordingly. The secret of the recordings is very closely guarded. Only those who have sworn an oath and above certain ranks will have the knowledge to these secrets, in order to stop the people who attacked the village to tamper with the device. Luke knew that being one of the oldest and only magi, besides him, inside the village, the healer was the magi the empire had sent, to secretly train and safeguard the village. As he arrived he saw the mangled body of what was once the healer. It seems he was in the middle of casting a spell as he was killed. The person who had massacred and laid waste to the villagers and the healer has to be someone above rank 3 at least. The healer himself was a rank 1 magi. But what kind of spell did they use? That was the question that was bugging him. Suddenly Luke stopped at the entrance to the healers'' house as he realised something. Damn, it''s not a spell. There is no way a spell can do something like this in a short amount of time. This is not the work of a magi, It''s the work of an award! And that too a seemingly well-developed award. But what would an award user gain from laying waste to a village like this? And he was pretty sure this had never happened in his past life. He has only arrived in this lifeless than 5 hours and has done very minimal changes in the past, but that doesn''t warrant such a huge change to the future. So that means something is happening here that is outside of his sphere of influence. Luke walked inside the healers'' house and looked around where the device could be hidden. Every magi had their own secret hiding place for the recording device. It didn''t take him long with his experience to find where the device was. It was placed inside a secret compartment under a desk the healer had. Due to the war in his previous life, he had often encountered settlements razed to the ground. It was only using the recording device left behind the magi in that settlement he could find the perpetrators often. After taking the recording device out he started listening to it. He could hear the terrified screams in the background as the magi activated the recording device. He saw the terrified face of the magi appear on the screen in front of him. "August 2nd time of recording 1:25 pm. Cause of event seems to be a very powerful magi. High ranking Magi user seems extremely proficient in telekinetic. The identity of the user is disturbing." The healer paused for a second, while Luke could see the terror in his eyes of the unknown. "A villager died today; her name was Linda Storm. Her cause of death is the unique body condition magi drainage. There was no saving her." Luke''s heart skipped a beat when he heard his sister''s name. ''Why is he reporting about his sisters'' death?''. He only found out about his sisters'' condition a few years after he left the village, in his past life. It was a condition only treatable by a rank 5 magi. But what surprised him is that the healer guessed her condition accurately. Magi drainage, it was a rare condition where the bodies organs craved for magi particle and absorbed all magi particle inside their body. Since Linda had no talent in magi accumulation her body only contained very little magi particles. However, her organs didn''t care for this and simply devoured all the magi particle in her. But after a while her body will be left without any magi particle, so to combat this her organs start to devour the physical energy produced by the body, leaving her weak and frail. The terrifying thing about this condition is that it the craving for the energy increases as the user grows old. Most people of this condition, like Linda, finally ends up dying due to the organs eating themselves to satiate their hunger. So that meant the healer knew her condition and never told Luke about it. Luke guessed the healer probably didn''t want to give him false hope. As hiring a rank 5 magi to treat this condition for someone like him was simply impossible. He stopped his thoughts to carry on listening to the healer. "Her brother Luke Storm was very shaken finding about her death, acting in very violent and aggressive behaviour toward me and his stepmother, as I went to heal him after the mother came for me. From his reaction, it seemed as if the stepmother cared very little for her very daughters'' existence and only cared for him. It seems my analysis was true about the stepmother being a paedophile, who was lusting after the beautiful young boy, thus marrying his father to get close to him. However, the birth of his sister protected him, along with him having to provide for them by hunting, after the death of his father, 1 year after she was born." Luke started getting a bad feeling about this as the healer carried on describing his family situation. "The boy proceeded to take the girls dead body with him and left the village at around 10 am while threatening to kill anyone who followed him; implying he was leaving the village forever. At approximately 1:20pm the target entered the village. As the target entered calmly no one minded her. Very quickly, one by one the villager soon realised the identity of the target. It was the dead girl, Linda." Luke dropped the recording device while his heart leapt to his mouth. He was right, Linda was alive. The recording device carried on playing while Luke remained in a state of shock. "It took everyone a while to identify her due to her hair being back along with it being a different colour, black. But the change that was the most astonishing was that she seemed to brim with vitality and energy, unlike her weak and skinny body. She very quickly started killing, no I mean torturing people one by one. She used her telekinetic spell to twist what I assume to be people who were picking on her before she died. The guards tried stopping her, but it was futile as she crushed them all, within seconds. People tried fleeing out of the village but found that there was a barrier stopping them from leaving. Seeing her power, I know I don''t stand a chance fighting her so I quickly decided to make a recording instead of helping others so that whoever finds this can avenge us. She is currently gone inside her home. From the screams, I heard I presume she is torturing her mother. Few brave guards had run inside the home only for their agonising screams to join with that woman. I don''t know what changed in the few hours after she was taken outside the village by her brother. The state of her brother who had carried her outside the village is unknown. I will end this recording by showing her identity." The healer finally ended his report, with his shaky voice. He brought the recording device outside, pointing it to Luke''s house. Luke could hear and recognise the loud animal-like shriek coming out of his house as his stepmother. Finally, the house grew silent and the door of the house opened. The recording started to shake uncontrollably. He knew the healer was starting to get frightened. Soon from the shaky recording, he could see a woman appearing from the doorway. Long black hair replaced her previous short brown hair before she turned bold. The perfect figure of a teenage beauty replaced her previous skinny and frail self. Her long loose skirt and blouse she previously wore perfectly fit her as it displayed her perfect figure. Her face was stoic as she walked through the bloody ground. That was all Luke saw before the healer ran inside and ended the recording. Luke was still in shock unable to believe what he just saw. A part of didn''t want to believe it, while another part wanted to believe that she was alive. ''How did she change so much? Where did she awaken her award from? Who gave her a memorial stone?'' All sorts of thoughts and question rummaged through his head. ''The most important of all how did she get so powerful? I know for a fact that the power she displayed wasn''t simply Psychokinesis, there were aspects of Telepathy as well. The mad ramblings of Joshua and his wife, along with that woman were all proof of it. This confirmed one thing, she was at least a rank 4 or above award user. How could someone just jump ranks just after awakening? Not to mention who raised her from the dead?'' Luke suddenly remembered something. ''The apostle of the Fake has arrived.''. ''Who was Fake!?'' Chapter 98 - Episode 97- Fire ''Did she become the apostle of a deity? But why did the deity choose Linda as an apostle? And who was this Fake? Why is a deity letting their apostle massacre people like this? From what was written on the walls of Joshua, I know Fake was a deity-like figure.'' But the problem was Luke had never heard of a deity known as Fake and he was sure of it. In his past life the current empire was fighting a war against the Church of the Almighty or to them it was known as the holy crusade. Due to this, he had the basic knowledge of all deities and their primary roles in the world. He knew for a fact that deities simply didn''t care for mortals like them. The very proof was Luke himself. The number of believers of the Almighty he had killed was numerous, yet the Almighty never punished or killed him, himself. The Almighty also had never sent any form of aid or support to help his believer is their fight. This confirmed that the deities simply didn''t involve with mortals. The only exception to this was the apostles of the deities. Apostles are figures who represent their deity, who is tasked with spreading the message about that particular deity and gather together the followers for that deity. Apostles are very powerful beings so powerful to the point that crushing the empire is a simple task for them. In fact, the apostle of the church of Almighty could have simply ended the war in is his previous life, the very day the war started. However, when an apostle is chosen he/she is forever forbidden from attacking anyone, at most they could defend themselves and attack back if someone personally attacks them. If an apostle dares to use their power for their selfish needs he/she will be stripped of their powers and will be punished by the deity themselves who gave him/her the power. If that particular deity that won''t punish their apostle then other apostles of different deities will band together to punish them. This has happened before in his past life when an apostle of the Moon had gone on a killing spree after his daughter was killed by his enemies. The deity of the Moon didn''t punish him, so the pope of the church of Almighty went to punish him, due to the deity of the Moon seeing his action as justifiable for what his enemies did to his daughter. The battle between them lasted for 2 days before apostles from the other deities arrived and joined in to detain the apostle of the Moon and dishing out punishment to him. The fight between the 2 apostles for 2 days was enough to sink the land of their battle zone below sea level. The area where they fought was later named The Abyss of the Moon, due to the massive hole in the middle of the high ground caused by their fight. Now, his sister had become a figure like that. A very powerful being able to make even the empire kneel down before her. However, he feared the wrath that she will face from her deity or the other apostles due to what she did. ''Why was she so stupid? She came back to life only to be punished by her deity or become endlessly hunted by other apostles.'' Luke worried over her. Luke wondered why she never came to him when she came back to life. ''Was she an apostle in his previous life as well? Could she be the reason behind his revival and absurd luck in the past? Was she always watching over him? But I saw with my own eyes how her body was defiled by that necromancer, so I know for sure she wasn''t alive back then. However, what if that was just a fake body? She could have been revived in the past and replaced her true body with a fake one. Then that means she couldn''t do the same thing this time due to me cremating her body and caused me to become aware of her revival. But why didn''t she do the same thing to the villagers in his past life, as she did just now? If she did, did her deity cover-up for her somehow? But all this raises more questions such as why is she avoiding me, who is this deity called Fake, why is he protecting her, why did she send me back in time?'' Answering one question led to more questions. Luke decided the only way to end this endless cycle was to find his sister and ask her himself. But before that, he has to make sure no one hunts her, and to do that is to get rid of all evidence pointing to her. He erased the recording from the device and the secret back up copies it made in the device and placed it back in the hidden compartment. He looked for any survivors. He had found that all most all the villagers were similar to Joshua''s family and his stepmother, all those survivors had gone mad, repeating the phrase ''Praise him'' or writing it out on the walls. He made sure to end them himself using the sword he found from a dead guard. Following that he quickly went out and gathered all mangles bodies in one building. After doing all that he went to the local tanners'' workshop and found the liquid they use to tan the hide. It was a very flammable object on its own, but the tanners used the liquid in combination with other things on their products to get rid of the rotten smell from the hide while not damaging it. He made sure to pour the liquid over every house with the writings and especially on the mangled bodies. Following that he lit the whole village on fire, thereby destroying any and all evidence of Linda''s massacre to the general public. At most, they will trace it back to him, but that is fine, as long as Linda was safe. He watched as the raging fire razed the village. The place where both of them grew. This place had quite a few happy moments for him, but from the way Linda killed or left everyone here, he knew she had less than happy moments here. He walked away from all this following the trace she left. While covering both their tracks up as he carried on. ----------------------------------------------------- It has been nearly 1 week since his revival and the incident. He had used this one week to calm his emotions and rattling heart at his new life in the past and focused on tracking his sister. At first, it was easy for him to trace Linda''s steps, but it became harder and harder for him to trace her as the days went by. But from her last given position and the route she has been taking Luke predicted that she was going to the capital. For what reason he had no idea. Another thing Luke realised when he arrived in this world is the fact that it wasn''t the same world as his past. He knows that he was starting his journey at least 3 weeks earlier than it was supposed to, but the changes were there. An example would be the supposed dead prince of the ''Unrelenting Berserker'' was still alive. His death was confirmed in his past life just after the new year but now not only is he alive but has become the heir, 3rd Prince John Emberson. Then there is the plague which everyone was affected with 5 months ago. In his past life, there was no such plague. But the strangest of all changes was the time his sister died. In his past life, May 15th was an unforgettable day for him. But in this life, his sister had died 3 months later, which meant his journey to the outside world wasn''t 3 weeks early but 3 months late. Still, however many of the things he usually saw weren''t there. Like the small corner shop in the alleyway he usually visited where they sold the best street food, or the ''Star Sword'' weapon franchise changed their name to ''Flying Sword''. The owner was the same for both the ''Star Sword'' and ''Flying Sword'' yet he changed the name of his store. His store was a store with 7 years of background. From his investigations he found there were a few minor and major changes, in the past 15 years, but everything before that had remained the same. This could only mean 1 thing; he was in a different world similar to his past life, but a different variable, other than himself, was added here in the past 15 years that caused such a large change. But who is that person or people? Were they sent back in time like he was? Chapter 99 - Episode 98- Commission "I.d.?" The guard in front of him asked as he stretched out his hands. Luke passed the fake i.d. he had bought to the guard. Luke was not worried about the guard recognising it unless he was a rank 5 magi. Luke didn''t want to use his original i.d. to trace him back to the village hence he bought a new i.d. He hoped his sister was smart to not use her i.d. as well, but then remembered she didn''t have her i.d. with her. But he knew from the route she has been following she is going to come here. It should be easy for her to enter the capital without an i.d. with the capabilities she has shown in the village, as long as there aren''t any roaming apostles around. The guard looked at the i.d. and back at him while surging his magi particles through the card, before passing it back to him and motioning him to enter the capital. Luke didn''t wait to idle around or admire the beautiful capital as he quickly made his way to the shopping district. He had done enough of that in his previous life. He went with the flow of people until he sighed in relief seeing that the place he was looking for was still there. ''Drum and Flute'' was the pubs'' name. It was a local favourite for mercenaries. Not only that one can commission request to the mercenaries in there without having to go through the mercenary organisation. The benefit for doing so was he didn''t have to pay the commission required for the Mercenary association, along with the request won''t be recorded down in their association for the empire to look through. However, rarely did a proper commission come here as most of the time people here tend to scam each other saying they completed the mission or running off without paying after a commission was done. Luke chose this place as this was the best place to set a commission without it being recorded down for the agents in the empire to trace him and his goals. Luke walked up to the barkeeper. "A commission." Luke told the barkeeper before he could even ask what Luke wanted. The man looked at Luke for a second before passing a pen and paper to Luke. Luke took the paper and wrote his commission down. He took a while before he finished before passing it back to the man. The man took the paper without even bothering to look at the content and pinned it to the board on the side. ''Track the person drawn below. Reward 10 silver. Do not engage with the target or let them notice you. Once you have an eye on the target come here between 1 and 2pm of that day.'' Luke had drawn a rough sketch of Linda on the commission paper. Many people were attracted to the new commission on the board. People suddenly started murmuring while Luke made his way out. Luke knew this was bound to happen due to the reward he had offered. Low-rank mercenaries barely make 1 silvers a week, if they worked extremely hard and here he was offering 10 weeks of reward for a single mission. He ignored it and focused on way to get stronger. He used to be an award user previously, his power being the power of the lightning itself, hence his nickname Storm of misfortune. However, he knew how strictly award user was regulated in the world. There was no way for him to become an award user unless he enter the servitude of a powerful noble or join the army and swear to them an oath of loyalty. He had no plan to join or serve anyone now since his sister was alive now. He had previously enlisted in the army hoping that he could die fighting, but now he yearned to live. Luke then decided to proceeded to make use of all the hidden opportunities hidden inside the empire, from his past life, to get strong quickly. Luke had promised such a huge sum for the commission eyeing these lost or hidden opportunities. Hopefully the changes to the past hasn''t been too great that all these opportunities were all lost or discovered. ---------------------------------------- The barkeeper looked at the young man coming in. It was the 6th day he had come looking for anyone who made a completion of his request. At first the barkeeper felt sorry for the boy, especially the first day he came back after commissioning the request. Few mercenaries had teamed up citing they had information pertaining to his target and took him out. The barkeeper had said a silent prayer hoping the boy wouldn''t be foolish and resist them fearing the worse. However, 15 minutes later the boy came back casually with bloodstains all over his clothes. Since that day no one had ever heard or knew what had become of those mercenaries. Those who still wanted to carry on scamming the boy had 2nd thought seeing the missing mercenaries and the bloodstains on him. He waited here until it was 2 pm before he left. The boy followed to come back every day, each time few foolish one daring to challenge the boy only to disappear. But as the tries increased the number of challengers decreased and the people knew the boy was not to mess with at least not for the price he was offering for the commission. As the boy sat down in front of the counter, the barkeeper saw a young lady in her early 20''s walking in. She was quite the stunning person to the locals. She looked around before stopping her gaze at the boy. She walked forward swinging her hips to the side while her sword swayed with her. "Are you the one who commissioned the request?" The charming voice of the lady assaulted even the barkeeper. "You have anything?" The boy nodded while asking her back. The lady looked around noticing the glares of everyone on her before saying "Follow me." The boy got up as usual and walked out. The barkeeper kept an eye on the clock. 1 minute... 2 minute... 3 minute... 4 minute... 5 minute... 6 minutes. The barkeeper sighed while thinking ''Finally someone who actually completed the commission.'' Suddenly the door opened a man of towering 2m tall walked. His face screamed danger and shady person due to the scars, unshaven beard and scruffy hair alongside his large sword. "Has the commission been completed?" The man asked as he sat down. "I think it has since he has been gone for a while. Why? Are you eyeing him as well? I suggest you don''t. Not with the amount of mercenaries that has been gone missing, since they had the walk with him." The barkeeper advised the man. The man smiled menacingly "Darn, so close to making some free extra cash. Anyway, is the toilet free?" The barkeeper nodded and the man walked to the toilet holding his stomach. After a few minutes the front door opened, and the boy walked in with bloodstain all over him as usual. ''Oh, seems like a false alarm. And the false alarm seemed to be quite the strong one.'' The barkeeper thought as he watched the boy. The boy sat in his chair as usual waiting for the time to pass. Seeing the barkeepers inquisitive stare, the boy replied "Poison." The barkeeper nodded finally understanding why it took so long for him to dispose of her. The man who went to the bathroom finally came out. Seeing the boy his eyes shone for a bit before saying "Brat I found her." The boy got up from his seat and walked out following the man. The barkeeper sighed at the man''s foolishness. He was one of the few people the barkeeper enjoyed having a company with. The barkeeper kept an eye on the clock. 1 minute... 4 minutes... 7 minutes... 11 minutes... 15 minutes... 19 minutes... Suddenly the door opened, and the tall man walked back in smiling. He went and sat in front of the counter with his usual toothy grin. "Get me the best beer." The barkeeper sighed as he prepared the mans grin. "How much did you get?" The barkeeper asked him. "15 silver notes." He replied as he showed off the notes. "Was he still breathing when you left him?" The barkeeper asked looking at the tall man''s sheathed sword by his side. "He was, I don''t know whether he still is." The man replied. The barkeeper was silent for a while as he cleaned the mugs. "So, were you stronger than him or just about equal?" The barkeeper asked. The tall man shrugged his shoulder as he replied, "How am I supposed to know?" The barkeeper''s eye widened for a second before he asked, "Did you not fight him?" The tall man looked confused for a minute before realisation dawn on him as he started laughing. "Wait, you found his target?" The barkeeper asked back embarrassed he even got to such a conclusion. "Obviously. Why would I steel such a measly sum from a kid?" The man replied as he asked for another mug. "Then what was that response about you don''t know about him being alive or not?" The barkeeper refilled his mug and passed it back to the tall man. The tall man hesitated for a second as an unknown emotion passed through his eyes. "The commissioned target of that boy, I hope he won''t find her attention or get in her way." The barkeeper nodded seeing his eyes, as he took the commission off the board and threw it in the bin. Chapter 100 - Episode 99- The Talk It''s been a few hours since Luke has been following Linda quietly amongst the crowd. She was weaving through the place as if it was a familiar place to her, even though it was her first time here. Suddenly she turned into an alleyway. Luke looked around for a bit before spotting a building he could use to safely follow her from. He climbed it quickly and stealthily before using his high vantage to spot Linda moving through the alleyway. He found her making her way towards the dead-end of the alleyway and staying there. As she stood there tens of people walked out of the shadows. In union, they all prostrated before her. "Rise!" She calmly ordered before the people all got up from the floor in union and knelt before her, not even daring to raise their heads. "Speak!" She ordered calmly. Quickly the one at the front raised his head while crossing his arms over his chest. "Your holiness, it is our greatest honour to meet the apostle of the Fake one. We have been awaiting your arrival since the moment we were all informed of your visit a few weeks ago by the angel of the Fake one. As the followers of the Fake one, we are here to assist you in any way or form. Just command us and we will follow yours and in that way his will." Luke was shaken to his core listening to the conversation below. The amount of respect the people below showed to his sister confirmed his theory about her being an apostle not to mention an Angel. Angels are beings from myths and stories. No one has so far authenticated the validity of angels, with proper evidence. All Luke knew was that they were the messengers used by deities to communicate with their followers or apostles. Even him being a person who has participated in the crusade didn''t know if angels were real or not. They simply couldn''t find any sort of information from their enemies about angels. Such were those mighty divine beings. "I have been assigned a mission here. My target is the 3rd Prince of the Empire, John Emberson." Luke heart nearly stopped beating hearing her target. ''What the hell is she planning? And that too not just any prince, an imperial heir. I have to stop her somehow before she carries on with this stupidity.'' "We have someone who can assist you with that your holiness." The man at the front spoke. A person suddenly stood up from the back and walked forward and knelt beside the man. From that person''s figure, Luke could see it was a woman. "Her name is Metilda. She was serving prince John for the past 11 years as his maid." The man explained who the woman was. ''Metilda? Wasn''t she among the few servants who got executed for the death of Prince John in the past?'' He clearly remembered Metilda due to her infamous brother. The double-edged information broker Matt. "Was?" Linda asked. "Yes, your holiness. Linda no longer technically serve prince John due to his weird habits." The man motioned for Metilda to speak. "Greetings most holy one of the Fake one." Metilda greeted Linda the same way by placing her hands across her chest. Linda nodded before Metilda started. "Prince John since a child has been staying inside the imperial palace since his mother passed away at the age of 4. He was bartered by his mums'' comrades to protect him from the political influence of others till he was 15, in return for their servitude for 30 years, by an oath. Since then other than studying and being trained in the routines of a royalty he has done nothing else. He was extremely achieving in his studies he had no other redeeming features and no friends, which was a major worry to the emperor. He was delayed from awakening at age of 10 which is the norm for other royal children''s due to the emperor fearing he may awaken an award similar to his mother, the unrelenting berserker, and become a threat to his plans. However, they could only delay this until he was 15. The night before he was to awaken someone attempted to assassinate him but failed. It would have been a major blow to the emperor''s reputation if the assassination had been successful. Everyone believed he had a secret supporter who protected him inside the royal palace. The next day during his awakening it was revealed that he was a soulless." ''The hell! Prince John is a soulless? Just how much does this group know about him? They seemed equally very well organised, from their extensive information and their agents being even inside the imperial palace.'' Luke thought as he started to carefully listen. "Everyone thought that was the end of him and the end of his supporter. But strangely since the day of his awakening, he started to exhibit behaviours tangent to what he normally does. Visiting the library and administration office staying there for 2 days before coming back. Strangely the next day, after this even, a cook in the kitchen made something really astonishing. The food was so tasty that John traded the cook to the emperor in return for a store of his choosing in the female market district. However, the very next day every single influential people in the empire realised they had been fooled along with the emperor and his greatest spy, commandment Albert, for the past 11 years. Under the meek and gentle lamb was a cunning and venomous snake, who started his hunt not out of hunger but of the pure thrill of it." Luke had thought that his sister''s group of followers were really good. Now he realised how dangerous this group of people were. The identity of commandments was closely guarded secret equal to that of award or even higher. Being able to identify and name the commandment meant this group of follower were not on the simple level anymore. ''These peoples information network seems to work at a deeper level than the empires network itself.'' "The day he opened his store was the day the emperor and his butler realised it was John who made the food and not the random chef. His food had the unique ability to conserve 100% of magi particles in it and thus increasing the magi accumulation of anyone who ate it. The accumulation increased depending on the level of ingredients provided. But that wasn''t the end of it, what made his food special was its ability to revitalise someone to their youth." Even Linda was shocked by hearing this piece of information. Luke who had thought he couldn''t be shocked anymore was proven wrong again. A cook being able to return someone to their youth with his cooking. What kind of ability was that? "So did the emperor make his move on him for his cooking ability in return for his position as an heir?" Linda asked curiously. She became very intrigued with the target her lord has chosen for her. "No, your holiness. He planned his move so well that he made the whole empire his personal bodyguards and stopped the emperor from making his move on him. It made the emperor and the other nobles in a position of stalemate. If even one of them made their move on him, the others would have pounced on that person and tore them apart. Especially the emperor who had been hoarding the only chef able to conserve 30% of magi particles. It became an open secret that he was a national treasure. The emperor at first was very restless when he realised John could participate in the heir competition and compete against his favoured son, the crown prince, but all that changed when he realised no would allow John to be an heir, even if the emperor himself allowed it, due to how valuable John was as a neutral party to the others. Everyone was at ease knowing this and relaxed. Until the plague..." "My, my, my! A rat eyeing a lions meal." Luke suddenly turned around to block the incoming attack. *Bang* A loud sound resonated as Luke was pushed back to the edge of the roof. He pulled his body forward before he could fall below. After balancing himself he looked down to notice all the eyes were trained on him, especially his sisters. A complicated mixed expression ran through her eyes. Luke ignored the pain radiating from his arm and looked up to observe the person who attacked him. A 2m tall man with black cloak with scars adorning all over his face and messy hair stood opposite him. The man smiled menacingly as he looked at Luke. "So, you led me here on purpose?" Luke asked back. "We had thought her holiness would deal with you. But it seems she has other plans for you." The man smiled as he drew his sword. "We?" Luke asked back. "You got strong way too quickly. Other would be very interested in your secret but we have no interest in such trivial details." A lean man appeared next to the buff man similarly in dark cloak. The man held back the tall man''s sword. Seeing him Luke suddenly realised something. "No wonder the mercenaries who wanted my money got strangely stronger as each day passed by." Luke replied to the barkeeper. "Very observant for someone of your background Luke." The barkeeper smiled as he walked forward to the edge. "Now let''s not interrupt the meeting shall we." The man bowed towards his sister before casting a barrier around the roof as he turned around. Luke turned around to see that the women have carried on her explanation while his sister eyes occasionally leaned on him. "Move away from the edge boy. You are districting the holy one." The tall man ordered. Luke moved away from the edge while asking. "Someone of my background? How much do you know?" "As much as you want." The barkeeper calmly observed him. He knew he stood no chance against that tall man, from the first move he made, let alone the barkeeper who seems to be standing on equal grounds with the tall man. "So, what now? Are you going to kill me?" He asked while readying his distraction, for his escape, now that he is discovered and cornered. Chapter 101 - Episode 100- The Talk "No, especially not on such a sacred and holy night boy. This is the day we finally meet our pope after so long. Besides, we owe you a favour, and our Lord never likes to owe favours. He likes to give not take." The tall man replied while ignoring the magi Luke was preparing. "The Fake one?" Luke asked clearly understanding that the favour was about ruining all evidence of his sister back at the village. The Tall man nodded while the barkeeper spoke "You may think it as nothing but protecting your sister boy, but to us, it was a big deal, even though our Lord could have done it himself. Ask us what you need?" "Can I talk to Linda?" Luke asked as he dissipated his magi particles. "That is beyond us boy. She owes two people in her life. One is you and one is the Lord himself. What she did to the village was for both you and her. Now what she is about to do is for the lord. She doesn''t wish you to distract her until her mission is complete boy. After that, she will be willing to see you." The barkeeper explained. "For me? What do you mean for me?" Luke asked in confusion. "She was shown the truth. The truth about how her death broke you along with the truth of her mother. Do you think she kept her calm when she realised what that women caused you to be?" The barkeeper explained. "Shown? How much do you know?" Luke asked fearing the worst "We told you as much as you want to know." The tall man replied "Cut the crap! Tell me what you and she knows about me." Luke replied in anger. The tall man sighed before piercing his eyes at him. "Luke Storm. The Storm of misfortune, I am not sure exactly how long you lived in the future as that is only known to her and Lord. What I do know is that you were not an average citizen of the empire after your sisters'' death in your past life. A warrior of the highest calibre or a warrior of the highest luck. No one other than her and the Lord knows. But know this don''t rely on your luck like you did last time." Luke stepped back in shock as the man revealed the secret he has not revealed to anyone. "How?" He asked back. "You are meddling in the affairs of deities boy, and that to the Fake one. This is the least he can do." The barkeeper spoke up. "Was it here in my past life? Did she bring me back?" Luke asked back after coming to realisation with the true power of a deity. "She don''t have that kind of power to bring your soul across time. But she is favoured to be able to be in the presence of the most powerful and hidden one in the whole of existence. Know this though you being back is not the work of the Fake one, it is of someone else''s attempted hidden work. But unfortunately, that certain deity didn''t realise they were messing with the works of the most powerful and hidden one. The deity who sent you back will be in contact with you sooner or later." The tall man explained. "Most powerful one. Isn''t the Fake one afraid of the consequence he might bring upon himself for that title?" Luke asked back in fear. Even the apostles of the other deities dared not to address themselves like that due to fearing the Almighty one. Although the Almighty one was acknowledged by all the deity as being the most powerful deity he didn''t mind the other deities having followers. Hence the reason why other deities have churches, apostles and followers. But none of them was as great and powerful as the Almighty. "Oh, right I keep forgetting you are very observant. I suggest you don''t say that to anyone else, not that anyone''s going to believe you. Why do you think none of the apostles of the deities is after your sister for what she did? Not only are they not aware of him, but they are also not aware of us his followers. Our lord is a very, how do you say it, an oddball of sorts even amongst the deities. He prefers to watch since the very beginning and hates being involved, other than pulling the occasional prank and scaring the shit out of all beings in existence. He likes watching them running around like headless chicken especially those deities when he pulls his occasional pranks. Hence you never heard of us. If it wasn''t for the most reverend one you would never come to know about us. Hell, even the deities have no idea of his existence." The tall man explained while laughing. Luke was surprised that a deity would do such a thing. He knows for sure if it was him or anyone else they would blatantly announce their might before others and seek worship from them. Yet here was a deity who cared for none of that. "Are you ok with being so disrespectful to your deity?" "He is a very lenient one as long as you don''t break his rules, which he is very strict about." The barkeeper explained. "Anyway, it seems our time is up. Our congregation is about to disperse. I suggest you don''t wander around here for long, I don''t have to tell you why?" The tall man gave a knowing look. Luke understood that the agents would soon arrive. "Why are you targeting the 3rd prince John, when your lord hates being involved?" Luke suddenly remembered something important. "He is currently the most interesting being that our lord has ever seen." The barkeeper replied while smiling. "That doesn''t explain why he is being targeted." Luke retorted back. "Let''s just say if all the powerful beings, apostles and deities gathered to fight our lord it wouldn''t still be as exciting as fighting the 3rd prince." Luke''s face blackened at what he was just told. He noted how the barkeeper had said exciting not defeat, meaning if all the powerful beings gathered together it was nothing but a simple source of entertainment to him. He now had a clear idea of the power Lord Fake wielded. "But he is just a soulless. At most he will live for 8 years maximum with the imperial healers." Luke replied in confusion why the Fake one was picking a fight with a dying person. "Yet he remains the greatest threat to everyone in the empire. Even the people in his own alliance will strike him down first before anyone else could do it. That is the kind of venomous reptile he is." Seeing the shock and confusion remaining on his face the barkeeper sighed before he put on a serious face to explain. "There was a time when the whole royal court, commandments and the emperor himself kneeled before him. If he had wanted they would have personally enthroned him as the emperor at that moment. But do you know what he instead sought out? Instead of choosing to be the emperor he chose the option to play in the game to become an emperor, the very thing he could have easily become." Luke became silent as he processed the illogical choice of John. "You see out of every being in existence he is an oddball, just like our lord. No one can predict what he is going to do, what he wants to do, or anything. Only someone like him can unbox the greatest surprise for our lord. Let it be 8 years, 100 years or even a few days, no matter how long it is, our Lord is willing to play with him. And Linda will be the torch that brings his attention to our lord." "That is twisted and demented. You are putting Linda in danger by doing that." Luke replied in disgust, fearing for his sisters'' wellbeing even more. "He is the most interesting person our lord has come across. Our lord has decided for the first time ever to fight against someone, and of all the powerful people and deities he chose someone without any personal might. Now, do you see how capable and interesting John is compared to even someone like the deities or even you who has returned to the past?" The tall man explained. "I won''t allow you to put Linda in danger. What if I interfere with your plans? Does she even know about him?" Luke said as he started to gather his magi particles. He expected them to turn aggressive but contrary to his expectation they just smiled before the barkeeper replied "You are free to interfere as much as you like. Our Lord loves surprises more than anyone does. The gathering held today was to let Linda become aware of how powerful John exactly is. She has a much better idea than you how powerful he is. She can choose after this gathering whether to proceed with this mission or not. It''s her choice." Luke was about to go mad in fury. He did a deep inhale and exhales to try and calm down. After a while, he asked them "What if I do it for her?" "Like we said he doesn''t like to be owed." The barkeeper replied as his cloak fluttered in the wind. "Then what if I join you. Then he won''t owe me anything. Just let me do it in her stead." Luke begged. "I am afraid that is not up to us. Unlike the other deities where the follower chooses them, the Fake one chooses his follower. One can choose to be his follower only after he has extended his greeting. But don''t worry due to that sneaky works of the deity that send you back in time, he has decided to pull one of his usual pranks on the deities and the world bit earlier than usual; you along with everyone else can participate in that game." The tall man replied. "Then you won''t mind if I stop you right?" Luke asked back. "Feel free to." The tall man shrugged as he replied. "You better leave now. The sniffers are getting close. It would put your sister out of focus if she were to find out you were captured." The barkeeper warned him. Luke looked down to see that everyone including his sister had already disappeared. "I will stop you." Luke warned before going. "Don''t ruin the surprise." He heard the low grumblings of the tall man while he disappeared into the night. Chapter 102 - Episode 101- Interview ''Hiring Mercenaries of Rank 2 and above for the security team of graduation exams. Rank 2-Upto 1 Gold Notes Rank 3-Upto 10 Gold Notes Rank 4-Upto 100 Gold Notes Rank 5 and above- Minimum of 1000 Gold Notes. Can be negotiated depending on rank and ability. Please apply at the mercenary association. A screening will be held. The rewards will be exempted from the association''s commission charges. 3rd Prince John Emberson.'' Luke looked at the notice plastered on the board. The notice was printed in a gold border to easily grab the attention of anyone. The royal emblem stamped at the bottom ensured this wasn''t a fake notice and a proper one, along with this commission being established in the mercenary association, Luke went to the counter of the mercenary association. "I would like to register as a mercenary." He told the women sat in front of him. "Fill this paper." She said as she pushed a paper forward without even looking up. Luke nodded before moving to the side and filling the paper out. He passed it back to the lady as she finished dealing with the person in front of her. She read the paper, before looking up in amazement. "Rank 3?" She looked him up and down before saying "Deploy you magi particle to this." She passed him a translucent cube. Luke nodded as he transferred all his available rank 2 magi particles to the cube. He passed the blue cube back, following which the lady started examining the cube, while his expended magi particle recovered. "Do you have a high capacity?" The lady asked as she turned the cube around. "Yes." Luke replied back. The lady left the cube on the table before proceeding to examine the form. "Excuse me, you have left the section for previous education blank. Can you please fill it and show me your graduation certificate please?" The lady asked nicely. "Sorry I haven''t graduated or studied in any academy." He replied while looking at the dumbfounded women in front of him, who was probably wondering why a talented person like him never went to the academy. Probably due to not believing him the lady asked, "Can I please have your i.d. card?" The i.d. cards of each person also have a recorded imprint of which academy or institution one is studying or have graduated from. Luke passed the fake i.d. card to the lady, without raising any sort of commotion. He was not worried the lady will spot the fake card, as there was no need to be suspicious of him along with calling down the high ranking members of the association to inspect the card. The lady was flabbergasted looking at his i.d. before sighing in defeat as she processed his documents. As she finished she encrypted a special stamp on the back of his i.d. card which the association can later use to access his records. She passed the i.d. back to him while asking politely, knowing that the person in front of her could be a future high-ranking member of the association "Is there anything else I can help you with?" "I want to enlist for the commission of his highness, prince John Emberson." He replied. "Sure, however since you don''t have a graduation certificate you can only receive a maximum of up to 5 gold. Is that ok?" This was one of the many privileges of graduating from an academy. Graduate abilities and capabilities were much more reliable than a non-graduates, hence they were often offered more than others. "That is fine." Luke nodded. He wasn''t doing this job for the money. He knew what the little cult of Fake was planning, and he wanted to stop all their attempts at Prince John before he notices them. The only way for him to do that, without bringing the Prince''s attention to him was infiltrating Prince John''s their ranks and stopping Linda before she could even get close to him. "Ok, one second." The lady rang the bell beside her and soon a young girl in her twenties came through the door on the side. "Please guide Sir. Storm to the screening." Seeing the respect given to him the young girl nodded seriously. "Follow me, Sir." She kindly asked while smiling. Luke followed her silently and went to the 5th floor of the mercenary association. This floor was usually only accessible for the head of the association and the high-ranking nobles. This was Luke''s third time coming here. They came in in front of a heavily decorated door and the girl knocked on the door 3 times, before waiting. Luke looked around to see that there was no one here. It was strange seeing that there was no one waiting in the hallway, especially when the commission is extremely well-paid. However, that could be because this was the last day for the commission enrollment. The door opened after a few seconds to reveal a man with scruffy black hair adorning a pale face. He nodded towards the girl before motioning Luke to come in. There was a large decorated desk and chairs at the end of the room, surrounded by shelves of books and maps. Luke went in and the man closed the door and led him to the chair opposite the desk. "Sit." The man''s silent but powerful voice resounded. Luke followed his direction as sat while watching the man sit down. Suddenly Luke saw something that was extremely familiar but nearly forgotten by him on the man. An outdated piece of technology from his past life. It was a tiny device located inside the man''s ear. Luke quietly looked around to spot a few hidden cameras inside the room. "Name?" The man voice resounded. "Luke Storm." He replied without any worry. Suddenly his astute hearing picked up a voice coming from the device. "True." The voice coming from the device was very mysterious. What did he mean by true? "Place of birth?" Luke replied without any hesitation"Gr..." However, before he could even finish he heard the same voice from the device "Lie." Pretending not to hear anything or notice anything he carried on "...een Field village.". ''Who is on the other side of that line?'' He wondered as he suddenly realised the person in front of him was just a mask for the other person. The true interviewer is watching and listening from somewhere else. ''Able to detect me lying even with my experience. Who the hell is that guy? Other than that Commandment of Information, Albert, and Butler Smith of the current Emperor, no one should be able to notice me lying. Even if they could it would have taken them a while, but this person spotted me lying just when I was about to lie. Even the award users that have abilities suited to detecting lies need to stay close to the target for their abilities to work.'' Luke stayed calm and decided not to make any hasty decision. "Rank?" The man carried on asking without a change in expression as well. "3 with high capacity." Luke replied. "True." He heard the voice again from the device. "Ask him about his age?" He heard the voice from the device again. "Age?" The man in front of him asked with his poker face, that made anyone who sat here uncomfortable. "22" The man patiently waited for the reply from the device while staring at him silently. There was no response from the device for a second before the voice came back. "Sorry was distracted by something. True. Ask him where he studied before?" "Where did you study before?" The man rephrased his question as he asked Luke. "Self-taught. Was guided by magi in my village." Luke replied while not specifying the job of his village magi. Telling the village magi''s job was equal to admitting that he wasn''t from the ''Green Field Village'', as he had no idea what their job was. The magi at Green Field could hold the occupation of anyone, saying the wrong one would screw his cover up. The man expression didn''t change as he waited for the reply "True." As soon as the reply came in a quick flash of surprise ran through his eyes before replaced by its cold stare. Anyone would be surprised to find someone so young being a rank 3 magi, especially when the said person has a higher capacity and hasn''t studied under any academy. "Skip to the last question." The voice from the other end ordered. This time the man couldn''t hide his shock as quickly as before. "*Cough*...*Cough*. Sorry." He tried to cough to hide his shock. After a while he settled before asking "Are you willing to serve an oath, swearing you will do your job properly?" "Yes." Luke replied back calmly. "Excellent. Take this to the counter found 1 floor down, and they will brief you with everything." The man replied as he got up and handed him a small card with silver border before guiding Luke out. As the door closed Luke sighed. He placed his hand on his chest as he felt the crazily beating heart of his. ''That was close. That man had the aura of an award user. He seems so familiar as well, who is he? Could the other person on the device be the 3rd prince? If so, no wonder the others fear him, even his observation abilities are at a terryfying level. This is not going to be easy.'' Luke thought as he walked out. Chapter 103 - Episode 102- Strike "Why him if he was lying to us, your highness?" Archer asked as he sat down. "He knew." The voice replied back. "About?" "The fact that you were a mask." John replied calmly. "How?" Confusion was laced on his face. "He noticed the device on your ear before you even sat down. It wasn''t long before he realised someone was watching him and spotted the camera." "And?" Archer wondered why this warranted him to join the security team, especially someone who was hiding his origin. "He was listening to me." "So calm and rational to even fool me. Interesting." Archer replied as he looked at the door with a glow in his eyes. "Not to mention being able to recognise these devices used by agents. Did you fool him with your replies, your highness?" Archer asked back. "No, he was being honest about everything except his origin." John replied back. "Do you want to assign a full background check?" Archer questioned. "Do it privately. Don''t let Albert know about it. I have a very good feeling about him." Archer nodded in reply while feeling something wrong from John''s excited voice. While from a room at the end of the hallway of 5th floor was John, sat in front of few screens with his legs on the table, watching everything from the people entering the association, being led to the room with Archer to finally swearing the oath and leaving. A smile tugged on his face as he monitored Luke leaving the building after swearing his oath, with slight panic hidden amidst his calm face. ------------------------------ So, a reincarnater. I wonder if it is the work of you assholes watching me for entertainment. Nah, you guys want something natural and exciting so this can''t be your work. So that means the work of a deity of this world? But which ones? From his expression, this commission is a new event for him. I shouldn''t have existed in his past life along with other parallel worlds, due to me being a singularity in a timeline. That means all John Field should have died on that day, unless something happens to change that, but that means they still would have died at least 5 years later due to his failed awakening. Another reason is, if I did exist in another world time travellers and reincarnaters like him should have already arrived from the future to kill me due to the chaos I might cause, knowing my personality. So that means none of the people of this world, who is able to manipulate time, is aware of my existence. So that leaves his arrival in my timeline as the work of a deity. But why would a deity send him back to his past? Did they already detect my presence and started their hunt for me? Not possible. Even if the deities were created and empowered to look after this world by God, it should be impossible for them to detect my presence, if they can''t even sense Zel roaming and causing havoc, in this world already. Unless there is a unfactored variable hanging around in this world. So, are they hunting for me or are they here for some other reason? So many question, and so much time left. Looks like I have to draw all of them out one by one, soon. ------------------------------------------- ''So that was why the test was 4 hours long and pretty easy. We have to finish our papers along with stop the attackers reaching for their targets, all the while making sure we score above 40%.'' Law and Natasha slowly pulled the pieces together. However, the rest of the students and invigilators and students were having different thoughts along with plans after witnessing what happened in that grid. For a few minutes, everything went normally while the fog in Phil''s grid slowly disappeared. The students always kept an eye on their invigilators while the invigilator was calmly walking beside them in their grid. Ellis was confused at what was happening. Due to Phil being here, he kept an eye on him. However very quickly he saw Phil''s grid being covered in fog for a while. After the fog disappeared and an annoyed Phil and invigilator could be seen in there while the students inside the grid were smiling triumphantly. Strangest of all was that Archer was doing nothing. It was as if he expected this to happen. ''So, is this part of the test or something? If so what is the goal of this exam and how does the hard paper fit in with all this?'' Ellis thought as he tried to figure out what the rules for this test were. He kept all this in mind while carrying on with his test. As he finished the 3rd question he checked the time to notice that he had 3:35:56 time left. Suddenly he noticed that all the grids were slowly getting foggy. ''It''s that fog again. Is the fog released on a timely basis? Do we have to do something during the time the fog is released?'' Many questions similar to that appeared inside him. But he put it all aside as he saw his grid slowly getting foggier as well. ------------------------------------- The V.I.P''s in the hall started to sweat. After the initial fog inside Phil''s grid lifted, all of them finally understood the true nature of this exam. However, only a few of them realised the deadliness of the exam. Even though they wanted to pull out their children, or descendants from the exam, they knew John wouldn''t simply allow it with the tight guards and security he has placed around the hall. They hoped nothing happens as the first wave of fog descended to the hall. While this happened, the screen shifted the attention to the only person in the hall that was visible, Archer, who was sat reading something. Soon screams rang out throughout the hall, while a smile slowly erupted on Archer''s face, while he carried on to flip the page of a book, while he placed his legs on the desk. A few minutes later blood seeped out of different corners of the grid and laid in front of Archer in a puddle, while he seemingly ignored it and carried on to reading his book. 10 minutes, it took 10 minutes for the fog to finally lift off from the hall. As the fog left everyone''s attention was drawn to the bloody figures laying throughout the hall. However, a common thing in the midst of all this was that most students were smiling victoriously, leaving only 2 or 3 successful invigilators. The students who were sat of their seats were breathing in labour while various wounds were present among different students. As the fog completely left the students were finally able to see the state of the exam hall. All the students were shocked beyond belief at the brutality that they had participated in. Archer looked at the scene in front of him before sighing. He folded the page on his book before leaving it on the desk as he stood up. "Invigilators, please heal the students. If you are not able to do that you will be kicked out." Archer''s voice rang out through the hall. The tired invigilators face paled at the sudden orders. They didn''t even get time to rest before suddenly having to face out another tiring task. They blamed everything on their bad luck as they healed the students, the wound which each of them inflicted through their magi was healed by their own magi. For the next 30 minutes, everyone rested and prepared. They knew the this was only the start and the next wave was coming soon. The only reason Archer had forced the invigilators to heal the students was to give them extra time to recover. While the students who had received the answer sheet from their messengers quickly tried to memorise and write down as much as possible, knowing that when the next wave arrived, it would be their turn to defend, while everyone tried to get the answer sheet and destroy it. As the time ticked away, suddenly an alarm went off while a particular grid had a red hue in it. Seeing this Archer who was back to reading his book closed it and walked towards that particular grid. Seeing this the invigilators who were about to bring the fog down waited, to see what was happening along with the other students. The invigilator in that particular grid was confused at what was happening. This was the signal given when a valid cheater was spotted. "Smart ones. Although you are risking your future. Due to being the first ones to figure this out, I will ask you this as a privilege for you guys. Are you sure you want to do this?" Archer asked as he looked at the students in front of him. Everyone was confused at what was happening. Suddenly two students stood up and said "Yes!" Archer nodded his head as he turned towards the invigilator and said, "Get out. You will be replaced with another invigilator." The invigilator was confused at the sudden turn of events. He looked at the two students and said, "You to as well, wait in the waiting room." The 2 students turned towards the noble mockingly and walked out with a victorious smile on their face. While Archer walked out of the grid, the noble in that grid stood up in anger, seeing that her invigilator was about to walk out. "What is the meaning of this? Why are you disqualifying them? I will have you reported to the magi association for unfair treatment towards my friends." The noble knew she couldn''t straight out defend the invigilator, so she used the excuse of the 2 students being her friend to ask for the disqualification reason of the invigilator, even though she hated them to the bone. She was after all so close to receiving the answer last time from her invigilator. Archer stopped walking hearing her shout at him. "You sure you want to know the reason?" His voice resonated back perfectly to her. She stood her ground as she directly confronted him. "Yes, and you better give a good reason." "Well know this, you brought this upon yourself. 2 cheaters were reported in your grid without your invigilator being aware of it. Whether someone reported them, or if they both reported each other, or if it was guilt that caused to turn themselves in is for us to know. But the fact remained that the invigilator in your grid was incapable of catching the cheaters, so she is kicked out." Everyone suddenly drew in a breath realising what the two students had done. ''Just how much hatred did they have to the noble in their grid to fail themselves in order to fail her.'' While the nobles in the other grids looked at the noble girl in anger and cursed her for making Archer reveal their plan to the public. Now everyone knew what to do if their situation turned hopeless. Archer walked back while ignoring the noble girl who slumped in her chair in defeat, while a new invigilator walked in to replace the one leaving. After a few minutes of waiting the next wave of fog returned. Ellis now had a clear understanding of the rules and regulation of this test. He looked at the students in his grid, who were looking at him with expectations. The last round they had relied upon him to repel the invigilator, they hoped he could do the same this round. As the fog started to cover he suddenly noticed something in the grid that just had an invigilator replaced. However, before he could even think on the matter he just saw, the fog rendered his sight useless while a wave of heat drew closer to him. He dodged the fire arrow as he looked at the invigilator targeting him. Chapter 104 - Episode 103- Winding up Ellis breathed heavily due to heavy strenuous fight he just had. The fog was starting to dissipate, but if what he saw was right then he could shorten the duration of fog to be less than 1 minutes from the current 10 minutes. Ellis walked back to his seat before the fog fully dissipated as the invigilator, who similar to him breathing labourously, looked at him in utter contempt and disgust. He looked at his screen, he had 2:52:21 time left. Plenty of time for his plan to work, if it was a success. As the fog fully dispersed from the hall, everyone was drawn to the sight of bloody desk, chairs and floors. The invigilators although extremely tired, focused on healing the students. They knew they were close to victory. Just 1 or 2 more waves and all the students here will be too tired to even move, even if they had recovered their magi particles to the full. Few of the nobles who had a successful smile in the previous round were breathing heavily in their torn clothes. They looked at the students around them in pure hatred and anger. As the last students were healed and seated back, a light assaulted everyone''s attention. Turning to the source of light everyone looked up to notice a bright source of light on the roof of the building. As the light faded it revealed a square with, a 10 by 10 grid. However, the strange thing was, an ''X'' marked every other square like a chessboard. One of the grids in the middle left-hand side had an ''X'' marked as well but this one had a green background colour to it. Everyone was confused seeing the weird drawing. Archer looked at the drawing and scrunched his eyebrows at the unexpected surprise. He looked at Ellis, the only person, he knew, capable of doing something like this in the hall. After a while, a few of the students in the hall came to a sudden realisation at what the drawing was. They smiled while thanking whoever had the idea of this drawing. While looking at Archer who was looking at the drawing curiously. Ellis sighed that his plan was a success. Now he just has to hope at least one person from each grid understood it. He worried for no reason seeing Archer''s gaze land on him for a moment, but it seemed all was fair as long as the cameras didn''t spot him committing the action. Suddenly after a few minutes, a bout of red hue and alarm appeared all over the hall, in certain grids. It was only after this alert went off that the clueless ones, finally realised what the drawing was all about. It was simply put a map. Everyone knew that a long draw out battle against the invigilators and the nobles would spell defeat to them. So, most of them had decided, after witnessing the expulsion of the invigilator and the 2 students, in the last round to mimic the same thing. During the wave of fog, they decided amongst themselves who would be the sacrifice. It was a hard choice especially for those students in the grid who found it hard to hold off their invigilators. However, they knew 2 of them had to leave, or the most hated person in their life will succeed. This was their only chance to properly avenge the trash that been giving them rotten hell for the past few years in the academy, without having to face a court trial. Luckily for half the grids in the hall, the map proved to be their saviour. The map was an instruction telling them all the grids marked with an ''X'' should proceed with 2 sacrifices. Once this was done all the grid not marked with ''X'' will be attacked by the fog. However, this time due to all the adjacent grids next to this grid being without fog- due to the invigilator being replaced- the fog will at maximum last 2 minutes, before being quickly dispersed. This gave the students a much easier time to defend against the invigilator. The key code in identifying the map was the grid with the green background marked by an ''X''. The smart ones in each grid quickly realised this was the grid location of the noble girl who just had her invigilator replaced. Eliot had seen how when the 2nd wave of fog arrived that the particular grid was inactive, obviously, due to the current invigilator being unrelated to the noble. What caught him to make this plan was seeing how the fog from the neighbouring grids was slowly seeping into their grid, making it less foggy. In junction with the spell students use and the adjacent grids being empty, it will take roughly 30 seconds to 1 minute to empty a grid of a fog. If, however, the students didn''t use any spell to assist taking the fog out, it would at maximum take 2 minutes before the fog becomes so light that the camera could see again. Archer proceeded to kick the 100 students and 50 invigilators out, while the nobles in that particular grid had their face distorted in resentment and hopelessness. Soon the new wave of invigilators arrived to replace the empty grids. The students focused on writing the exams, while the invigilators who were still in the game to support their masters lamented their misfortune. There was no way for them to break the game now. It usually took them at least 3 minutes to break through the defence of the students, now they had to do the same thing but in a shorter time span. Still, the invigilators decided to give it a try for their masters'' sake. The half remaining invigilators quickly decided to bring in the fog to cover their grid. However, the fog didn''t even last 10 seconds before it started dispersing. The invigilators and their masters were confused at the rate of dissipation of the fog along with the other student, although they were glad at the quick disappearance of the fog. Suddenly, they noticed the gradual disappearance of the magi particle in their adjacent invigilators'' hands. Archers voice quickly resounded through the hall. "You see unlike you scums; these invigilators actually do their jobs responsibly. They are here to ensure students in their grid, write the exam fairly without any hindrance. You guys better think up another plan or your masters are done for in this test." The remaining invigilator all despaired. There was no more point in carrying on with fogging their grid if the adjacent invigilator disrupted it. Ellis sighed in relief at the unexpected bonus fruited from his plan. Now he can actually focus on his paper. 2:30:09 time left. There were occasional attempts from the invigilators who were getting desperate along with their masters as time ticked on. Yet it would get either thwarted by the adjacent invigilators or mainly the students in their grid. 1:45:53 time left. Ellis had finally finished the paper. Although it was hard for the usual academic students for him it was truly a normal paper. Ellis closed the paper while signalling the students watching their invigilator that he will take over the watch to keep an eye on her. 1:07:02 time left. The remaining invigilators attempted a last-ditch effort at giving their answers to their masters. Out of the remaining 50 invigilators, only 2 succeeded while the rest along with their masters were expelled from the hall. 0:22:22 time left. Most students had finished by now, while wondering who put the map up. 0:07:17 time left. The heirs of nobles and other high standing people gave up in despair. They knew there was no more hope for them. Few of them started to regret ever poking the hornet''s nest while the majorities fury soared towards the peasants rebelling against them. 0:00:01 time left. 0:00:00 time left. "Stop! Time is up." Archer shouted, followed by each invigilator starting to observe for anyone still carrying on. "This is the end of this phase. Your results will be posted tomorrow outside this hall. Till the end of this exam, you are not to leave the exam premises or meet anyone else not participating in this exam other than the staff for this exam. This is the same for all the students who have been expelled from this test and are in the waiting room." Archer laid out his instructions. The students especially, those in the waiting room were confused by the orders. Why do they have to still stay inside the exam premises? What was even the point? Chapter 105 - Episode 104-Ranking Ignoring their curious gaze Archer carried on. "As you have seen this exam contained: cheaters, talented people, hard workers, lucky ones and those who were cunning. In your life, you will encounter people or beings of all these categories. The point of this test was to let you experience and open your eyes to the truth sooner. The mythical ideology that your parents have been instilling upon you for the past few years breaks today. This test was designed to show you that. No one is equal and no one will ever be, but you will always have your friends and teammates to overcome those impossible moments. You will encounter an impossible situation later in your life. Instead of losing in despair and hopelessness, join hands with your lucky, talented, hardworking, cunning and the cheating people next to you to defeat the impossible situation. Only by working together can you survive and overcome it. Imagine what all of you could have achieved if you were all working together instead of fighting each other. All of you could have easily passed the exam had the cheater and the rest of you worked together. The cheaters could have given the answers they memorised for the normal paper to the non-cheaters, while the rest could have let the cheater receive their answers without any interference. You were smart enough to devise a plan to fail the cheater permanently and clever enough to decode the plan from the map. Unfortunately, none of you was smart enough or clever enough to look at the long-term benefits from a mutual partnership and instead bathed in the pleasure of vengeance and mutually assured destruction. In return what did you get? You got 50 innocent students disqualified as sacrifices while making a potential enemy of a very powerful people all for what? To sate your hunger for vengeance. Vengeance can only take you so far, while an alliance can carry you even further. Those of you that have been bullying or suppressing other because of your ranks and influence learn from this experience. Learn from this test that you will not always be at the top. There will come a day where those who you have been oppressing and caused suffering to will be sitting higher than where you are. On that day no matter how powerful and influential you are, you will feel helpless and despair like you did today. So, from now on, I advise you, idiots, to think and live wisely. And if you are wise, learn to make friends rather than enemies before it is too late. This world doesn''t only need cheaters or lucky ones, it needs people of all kind in an alliance to move forward. You won''t be able to see it now, but in few years'' time when life has thrown everything at you and you had survived it, you will see the importance of what I said today. That is the lesson you have to learn from this test. That concludes the end of this test." As Archer finished his monologue there was a silence as everyone reflected on what Archer had said. Many of them realised that this test, was a simulation of what will happen once they didn''t work together in a crucial moment. What they had sacrificed for their short-term goals was nothing in comparison to what they will lose in the long term. Archer let the silent go on for a few minutes before suddenly erupting "Now onto my favourite part!" Archer took the golden ticket out his pocket. Many of the students'' looked up from their reflection towards the golden ticket. While Natasha, Albert, Jack and Merlin admired at the brainwashing speech employed by Archer. They knew the person responsible for that speech was most likely John. They were aware of how far a person can go for vengeance, especially Albert as he looked at a certain green-eyed woman sitting in the midst of the students. The speech was brilliant in that it will calm many of both sides bloodthirst to each other for a while and hopefully get many of them to be loyal to the empire. However, they knew there will be certain people amongst them who wasn''t affected by the speech especially, Ellis and many of the nobles. Ignoring all their thought Archer carried on, while all the screens in the hall displayed the golden ticket. "1 wish of yours that is deemed reasonable by his highness will be granted to you for the duration of this exam. However, like I said there are a few conditions to using this. Before that, I have to explain to you the unique nature of this exam and the rankings. As usual, the competition of each test will award you with points. The more points you have equal the higher you rank. So, for example, for the theory test you just did, the marks you earned will be your points. Those who had higher points are higher in the rankings. Someone who scores 100 points will be rank 1 in comparison to someone who scored, 40 points who will be last. This exam unlike other previous exams in the past will have 2 rankings. The first ranking is the usual ranking for the magi association, to see who passed and who is the most capable one etc. To move up this rank is sufficiently easy as long as one earns high enough points to be placed first, by passing each phase of the exam with flying colours. Being in this ranking by the end of the exam, even if you are last, means you will have graduated. As you all know, the higher your ranking is in this ranking board, the more likely major nobles, companies etc will offer a job for you after your graduation." Everyone nodded their heads in understanding. This was the usual ranking board they had every year. "The last ranking is a special ranking of his highness. Being in this ranking doesn''t necessarily qualify you to graduate. But believe me when I say this, from the type of person his highness Prince John is, you would want to focus on getting your ranks high on his ranking than the other ones." Law''s squinted his eyes while he heard this information, wondering why anyone would even bother to be on this ranking if they couldn''t even be guaranteed a graduation certificate. ''Everyone is here today to get their graduation certificate. Unless there was a compelling reason to aim for the special ranking there was no reason to aim for it.'' Many of the students there thought. "To keep being in the special ranking is simple. All you have to do is follow 2 rules. 1. Participate in at least 1 hard challenge in a test and pass, or complete at least 1 mini-games during the exam period. 2. Not having used or have anyone use the golden tickets on them." The student started getting a weird feeling about this new ranking. One because they didn''t know the benefit of being in the special ranking, two not being able to use something as awesome the golden ticket seemed like a waste. Many of them already guessed the difficulty of the hard paper from the cheaters who desperately attempted to receive their answers. It would be mad for them to willingly try for an extremely difficult test when the first test was bloody enough. "To kind of motivate you guys let me reveal to you the reward for the magi association ranking leader board. The first 100 in the leader board will each receive 10 low ranked Magi stones and a weapon forged out of level 4 beasts materials." The student suddenly gasped at the news of weapons forged from beast materials. For the majority of them, they have never even seen a beast higher than level 1, let alone receiving a weapon made out of one. Beast materials got ridiculously expensive the higher they were in level. Along with receiving 10 magi stones, which was a fair deal considering they only got 1 low ranked magi stone per month in the academy. Even for the rich and the nobles, this was an extremely fabulous reward. Even for their families getting a weapon made out of beat materials higher than rank 3 was really rare. "The top 10 people will receive all the above rewards in conjunction with 1 medium ranked magi stones and 2 pieces of equipment of their choice forged out of a level 4 beasts materials." Hearing the words medium ranked magi stones already got their attention let alone the extra 2 pieces of equipment made from level 4 beast materials. They knew the amount of magi particles contained inside a medium ranked magi stone was at least 100 times more than that of a low ranked magi stone. These things were not easily acquirable from the market for those without the necessary connections. "The 2nd ranked person will receive all of the rewards I just stated along with a full set of equipment made out of level 5 beast materials along with 5 medium ranked magi stones." The eyes of everyone shone in greed while Archer carried on. "The 1st ranked person will receive 10 medium ranked magi stones in conjunction with a full set of equipment''s made out of level 6 beast materials." This was the breaking straw as students started fantasising themselves in such equipment''s. This was rewards they could have never even dreamed off being offered. "This is the reward for the top 100 in the magi association ranking board his highness had prepared for you. I will leave it your imagination on what kind of reward his highness has prepared for those in his special ranking?" Archer let the words sink into the students. Natasha who was listening to all this became amazed at her step brother''s ingenious business plan. ''Merely making use of the waste from his cooking that will soon become worthless to gain the appreciation of thousands. But still, it is an extremely generous reward compared to the past years, although this had been the bloodiest and albeit not being the hardest first phase of the test compared to the past as well.'' Natasha has heard how the supply of high-level beast ingredients was slowly starting to surge. The times were level 5 beast ingredients being extremely valuable was slowly becoming non-existent to the point where they were only having value, slightly higher than value of a level 1 beast ingredient. This used to be a dream for many of the people in the empire yet it was now becoming a reality. And all this shift in market values was caused by one person. Her half-brother, 3rd Prince John. He currently controls the market value of all these ingredients, no it is better to say he is the market. Whatever price he sets for each ingredient becomes their true value. If he wills he can stop cooking and therefore make the high-level ingredients become useless and thus crazily expensive and rare again. He was slowly setting a history. Never has she or anyone else in her current generation seen someone set a monopoly like this. This was one of the reasons why the emperor along with many other people wanted to know John''s secret to his cooking. As whoever knew it can control the market price of the beast ingredients easily with it. Knowing the reward for magi association ranking Ellis along with Natasha easily made a guess for the reward of the special rank being either a level 7 equipment and above or a high ranking magi stones or even a high-level food cooked by John. The food of dreams for all magis and those seeking eternal youth. Food, more valuable and precious than any magi stones. The food fit for Deities. Chapter 106 - Episode 105-Two timer "So, now you all have the general idea of the rankings and the potential reward each of them offer. Now onto the conditions for using the Golden ticket is simple. 1-Using the golden ticket will make ineligible to participate in the special ranking. 2-You are only allowed to use 1 ticket meaning 1 wish. 1 wish per person throughout the whole exam doesn''t necessarily mean a person should only have 1 ticket. 3- You can make any wish, but his highness can change or modify it if he finds it simply too absurd. E.g. a wish like wanting to instantly become number 1 and staying that way throughout the whole exam, is considered too absurd. However, making a wish like skipping to the last phase of the exam isn''t, depending on his highness'' mood. That is all the rules and condition for using a ticket. But let me warn you again, using a ticket means not being able to participate in the special ranking." Archer gave a final warning to everyone. Many students were thinking of a wish that they would make if they had received one, while at the same time contemplating whether to use the ticket or not. "All right, as I promised I will choose random people amongst you to be the lucky holders of the golden ticket. The first id number is ..." Many students held their breath hoping it was their number. "1489!" Suddenly the hall was quiet as the students realised it was none of them. They all waited for the person to come up to collect the ticket. "Yes!" A tomboyish girl stood up and yelled as she walked forward clearly excited, while clearly showing off her badge. She knew having a golden ticket meant no chance to be in the special ranking, but she wanted to keep the ticket safe as a backup if anything happened during the other stages of the exam. Archer proceeded to call the 2nd person after passing her ticket. "9287!" Few students started to moan and grumble realising it wasn''t them. They waited for the person to come up but realised he/she wasn''t coming up. "Oh, it seems our chosen person is one of the disqualified students." Suddenly everyone stopped moaning as they realised that there would be another retake of the ticket. "Oh well, I will give it to them when I meet him/her." Archer said nonchalantly as he pocketed the ticket, while the students were dumbfounded at what he just said. "3rd person, id number..." Although Archer did an intentional dramatic pause no one was bothered by it. Everyone was trying to comprehend Archer''s words just now. ''Doesn''t what Mr A just said imply that a disqualified person can still enter the exam, as long as he/she made a wish?'' Everyone thought in union, while many of the nobles and the disqualified students released a sigh of relief knowing there was still a chance to be in the game. They finally understood why they still had to stay in the exam premises as they could still have a chance to participate in the exam. Time passed as Archer called out another random unique number. Suddenly the 18th number of the student being called out caught Law''s attention as he saw her. ''There is no mistaking it. It''s that same jade-like eyes of that woman that tried to enslave me, but something is different about her.'' Feeling the gaze of Law on her as she walked forward, she looked at him and gave him a wink. Seeing the mesmerising beauty winking at someone, those who fell for her frantically looked around to see who the wink was directed at, albeit her wink being lost in the sea of students. ''She is much shorter than before.'' Law finally noticed the changed physical appearance of the women who looked more of a stunning youthful teenager, while he broke the eye contact and hoping she doesn''t get any weird ideas with him. After the green-eyed women collected her ticket and walked back to her seat Archer proceeded to call out more numbers. The roll call ended after the 27th student, meaning 27 students have access to the golden ticket with 2 of the tickets belonging to students that were disqualified. "You are all free to leave and remember don''t leave the exam premises or to meet with anyone from outside the exam. Your results will be posted outside tomorrow." Archer ordered as he walked out followed by the invigilators through the front door. Just before Archer completely disappeared through the doorway he stopped to say "Oh I forgot to tell you. If you want to use to the golden ticket just tear it. Good Luck!" Saying that he completely disappeared through the door. The students waited in the hall for a few minutes, before they realised they could leave whenever they wanted to, and no one was going to guide them out, like the usual exams. One by one they slowly walked out, while Law waited back in the hall along with his friends till the crowded exit became more visible. As the students made their way towards the exit, Law''s group made their way towards him. Seeing Rondell''s grinning face Law knew just what to expect now. "Let me just say this first. BEST THEORETICAL EXAM EVER!" Rondell shouted excitedly, with a victory pose, while the others just sighed at the fighting maniacs antics in their group. "Not only was the question not too hard, but I had also received helped from the others in my grid for the harder parts while the fog covered the grid." Rondell boasted. "For you, but for me it was a nightmare, having all the people in my grid assuming I was the target and attacking me and the real target, just because I was a noble." Ian replied as he sat down on one of the chairs beside Law while massaging his wrists. "Hehe, it wasn''t too bad for me, because I just showed them my screen with the questions to prove I had an easy paper and I was on their side. Still, both sides didn''t get along with me, as I refused to help both sides due to my dad''s business relations with the other nobles'' family and me not wanting to fight against 98 angry students. Due to this, I had to sit inside a restriction circle during the fog waves and had to dodge the occasional spells coming towards me." Maisy joined in. "Why didn''t I think of that? It turned out the invigilator in my grid was helping out the heir to the Rumble Steels. It took me some time to convince them it wasn''t me and even more time to convince them for my help." Natasha berated herself for not thinking of Maisy''s strategy. "It wasn''t that bad in my side, other than it being the occasionally bloody battle. It seemed like the invigilator were forbidden from mortally wounding anyone or outright killing them. Otherwise, this would have been much harder." Lewies joined in after picking his seat. "I don''t think that really stopped the invigilator in my grid from making a bloody mess of anyone who stood before her." Ruby said as she pushed her glasses while dragging a chair to sit in the circle we were slowly making. As Ruby finished everyone stared at me. I sighed knowing it would come to this. "It went well for me. My invigilator was surprised at the fact that I was a rank 2 magi and I used it against him in the first wave. The second wave was just holding the defence desperately until the time was up. So, was that drawing any of you?" Law asked them back, only to receive their surprised and confused expression back. "Wait, are you serious? That map wasn''t your plan? I was like 100% sure it was you." Rondel asked back. Law shook his head. "It wasn''t me. I am a high capacity magi user, how am I supposed to have that kind of control over my magi to draw a map?" "Are you kidding me? You are a 2 timer. Not only do you have a high capacity, but you have insane control over most of your spells." Lewies chimed in. Everyone tried to restrain their smile at his lame joke. They knew that despite being a high capacity user Law was strange due to being able to control his spells with enough practise, albeit it being not as good as a proper low capacity magi. Only Law knew it was all thanks to his system that he was able to achieve the similar control level as a low capacity magi. "If it wasn''t you then who was it?" Ruby brought everyone back to the main topic. Everyone was silent for a while thinking about who it could be? "Could it be his highness, in order to help them against the nobles?" Law guessed. "No." Natasha quickly responded. Seeing that everyone was looking at her, she took a moment before explaining. "Trust me it wasn''t him. He would not bully all the high standing families left and right without any rhyme or reason." Before Ruby could propose her question Natasha carried on. "It may seem like he was favouring the normal students here and supporting them. What he did could be explained as it being part of the exam along with giving all of them a chance, thus appeasing majority of the angered noble families. Not only that the golden ticket itself is going to be a boon for all the students who are disqualified. This first test was a warning given to all of them to not mess or interfere in his exam to those nobles. So, he wouldn''t unnecessarily poke the hornets'' nest continuously, once they had received his message. So that concludes it was someone else, a student among us." Silent weaved through the group again. "But who amongst us is rank 2 and not a noble that is willing to help us?" Rondell tried to guess. "Who the hell knows? Due to a certain princess participating this time who knows how many of them here is a rank 2 magi?" Lewies smiled knowingly towards Natasha. Natasha furrowed her brows while everyone laughed at the comment. Chapter 107 - Episode 106- Wait or Test? Ellis watched the chaos that ensued 15 minutes after everyone had left the hall. He had kind of guessed the situation before him as soon as Archer left the exam hall without giving any further instructions. At first, everyone just met with their friends and discussed their answers as soon as they left the hall while walking off. Soon one by one they realised except for the surrounding few acres and the buildings everything around them was sealed off to all students in a barrier. It was next to impossible for anyone to bypass the barrier. Even if they did it was probably futile, seeing as how the guards outside of the barrier looked at them. There was no place for food or refreshments. It didn''t take them long to find out they were trapped inside the barrier, together with the students who were disqualified. Few students went in front of the barrier to demand explanations from the guards, but they were only met with the empty stare of the guards outside of the barrier. Ellis decided not to waste his energy and sat down. Due to being in the game realm he had often went days without food and was used to it, and knew how to best conserve his energy, unlike the clueless fools around him. However, water was another thing, but being a rank 2 magi solved that problem for him. He suddenly spotted a figure amidst the crowd talking with a few other nobles descendants, Phil. Ellis had noticed him walking out of the hall with the other nobles when they were disqualified for being caught for cheating. Ellis knew by tomorrow if Phil didn''t manage to get a golden ticket he would be disqualified. "There is bound to be a combat round. There is bound to be a combat..." Ellis chanted to reign in his desire to rip Phil apart. Doing something now was akin to putting not only him in danger but his Lord''s reputation in jeopardy. He lowered his head to take his sight away from Phil for a moment, praying Phil somehow finds a golden ticket. He decided to wait and see what this round entailed. Something in his gut told him that there would be a chance for him to enact his plan for Phil. ----------------------------------- It had been 1 hour now since the end of the exam. Most of the students were either lying down or sitting down in order to conserve their energy after wandering around the whole area looking for a way out or to find some food. "Have you found anything?" A boy with the badge number 2234 asked the girl who just walked in. The girl shook her head as she looked at the guards standing in front of the barrier warily. "Relax, I presume they put the barrier up for the 2nd part of the test, not to capture us." Badge number 2234 consoled the slightly panicked girl as he sat down. The girl nodded as she sat by the boy while looking at their 3rd member of the group and their team leader sitting on her own, with eyes closed. The girl was slightly envious even though she already had her turn yesterday. "I hope this rotten exam don''t interfere with my counselling session with father." Badge number 2234 voiced in annoyance while looking at their team leader. The girl nodded while looking at a group of people using magi in detest and abhor. She closed her eyes and started to calm her mind before proceeding to pray to the almighty hoping there might be some kind of revelations on their journey to find the chosen one. The quicker they find him, the quicker they can get out of this forsaken land. -------------------------------------- ''Interesting a barrier of rank 4 aptitude. Should take about maximum 20 hits and minimum 10 hits of my arms before it shatters.'' The girl winked at a student who she found was feasting on her body with his eyes. ''These disgusting and slimy teenagers are annoying. Maybe I should just kill that annoying crown prince along with the other prince that bastard supports? It would be funny to see those guys run around like headless chickens. Why am I here again? Who cares, I will ask the old man when he talks to me again. Till then I can play around with my new toy.'' She looked at the small group of students walking around energetically while everyone else around them was trying to conserve their energy, led by a particular boy who can resist her award. She felt the paper towel in her pocket which was stained with the blood of her new toy. "Today is the best day ever." She cheerfully chimed while following them from a distance while occasionally getting the greetings from her puppets scattered around the area. ------------------------------ "Hahaha, look at you fools starting to get tired already." Rondell shouted out loud while pointing at Ian and Ruby who just suggested to take a rest. "You idiot, not everyone is like you. Besides we are not physically tired just mentally drained from the long day." Ian argued back. "We have been here since 8am and now it''s about 5:50 pm. It''s been roughly 10 hours since we have been here. I need to take a short nap, who knows how long this is going to go on for." Ruby defended herself. They carried on arguing with themselves while the rest of us just walked along until they come to a decision. "Someone''s following us." Lewies suddenly interrupted. Natasha eyed me for a moment before looking at Lewies for an explanation. Damn, it is really freaky how she is so observant, if all of the royalty are like this then I hope I never meet any of them. "How long?" Natasha asked while getting ready for casting. "I just noticed now." Lewies replied while we kept on walking. "You didn''t notice?" Ian asked while looking at me. Crap now he caught onto it as well. "No, I was just thinking about other things. Sorry." I gave them the half-truth, while closing the surplus amount of notifications from the system. [Host has resisted the mind control effect]x21 The number of notification just kept increasing every minute. It''s like she wants to get my attention and see what I will do about it. It''s almost creepy but I also think she is doing this to confirm her power indeed doesn''t work on me. They sighed while Ruby asked "What now? Confront that person or just let them follow us." Uh oh. I have to make something up before they piss her off. "No." I said calmly while everyone listened to what I had to say. "We can''t be wasting energy fighting people. Who knows what the next test might be? Let''s just find a place and relax for a while, like Ian and Ruby suggested and see if our stalker comes to us or not." Thank you stable mind for helping me bullshit the way out of this without revealing anything. "Reasonable plan." Natasha said while nodding along with everyone. We found a spot and sat down; I was hoping she would just go away now but every minute the system let me know that wasn''t the case. [Host has resisted the mind control effect]x3 Lewies suddenly tensed up while alerting everyone "She is coming this way." "The stalker is a she?" Rondell asked back in surprise. Lewies nodded, while everyone else slowly prepared for the unknown. Suddenly I felt someone behind me. While everyone just looked at the beauty behind me in a daze before soon something covered my eyes as a sweet voice enriched my ears. "Guess who?" I gulped. I have got to calm down and pretend as I know her. If not after she leaves the ensuing questions from them will blow my lie. And telling them the truth is the last thing I want from what I have seen she could do. "And I stand corrected that the imperial princess is the most beautiful people ever." I could hear Rondell mumbling some bullshit. "Let go of him." The slight change in even Maisy''s voice suggested even she fell for her. "Can''t do that until he answers." The sweet voice hammered my ear again while her smooth hands covered my eyes. [Host has resisted the mind control effect] "I don''t know. I am sorry." I said slowly while hoping she doesn''t go on a rampage and control my friends. There was an awkward silence for a minute before she removed her hands from my eyes. I turned around to see the jade-like eyes slowly getting red. Before she could say anything else a sudden announcement shook everyone up. "Sorry for the wait everyone, we were just getting ready for phase 2 of the test. Food and refreshments are being served right now, just find the large sign that says, ''Food is here''." "I can''t believe you forgot me so quickly Law. We will meet again, and you better hope you remember my name before that." She quickly chimed in before leaving us all in a daze. ''Is she toying with me?'' I thought while looking at the questioning glance from my best friends. ''Yeah she definitely is doing this on purpose but why?'' --------------------------- ''That eye, why do I find it so familiar?'' Natasha thought as she looked the back of the girl getting further away. Chapter 108 - Episode 107- Hunt or be Hunted "As for introductions, you can call me K or Mr K. You won''t be seeing me during this phase, but you will be hearing from me a lot. Before you folks run off to get your food you better listen to me very carefully." Suddenly everyone who was running around looking for the sign for food halted. "As soon as this announcement ends the 2nd phase of the test will start. This test will be called Survival. The rules are pretty simple, one person amongst the thousands of you is a predator and the rest of you are prey. Get touched by the predator once and you will become a minion for the predator and help the predator hunt the prey. Make sure you won''t be touched by both the minion and the predator. You all will earn point depending on what faction you are in. The predator faction earns points simply by turning preys into a minion. You will get 1 point per prey turned into a minion. The prey faction earns points in 2 ways: by taking the badge of the minions you have taken down and in doing so the points amassed by that minion till then is given to that badge holder of the prey faction. The second way is to survive. Every hour you survive as the prey earns you 1 point and your goal as the prey is to survive for the next 48 hours. Now for those who want to enter the special ranking category. There will be 2 types of minions: slave minions and loyal minions. Slave minions are minions who were turned into minions by the predator faction. When prey is converted to a minion he/she will lose all their amassed point till that moment. Loyal minions are minions who willingly got turned into a minion by the predator. Anyone who converts to a loyal minion within 1 hour from now will make you eligible to participate in the special ranking. You can still be a loyal minion after the 1-hour mark, it''s just that you won''t be eligible to the special ranking after the 1-hour mark. Loyal minion unlike slave minions won''t lose any of their points when being converted, so if you want a safe journey once you collected enough points just find the predator and state your intention before he converts, or other minions can convert you. There are also mini-games thrown around the fields and inside the buildings. Just find them and complete them if you want to enter the special ranking without being converted." The voice broke off there to let what K just said sink in. ''If what I had guessed is right then everyone here is trapped and will be participating in this phase regardless of their status from the previous round.'' Ellis had already identified the voice to Kristof. ''Now all I have to do is to make sure I and Phil are in the opposite faction till I find him, then, whatever happens, can be justified.'' Ellis smirked "Now you all might be thinking what is stopping you all from being in the predator faction. Well, the thing is those who are in the predator faction are unable to enter the safe zone containing food, meaning all those in the predator faction will be starving for food and water until the end of the round." As Kristof finished his announcement there were several outcries from the students. Kristof right now was so glad Prince John had told him to just do the announcements instead of making a public appearance like Archer. "I could simply care less for what you brats think. You all have 48 hours to survive. In all honesty I think this is a fair round considering there is close to 10,000 of you against 1 single starving person. Also, I suggest all of you to at least have 75 points by the end of the round. Anyone below that will fail to move forward no matter the faction, except for the predator, unless you have a golden ticket that is. The predator will be chosen amongst from the person who scored the highest in the hard paper in the previous exam. The predator will be a guaranteed pass, whilst his/her score increasing with the number of people who they convert." The few nobles who had managed to successfully pass last round in the hard paper suddenly prayed that they were chosen to be a predator. Although being a predator meant having no food, it guaranteed a safe and secure pass as long as they managed to convert a few people. "After I finish my announcement you can identify someone from the predator faction by their badge colour. People who have a green badge will be in the predator faction and those without any colour belongs to the prey faction. In the predator faction, the one with gold border badge will be the predator. While the one with the silver border will be a loyal minion and the one without any border will simply be a slave minion. None of you are allowed to hide or cover up your badge. Any attempt to do so will score a deduction of points, how many point will be deduced by the impact caused by you hiding your badge. If your badge is captured by someone in the prey faction, it will be your responsibility to get it back, if you want to pass this round. All of you will have a small number under your badge outlining your total points. I don''t have to tell you guys not to paint a target on yourself by having huge points." Everyone suddenly looked at their badge, along with keeping an eye the surrounding peoples badge for the gold-bordered green badge. "Your score will be posted tomorrow outside the examination hall for a duration of 5 hours. Anyone who hasn''t gotten a look by then won''t be able to check their score till the end of the exam, along with being denied access to the free food. Those who want to drop out of this exam are free to do so. But your time to drop out starts as soon as the results are out and it ends when the scoreboard vanishes. Those who are disqualified might be wondering why you are still here. Well, you are here because you have been given another chance. As long as you find a golden ticket you can still join in the exam. So, if you want to drop out of the exam or if you are disqualified and have no hope of getting a golden ticket then I suggest you arrive where the exam results are posted and snap your badge in half inside the marked area you will see. Anyone else that break their badge outside of the area will not be considered as dropping out, neither will it be count when someone does it on your behalf. Also, anyone with a high score in any of the mini-games at the end of each day will be given a golden ticket, that is if you can manage to complete one. You will hear from me if there are any additional announcements. Good luck!" As the announcement ended everyone suddenly tensed and looked around for the predator. Suddenly a large pillar of green ordained on a single person in the field. Seeing this everyone''s attention was drawn to the person. ''Darn it! I should have known these guys were to dumb to score higher than me.'' Ellis thought as he quickly started casting a camouflage spell. "Quick stop him!" Someone from the crowd shouted as a volley of spell launched towards him. "Holy crap! That''s Ellis." Rondell shouted as he looked at the spells flying towards Ellis who stood there without moving away from the barrage of ice, earth, fire and other elemental spikes. "What is that he doing? MOVE you, idiot!" Ian shouted at the same time towards Ellis who stood there without moving. "Law!" Ruby shouted towards Law who started to prepare a shield spell while getting ready to run forward to protect Ellis. Suddenly Natasha moved forwards and stopped Law from interfering. They turned towards Natasha who just said one-word "Watch!" Suddenly a veil of fog descended into the surrounding area of Ellis. *Twang* *Clank* As the spells entered the fog there was a second of silence before a series of sounds of something being hit arrived from the fog. "Ahh!" "My Arm!" "Somebody help!" A series of cries and screams ensued. Everyone looked at the source of cries to notice few people standing close to the fog was struck by spikes of different elements. "Did he cast all those spikes and that fog?" Maisy asked in daze. "No, he casted the fog. Those spikes are the result of his swordsmanship." Natasha answered as she squinted at the fog trying to make out where Ellis was. "Swordsmanship? He knows an art, since when? Which one?" Ian asked in shock. He knew how difficult and strenuous sword arts were to master. Ellis mastering one in the span of months along with finding time to accumulate magi particles with his low talent is shocking. "Repelling sword art. He seems to have already mastered the first stage. I think he is about to move." Natasha replied as a shadow emerged from the fog. Not a single scratch laid on the clothes of the player of the game realm, despite the massive barrage of spells. "Not a single scratch on him. How?" Ruby asked in shock seeing Ellis emerge without a tear in his clothes. "We need to move now unless you guys want to be minions." Natasha warned as she saw Ellis running towards the group of people that launched the spells. "Wait, look!" Rondell said in admiration as he saw Ellis deflecting and dodging the spells launched towards him elegantly. "How is he so good? He could barely put up a fight in the combat training classes few months ago. Natasha just what exactly happened to him." Lewies asked in disbelief. "I don''t know. The report never said he was this good." Natasha started mumbling as she saw Ellis weaving through the group of people holding his long ice spike as a crude ice sword. "You guys think we can take him?" Rondell asked while his fists started shaking in excitement. Ian shook his head "At least 1 of us will be converted if we fight him." "No, it''s 3." Law replied in pure amazement while shaking his head. "What?" Lewies asked back. "At least 3 of us will be converted fighting him. He is a rank 2 magi." Law pointed towards the rank 1 spell fog. "..." Everyone except Natasha gawked at the fog. "Natasha just who exactly is he working under?" Maisy finally spoke, while wondering just how much resources were spent on a low talent like Ellis and why they would do something like that? As Maisy''s question dawned on everyone they saw how Ellis quickly converted everyone in the assault group into slave minions without a single person touching him. "He is moving, unless you guys want to be trampled by other students or become converted, start moving now." Natasha warned them again. "Where to?" Ruby asked as she looked around for a safe exit. "Safe zone. We will eat something before deciding what to do." Law said as they started running towards the big flashing board that displayed ''Food here''. Chapter 109 - Episode 108- Hunting without Hunting Dogs After spending who knows how long inside the game realm, fighting with my life on the line, fighting greenhorn of geniuses seemed like child play to me, especially when I am rank 2 and them all being rank 1. Their every action being so predictable. I weaved through the barrage of spells they were launching at me while keeping my eyes on a certain person, running to the safe area, while converting those who stayed back to fight me. 5 minutes. All it took was 5 minutes to scatter the assault group of 100 rank 1 students. Few managed to escape while the majority frustratingly looked at their green badge. As I made my way to the safe zone I saw many students were shouting towards the entrance to the safe zone. Seems like Kristof has set some kind of limits and conditions on the safe zone with his award. I should have known his highness wouldn''t simply let them camp out in the safe zone. There would probably be a time limit inside the safe zone as well. The safe zone should be called a temporary safe zone if my guesses are right. How long is the duration? That is not my concern. My concern is whether he is in there or out here somewhere. Seeing me the students gathered in front of the safe zone dispersed. I by myself can''t look for him in this group of 10000, students. I need eyes and ears that did the job for me outside of my own. I looked among the running students for anyone I recognised and spotted a few of them, from my same academy. Locking onto them I boosted myself with a spell as I ran towards them, with minimal movement to conserve my energy. I will be needed all my energy for what is about to come. "Ahhh! He is coming this way!" The orange-haired, short girl screamed as she turned around to check behind her for her group of 4. Instead of noticing I was gaining upon them and tactically slowing down to confront me while conserving energy, they decided to take their chances to outrun me. Using that I picked the group of one by one by striking their leg with a low powered lightning bolt, as I closed the distance. "Ellis, please let us go man, on the basis of our time together in the combat theories together." The boy whose name I had long forgotten begged as he crawled back. "Please, don''t Ellis. I don''t want to starve for the next 2 days. Remember we were deskmates in our arcane studies." The blonde-haired girl in the group sniffed as she clutched her legs in pain. "Ellis I will do anything just don''t..." Before the boy chimed in his dialogue I interrupted them. "Did you see Phil?" They were silent for a while before the boy who studied combat theories with me responded. "If we tell you will you let us go?" "Answer or I will make sure that you will be in pain along with being starved for the next 2 days." I threatened him as a shabby mud stick conjured into my hand. "Woah, woah, calm down man. He just went that ...." As the boy pointed his hand towards a certain direction I moved forward. Before he could react I slammed his head onto the floor, with my mud stick. "Ahhhhh!" I understood he was lying to protect himself and his friends from the wrath of Phil and the other nobles'' social circle. Do I care? A little bit, but the nobles social group will have other things to worry once I am done with Phil. Besides as long as these 4 kept their mouth shut no one will come after them. "Don''t lie." I threatened as I looked at the other 3. Before they could act I held a firebolt above their bleeding friend. "And don''t move. You have seen how fast I can move. I bet this bolt can go through his throat before your measly rank 0 spells can reach me." "You wouldn''t?" "Stop it, this is just an exam!" "No, please don''t!" All 3 of them screamed as they lowered their arms and cancelled their spells. "I haven''t really touched him yet, and his badge is still normal. Would any of you be willing to convert yourself to heal him once I convert him? Or would you rather watch him be in pain for the next 2 days while he starves and slowly dies?" I asked them as I observed them slowly. "Good. Now be honest, which way did he go? I believe I won''t have to repeat myself of the consequence from lying." "Ellis, why are you doing this?" The blond-haired girl started to mediate. Seeing this was going nowhere I drew my hand closer to the bleeding boy''s head. "No!" "Stop! Please stop!" "I will tell you! I will tell you! Just leave us alone!" All 3 of them screamed again. "Where?" I asked again. "He is inside the safe zone. There! Just leave him alone." The blonde-haired girl cried as she answered. I cancelled the firebolt as I smiled. I walked away leaving the 3 to deal with their wounded friend. "You are a monster you know that, a cold-blooded bastard. You doomed us. Now they will never leave us alone for this." The orange-haired girl screamed as she looked at me in anger while holding the bleeding boy. I stopped walking hearing that. "You are wrong." I said as I faced them. Seeing my motion forward was halted and turning towards them the girl stood still in fear as the other boy in the group proceeded to quickly heal their teammate, fearing a fight was about to break out. "I am not a bastard, but a matricide. Get it right." I turned to walk towards the safe zone. ---------------------------------- "There goes our plan of sleeping here for the day." Lewies grumbled as they looked at the clock and the notice next to it. Somehow strangely whoever tried to grab more than one portion of meal was strangely stopped. It was not because there were people stopping them but like they couldn''t move when they were about to get more. Along with that people were pushed out forcefully from the safe room after 30 minutes. The rest of us guessed that a high-ranking magi is probably controlling and maintaining the order behind the scenes. But how did he/she know who was coming for seconds or not, and who stayed exactly for 30 minutes? Maybe it is a group of high-ranking magi doing it. As we argued about our theories, Natasha just remained silent as usual while murmuring something about rules. As we finished our lunch/dinner of what seemed to be bread and soup of some kind quickly, an unexpected person came towards us. "Hey, fancy meeting you guys here?" His short white hair rustled as he walked, while the others started grumbling and gave him a stare that clearly said ''Get lost'' "I am sorry for their behaviour Phil. Do you need something?" As much as everyone hated him, I knew not to hold hatred towards him. Especially after what Mr A said about working together. You never knew when you will need the help of each other. It was just he was raised in a different environment compared to others. Hell, he was probably taught to treat others who weren''t nobles as scum. It''s not his fault, and I won''t hold it against him. They will slowly mature and realise their mistakes later on. "I also know you probably won''t believe me when I say this, but I realised my mistake when Mr A pointed it out. I want to make amends for what I did to everyone and there is no better time than this to apologise to you all." Everyone''s attention came towards us as Phil addressed everyone by raising his voice. "I am sorry for what I have done previously. I am utterly sorry for the sorry excuse I have been to you all. Please forgive me." He straight-up apologised while asking for forgiveness, which shocked everyone there. "Law, I know it will be hard for you guys along with everyone here to trust me. So just to prove how genuine I am I can tell you the key to this exam." Phil went on as everyone got dead quiet. "The key to this exam is trusting." After a few seconds of everyone just staring at him blankly he sighed before explaining. "Think about it. If the first test is about making us realise the value of each other, then the goal of this test must be about teaching us to trust and work together. Even though the predators are starving all they need is one touch to convert us. It won''t be long before it gets disadvantageous for us. Before then we have to gather together and work together to push them back." Phil explained. "So, what are you proposing?" Ian asked "I suggest we form a group with Law as the leader." Suddenly there was murmuring amongst the students in the hall. "If you guys are worried about any of us nobles or high standing students abusing our authority in the group, then on behalf of them I will say this..." Phil raised his voice to get everyone''s attention. "Law, if you lead a group, then I promise none of the nobles and high-ranking students will seek to abuse our authority. In fact, you guys can treat as slaves. This is my word. If any complaints about us comes in, you along with the rest can kick us all out of the group at that instant and we will leave without any complaints." Phil proclaimed. As soon as this was said everyone in the hall received a shock. ---------------------------------- By the time I arrived in the safe zone I saw few people running out and few walking in. Seeing me come the people who were about to walk out stayed in, while looking at what I assumed was a clock in worry. I picked a person I vaguely recognised who was already out and questioned him while keeping an eye on the safe zone for Phil. 30 seconds. All it took was threatening him with starvation and pain with a sample of the low powered lightning bolt before he spilt the beans. Comfortable people were the easiest to gain information from. Threaten their comfort a bit and they will spill everything; this was one of the few lessons I learned the hard way in the game realm. "He went with those guys..." Oh, seems like he is following the group of 7 Star Elites of the academy. This is bound to get more troublesome. Chapter 110 - Episode 109-The caged Princess "Law, you are making a grave mistake." Natasha warned me as we finished setting up the defence in the building along with the others who decided to follow us. "Natasha for the last time, just give them a chance. What''s with you against nobles so much? Aren''t you one yourself?" I asked her as I looked at the eyes that looked away from me. "Law, you don''t understand..." She paused there. "Well, then please explain what I am doing wrong then? You know I am willing to listen. What''s wrong with giving them another chance to prove themselves? Is there something more to this?" I asked back "How about this since we have secured and fortified this place just pick a different leader and let''s just leave?" Natasha almost seemed pleading while the rest of us looked at her in worry. Seeing us just stare at her she sighed in reluctance. "Look, Tash, as a noble myself I can understand where you are coming from about not trusting them. But like Law said there seems to be something more to this. Just tell us what it is?" Ian tried to persuade Natasha as well. "I can''t really explain what going on without telling you all the details, and I don''t want to do that. You will all be placed in equal danger if I say anything. Just promise me one thing." We all nodded seeing how serious Natasha was. "Just don''t trust Phil." She finished as she walked off, while I watched more and more people coming in. ----------------------------- Damn it! Damn it! I bit my thumbs in frustration. There has to be a way around this. I know Phil didn''t join us because he felt sorry for his actions. There is no way a person like him who caused the **** and death of a mother in front of her very son, be convinced by mere words. He probably grew fearful of Ellis as he witnessed his might after his ascension as the predator. He is merely using us as shields till this round is over from Ellis. Then there is Ellis himself. He was similar to John in a way. A genius abandoned and unfavoured by the Deities. He had no talent in magi accumulation like her half-brother, but unlike her brother whose talent laid in another field, Ellis covered his weakness up by his extensive knowledge and natural talent at casting and understanding in magi spells. Now after his fall he was raised back by her half-brother who gave him the very thing the deities denied that born genius, magi accumulation. Not to mention the unexpected skill he displayed of a trained warrior. She remembered the warning her grandmother gave her, as she walked around. ''Natasha I know you value those friends of yours and I approve of your friendship with them. But remember not to draw that mad man''s attention more than necessary. The moment you do, then even I won''t be able to help you.'' She knew there was an extremely guarded secret about John that no one spoke about. It seems almost like an open secret to the members of the royal court that they use to base their fears upon. That just proves why it is important to not draw his attention. I know for sure, if Ellis comes in here he will look for Phil and no one will be able to stop him, other than us. Knowing the righteous fool Law is he will be tricked by Phil to protect Phil from Ellis. The moment Ellis fights against us, will be the moment John''s attention will land on us and that idiot, Law. I might be the only person aware of Phil''s true agenda, but I am also unable to prove it without putting everyone in danger. Wait... I don''t have to prove anything, and I can get rid of him as well, but Law is probably going to hate me for this. However, it''s worth it. If I can''t protect and cherish the ones I hold dear then what''s the point of having this power. -------------------------------- I looked at the fortification they were building against me. Going in there is like letting him escape while I have to fight against a horde of angry mobs, especially with the 7 elites of the academy leading the group. Unless I can draw Phil or those 7 out and away somehow. --------------------------------- Almost everyone aside from those who are keeping watch, arrived inside the hall awaiting the announcement I wanted to make. I stood up while my friends looked at me curiously. "Sorry everyone for the sudden announcement. But before we all go to sleep I want to prepare you all for tomorrow." Everyone started to slowly go silent after realising I was going to say something important. "As you have all realised, the mock exams we took for the graduation exam has mostly been for nought, as this year''s exam is very different from the previous exams." Everyone nodded in union remembering how different it was compared to what their seniors had told them last year. "The first exam itself has been very bloody and brutal. I don''t have to say the brutality that will appear starting from tomorrow onwards due to the condition of not receiving food until we view our results." A heavy silence went among the gathered group. Everyone knew starting from tomorrow onwards the prey group will start to go hungry as well if they don''t view their results. It will then be a one-sided fight after that. "So, in order to combat that and make sure everyone views their results properly, I suggest everyone split into small groups of minimum 10 people each. Each group will then proceed to go out accompanied by a two rank 2 individual. Currently including me here there are a total of 6 other rank 2 magis." At the mention of seven rank 2 magis, the moody and depressed group suddenly became hopeful. "You are a rank 2 magi?" "Who are the other rank 2 magis?" Question similar to this suddenly started to pop up. I held up my hand and after a while they all became quiet. "The trip towards the exam hall should take roughly 5 minutes, after which the group will go to the safe area to collect their meals, which will take another 5 minutes and then walking back from there should take another 10 minutes. Which means 5 hours should be plenty of time to get all of you here to the results area, get your food and back. Each group will leave in a 10-minute interval before setting out with their rank 2 magi, this would mean that there will always be at least 3 rank 2 magis inside the camp. As long as we survive till the 2nd day I am pretty sure plenty of people from the predator faction will attack us. We can use that opportunity to earn more points so that everyone here can pass. Currently, this is the best way to do this without getting all of us captured and failed. So, I would like all of you getting ready by tomorrow morning to set off. Also, I hope you will all listen to your group leaders which will be the best solution to your survival and stick to their plan. Thank you that''s all." They were talking amongst themselves and sorting each other into groups as I walked out of the hall followed by my friends. "Wow, no wonder you are an imperial princess." Rondell whistled. "Good plan, although there are some problems, I think this might be the best plan we have." Ian nodded as he analysed the plan. "So, do we partner up now or randomly decide tomorrow?" Lewies asked as he smiled. "Let''s discuss it after everyone''s gone to bed." I replied "I agree/Yeah" Both Ruby and Maisy replied, while Maisy yawned. "Ok, that''s fine. Although I never expected you to fully accept this group after your outcry against this association. But it''s good that you decided to give us a hand." Law gave his typical radiant smile as he patted me on the shoulders, while guilt pierced my heart for lying and deceiving my friends for the 1st time. At this moment I was so glad my maternal family had forcefully trained me to restrain my emotions like all upper nobles, if not they would have seen my face and have predicted what I was plotting. Now I just have to hope Ellis won''t make any rash move for the night. Chapter 111 - Episode 110-The White Card in the Deck I had decided to wait. If I can be patient for so long then I can be patient for a little bit longer. The nature of this round dictates that the members of the predator faction will increase. By the end of tomorrow, I just have to pass information to the predator faction about a bunch of points holed up inside a building. The hungry predators will jump towards the fat sheep and tear them apart. I can use that moment to get him, while the rest are distracted fighting the horde. For now, I decided to wander around and find a spot to rest. I ignored the presence of preys watching me as I walked into a building which I assumed they had constructed for this exam. As I was walking up the stair to the second floor I suddenly noticed something unusual on the ceiling of the first floor. Something that was barely visible written on the ceiling. I had only managed to see it due to the light hitting it in a certain angle. ''Find all the white cards hidden inside the building within the next 5 minutes. 1 participation per person. Scores reset every day. Current ranking: None'' Oh, this seems like one of the mini-games that was mentioned. Seems like no one has played the game yet. If I remember it right the reward for the high scorer will be a golden ticket. I don''t really need this, so there is no point in playing this game. Besides, I don''t believe this will be an easy challenge. It says, ''find all the white card''. There is no specific number mentioning how many cards, meaning it could be 10, 20 or even 100 cards and that too in 5 minutes. I walked up shrugging my shoulders and found a corner and sat down. As if taunting me I saw a white card stuck against the wall perfectly blending in with the white walls. I ignored it while resting. I decided to go and convert as many people as possible tomorrow morning for what I have planned for tomorrow night. I slowly entered into my sleep, while thinking of what was to come tomorrow. *Clang* *Clang* Suddenly I heard and felt something hitting against my magi shield, I raised. I opened my eyes to see something was moving around the room extremely quickly. It seemed it was the white card I had seen earlier. After a few seconds of observing it, I suddenly noticed another card joining the room coming from downstairs. *Clang* *Clang* *Clang* *Clang* As time went on the number of cards in the room increased. I was glad for the experience given by the game realm to set up defence before sleeping, if not considering the force at which the cards were colliding against my rank 1 shield, it would have left me with heavy bruises. Before any more cards could come into the room I suddenly ran towards the hole in the wall, where the window was supposed to be and leapt out of the building. After leaping out I carefully listened, as the intensity of collision inside the building increased, while I walked towards the front door of the building to see what caused all this. Arriving before the door, I opened the door slightly to peek inside. What I saw inside was nothing like what I had seen upstairs. A huge amount of white cards seemed to be flying around the room, colliding with everything. Anyone who couldn''t even raise a rank 1 shield would be dead or heavily injured being in there. I waited for a few minutes before the chaos settled and the cards slowly disappeared. I noticed the spot, where few of the cards had settled. I walked inside the room where it seemed some kind of savage beast had laid waste upon. What caused all the cards to go crazy? I walked around and poked a few cards to see if there was anything wrong with them or not. Seeing there seemed to be nothing wrong with the cards, I took a few of the cards I had managed to trace to its hiding spot. I tried to analyse and see what caused the cards to attack me. Was it done by someone on purpose to harm me? Or was this part of the test? This could only be answered after I identified the cause behind the cards going crazy. Few minutes of sitting and observing the cards and later looking for traces of magi spells used by anyone, as I did so I didn''t notice time flowing by. Suddenly a card in my hand, flew out, slowly followed by the other 3 cards in my hand. I had a sudden realisation as I quickly ran out of the building while closing the door behind me. This wasn''t an attack, neither part of the exam. This seemed to be the penalty or punishment for not completing the mini-game inside. This should be expected. There was no way his highness would let the students receive the golden ticket so easily. Besides that, it seems the location of the cards reset after each time the cards go violent. After the cards settled down, silence filled the building again, except ignoring the occasional shouting and screams from the surroundings. Seems like I have to find somewhere else to sleep. I closed the door and walked around looking for another building to sleep, that seemed to not be occupied by anyone. The moon shone its light as I walked in darkness. *Swish* Hearing the sound, I quickly moved a few steps back in a diagonal direction. *Twang* A stone that seemed to be covered in paper landed where I was a few seconds ago. I quickly looked towards the spot to see someone running off. Although it was hard to guess any of that persons feature due to them covering their face and hair properly, I could easily guess he/she was a rank 2 magi, due to the speed they are moving at. I walked towards the stone and looked at the message written on the paper. After reading it I burned the paper using a fire spell. If what was written on the paper was right, then I will have to make sure Phil doesn''t reach anywhere near the exam hall. Knowing him he will make sure to drop out as soon as he is there, to be safe from me. I didn''t care who that person was, neither their intention for passing this message to me. All I should care about is that I will have my chance tomorrow. I can make sure to attack them, but I have to restrain the other two rank 2 magis in 5 minutes at least before dealing with Phil. If not things will get troublesome. I sighed as a plan gradually formed in my mind as I walked back towards the building I previously walked out off. ------------------------------------ Natasha woke us all up early morning before everyone else. She gathered us all in a location away from everyone before giving us some instructions. "Sorry for waking you all up so early, but I didn''t explain the full plan yesterday." This surprised all of us, as to why she didn''t say anything last night. "Umm... Why Tash?" Maisy asked while combing her messy hair. Why she brought a comb out of all things to an exam, I have no idea. "You will understand after I explain it." She replied. We all nodded for her to carry on. "There will be a slight change in the plan I gave out yesterday. Instead of going to the safe zone and eating the food there, make sure no one eats their food and drink." I was confused at where this was going before Ruby eyes suddenly widened. "You want to attempt a battle of attrition?" Ruby asked. Natasha smiled while nodding "I am sure in the next few days we will be sieged by the predator faction because the numbers in the predator faction are simply going to increase, while our number is going to go down. At that time none of us will be able to walk out safely and get to the safe zone and back. The best solution to this is stocking the rations now and conserving it over the next 36 plus hours while fighting the horde that will inevitably attack us." "But why did you not say this yesterday? I am sure everyone will gladly help out." Randall asked in confusion. "Not everyone is stupid like you and kind like Law, Rondell." Ian spoke up, who seemed to have understood the plan as well while pointing towards me. "There will be many in the group who would cunningly stay back and leech of other people''s hard work, using any sort of excuse. Would you go out if you were a noble like Phil, who found out that you could potentially stay cooped up in here for the next 2 day, with food and water? There is no risk and you could easily have a high chance of passing this phase of the exam." Ian explained All of us suddenly looked at Ian in surprise. "What? Just because Phil apologised doesn''t mean he changed. He could probably be planning to just use us until the end of the exam right Tash?" Ian asked as he looked at Natasha in a smile. Huh, what''s going on? "Did you figure the whole thing out?" Natasha asked Ian. Ian shook his head while sighing. "It was only after your warning yesterday I remembered the warning my father gave me about manipulative people. It didn''t take me long to figure out he was using us. But for what reason I am still not sure, and I am sure asking for more information will bring more danger to us right?" Natasha nodded with a serious face. I knew they would come to this conclusion. Although I had come to this conclusion as well, I wanted to give other people a chance. Besides these guys could just be overthinking things. I shook my head as I explained "I can understand you two being paranoid, but you should at least give him a chance. What if he really changed? You never know when a change might happen in someone." All my friends sighed as they shook their head at me. This was the problem with this world. No one really trusted each other or gave another person a chance. Once someone committed a mistake then they were forever branded and kept away due to that mistake. I have seen many people reform in their life in my past life. Murderers, rapist, thieves, corrupt politician etc. Many people after realising their mistake had repented for it and amended their mistakes. The problem with this world was there were no human rights, and no one gave second chances. Once you commit a murder, whether accidentally or knowingly, you only had 2 choices: either be executed or live like and be treated as a criminal. When I first realised this, I decided to make a change and be an example and show people that you could trust people who once made a mistake. Many people shunned, told me off and warned me against my path. But I want to show them that it is possible to change. Chapter 112 - Episode 111-Losing ones Love Law he was sort of like a light or a hope to this dark world to me and all of us have been lost in it. He was like this probably because he doesn''t want to accept the reality, or he genuinely wants to change everyone to see the light in people. But he has yet to see the true dark side of the world yet. I hope the day he does, one of us is beside him. We knew when push came to shove he will take action, but what if the first push was the last push he ever came to know. We always worry about him because of his good nature, but it was due to this good nature that all of us were drawn to him like a moth drawn to light. We want him to stay like this but at the same time, we don''t want him to be so kind to people. It was a conflict in our heart like this that was shared across all of us that made us stick together. I felt someone shake me, awakening me from my thoughts, checking who it was I found Lewies smiling bitterly, probably from understanding what I was thinking. He pointed towards the first group which we were supposed to lead, from our discussion last night. I noticed Phil and his fianc¨¦ Ava there. He was probably planning to discontinue from the exam as soon as he got outside of the exam hall. Hence, his reason for choosing the first group, aka the safest group. This might be the safest group out of all the expedition we were going to take today, due to the predators not expecting us and knowing which path we will take. But after the 3rd of 4th wave of us they will realise and start ambushing us. Hence, we might need to change strategy after seeing the seriousness of the 3rd wave. If we decide not to continue as well, it was good because we will have just about the bare amount of food not to starve for the next 36+ hours, by then. Phil and Ava must have made lots of promise to a lot of people while pulling favours from quite a few people at the same time, to enter the first wave itself. I knew both of them would enter the first wave itself no matter what, because the more they delayed the higher the chance Ellis will come to know about our plan and find Phil in the later waves. Hence to not arouse suspicion I volunteered along with Lewies as the leaders of the first group, last night. I made sure to only inform them of the group allocation after making sure Phil and Ava were asleep because I didn''t want to take the chance that Phil would join Law''s group, due to him being considered the strongest inside the academy. "Let''s go." I said with determination as we walked forward. --------------------------------------- A barkeeper of a bar kept looking outside his bar from behind his desk, while cleaning his glass. Soon a person walked past the store. Seeing the person, a smile slowly crept from the barkeepers face. The barkeeper turned towards the tallest person inside the room, who was drinking with few other mercenaries. *Crash* A few people in the room turned around to see the barkeeper picking the broken bits of glass from the floor. "Sorry everyone, let me just go and find a broom." The barkeeper said as he went through the back door for staff. After the barkeeper left everyone went back to their usual talking. Few seconds later the tall man rose up amidst the protest of the people around him. "Hahaha. Screw you guys. I am already late for my job." The man with scar all over his face laughed as he exited the building. The tall man walked out of the building. He made his way towards a certain alleyway. As the shadow of the alley crept towards the tall man, his body started breaking apart into tiny dark parts before he as a human completely disappeared. The dark parts soon emerged from the shadows of the alley as a flock of crows, which flew above the capital, while locking onto a certain person barkeeper who kept following a person amidst the busy street. The person being followed soon picked up their pace as they noticed the barkeeper following him. It didn''t take long for the barkeeper to catch up with the women they were following. The murder of crows quickly went ahead and disappeared in between the gaps of some buildings. The barkeeper gave a gentle push as he walked beside her as they went past an empty cornered alley. The women who didn''t expect the push fell to the side. However, before she landed on the floor, she felt something soft supporting her, while something dragged her into the darkness in between the buildings. The women quickly stood up to see the dark empty eyes of what seemed to be dozens of crows staring at her. The women stepped back in fear while gathering her magi to defend. Before she could do that, she felt something cold on her neck. Before her terrified eyes, she saw how the crows in front of her came together to take the shape of a tall man with lots of scar on his face. "Now please stay still and this will hurt." She heard a raspy voice behind her as a bony finger smothered her hair. ------------------------------------ Archer quickly made his way to a certain room. Without knocking he opened the door to a large room. Hundreds of screens assaulted his eyes, and a person sitting in front of it while watching those said screens. "What happened?" Ez voiced out. "The secretary of ''The velvet'' banquet hall''s owner, we booked has been missing for the past 3 hours." Archer replied with worry laced in his voice. "Do we change the hall?" Archer asked seeing the silent John. "No." John shook his head. "If we do, they will do the same thing to the new owner. Besides I like that hall. Also, now we know that they are coming for me and not the students." John explained. "We can expect them in the banquet hall?" Archer asked. John nodded while looking at a screen. Archer followed John''s gaze towards a certain screen. "The head of the Springwood is going to retaliate your highness." Archer informed John as he watched the only imperial princess in the exam leading a group of students. "It won''t just be the Springwood, Archer. Expect another family as well." John said while Archer furrowed his brows. "Will, you able to deal with it?" Archer asked. John shrugged his shoulder while watching the screen with bored eyes. ------------------------------ The group of students led by the imperial Princess and commoner, Lewies, went past the halfway mark towards the exam hall. However, they seemed to not even encounter one person from the predator faction, despite the foreknowledge that people from the prey faction will at least attempt their way to here, to look at their score. Everyone in the group was tensed and hoped no one will notice them as they steadily made their way across using different alleyways and any sort of camouflage and distractions possible. Suddenly Lewies who was leading the group tensed and showed a sign so that everyone would stop and gather. Everyone gathered together, keeping a lookout for the danger Lewies might have sensed. While Phil got visibly stressed the closer they reached the exam hall. He hoped that he could make it there and get out of this situation before Ellis caught him. How he had gotten so strong was out of his head? Suddenly a fog slowly descended upon them while Phil''s heart nearly stagnated remembering a certain person using the same spell to retaliate against a barrage of spells yesterday. "Phil...?" Ava worriedly voiced out while looking at the fog. "Nothing will happen Ava. No matter how strong he is, it is impossible for him to fight against two rank 2 magis, especially her highness." Phil reassured her. "Phil, you should have listened to me and never participated in the exam." Ava retorted in worry. Phil cursed his bad luck remembering the warning Ava and his other family members had given him. They all had informed him about the possibility of Ellis joining the exam, but how was he to know that a person who took 7 years to reach rank 1, was able to reach rank 2 after his accumulation was dispersed to rank 0. He had thought if Ellis were to join the exam he would personally finish what he had started that day. However, all this changed the moment he saw the rank 1 spell cast by Ellis. He knew at that moment that Ellis wasn''t simply an apprentice anymore but a rank 2 magi, and the moment he figured it out, he ran together with Ava. Luckily he met the elite 7 of the academy and quickly came up with a plan to use them, otherwise, he was sure what awaited him would have been death. Not only that her highness had suggested a perfect plan for them last night, which he could use to get out of the exam. "Stay close everyone. Raise your barriers. Someone is coming!" Lewies informed everyone. There was no doubt the person who was coming was Ellis, and if worse comes to worst I will cast a rank 1 spell and hope dad can buy for me that godly food from Prince John, like last time. Suddenly we heard someone running towards us. I didn''t wait for any orders, not that anyone could see me, and quickly launched an ice bolt towards the general direction. *Squelch* I heard the sound of something being pierced. "Ahhh." Followed by a scream. Very quickly the fog lifted as we saw a person lying on the floor squirming in pain on his blood, while an ice bolt poked through his thigh. I didn''t know whether I was happy or upset when I realised it wasn''t Ellis. "He is not a predator." The princess announced while lowering her arms. "Huh, are you serious? Then why did he try to attack us?" A girl in the group asked while looking at the normal badge on the boy, who was crying in pain. "He didn''t. He was merely running towards us." Natasha answered back while walking towards the boy, with a frown. Lewies walked right behind her and tried to help the bleeding boy. As they got closer the soon noticed all sorts of wounds on the boy and not just the ice bolt on him. "Who attacked him?" Lewies asked as he looked back at the group. Seeing that everyone was silent, he shook his head in anger. "Lewies, the ice bolt was from our group. The rest of the wound was from someone else." Lewies heard Natasha''s voice behind him. He turned around to look at the wound to notice that many of the wound were already partially dried up. "Why did you impair our vision, with the fog?" Lewies asked after sitting the boy up, while Natasha took the ice bolt out of his leg. The boy amidst the pain and agony hissed "I... didn''t." Everyone waited while for an explanation from the boy. "That person... he captured us last night... he didn''t convert us... he tortured us... I escaped... he was chasing me...I saw you guys... ran to you guys... hoping to escape from him." The boy said while breathing heavily. Natasha had a frown while casting a rank 1 healing spell to close the wound in his thighs. "Who?" Lewies asked, wondering what kind of madman would do this. "The first predator...Ellis" The boy replied after feeling the relief from the healing spell. "AVAAAA!!" Suddenly there was a scream from the group. As everyone looked towards who it was they noticed it was Phil. Chapter 113 - Episode 112- Encountering an Encounter The beautiful girl lying against the wall slowly opened her bleary eyes. The sight before her was unfamiliar. She was in a room she didn''t recognise. Someone was standing before her, but she couldn''t clearly see who it was. Terrified she started to gather magi particles on her hands. She remembered she was standing next to her fianc¨¦ before someone tapped her shoulder when the fog arrived. After that, she remembered nothing else. She recognised that someone must have casted a sleep spell on her. As her sight slowly regained its vision she saw the person standing across her was someone she knew. "Ellis" "Ava. Nice to see you too." Ellis greeted her back. "Ellis let me explain..." Ava quickly tried to say something on her defence but seeing Ellis was moving towards her she backed up only to realise there was nothing but a wall behind her. "You don''t need to Ava. I know what you want to say." Ellis interrupted her as he walked closer. "You were forced into the marriage right?" Ellis asked shocking Ava. Seeing that she wasn''t trying to escape anymore he carried on as he walked closer to her "You loved me just like I loved you. You family seeing that theirs was only a merchant family, while Phil''s is a reputed noble family with backing, wanted you to marry him. You had no choice seeing that Phil or your dad threatened you with my life if you didn''t agree to the marriage. For my sake, you decided to agree to the marriage." Ellis explained. Suddenly tears welled up in Ava''s eyes. "I am sorry Ellis. They would have killed you otherwise." As Ava cried her heart out, Ellis knelt before her and hugged her while caressing her hair, with his gloved hand. "I am so sorry. I tried running away to you but they captured me. They forced me to do everything that night when they tortured you and your mother. They would have killed you if I didn''t agree." Ava wept while Ellis carried on to caress her hair. "I understand Ava, I understand..." Ellis consoled her. *Clack* "I understand that you loved me." *Clack* "I also understand that you had nothing to do with anything" *Clack* "I also understand Phil was at fault for everything." *Clack* "I also understand that it is futile for you to try and stab a rank 1 barrier with that dagger of yours." *Clang* The dagger dropped as she felt the grip around her tightening suffocating her. "You have to do better than that, dear Ava." Ellis kept hugging her, tighter. "Let...go" Ava voiced out breathlessly while trying to push Ellis off her. ------------------------------ Lewies ran with the group while carrying Phil, while Natasha Carried the boy who they met on the alley. Natasha had knocked Phil out after seeing his outbreak when he realised Ava was missing. Many of the people in the group looked at the boy in jealousy not only because Natasha was carrying him but seeing the points on his badge. He already had 67 points. ''No wonder he became a target of a predator.'' Many of them thought. They finally arrived outside the exam hall. They were already behind schedule. As they arrived Ruby and Law''s group arrived as well from another direction. "What happened?" Law asked seeing that Natasha''s group were behind on schedule along with finding 2 other people incapacitated. "Ellis. We quickly need to get back." Lewies gave a short answer. Law nodded before allowing Natasha''s group to go first, while Ruby tried to wake up Phil. "Ava!" Phil quickly woke up screaming his fianc¨¦''s name. "Where are we? Where is Ava?" Phil started to panic. "Phil calm down. Ava should be alright. If she was captured by Ellis, she should be converted into the predator faction. He won''t do anything to those in his own faction." Law tried to calm Phil. "No, you don''t understand. He will hurt her. Law please find her. I will give you anything." Phil pleaded. As Law was about to console him a voice interrupted him "He is right." Law glared at the person who said that. He noticed it was the other person who was carried here, by Natasha. "I have no idea why that sicko captured that girl. However, I am sure of one thing he has ways to hurt her without converting her." "What do you mean?" Ruby asked him. "When he captured my group last night, we thought we would all be converted. However, we soon realised that was least of our worries as he proceeded to torture my group. From that, I realised as long as it''s not a skin contact he won''t be able to convert us. All he needs to do is wrap all his skin in clothes and make sure none of it touches any of your body, and he can fight anyone without converting them." The boy explained to our horror. "Are you sure it was Ellis?" Law asked in doubt. "Yeah. I witnessed his transformation into the predator faction yesterday. So, I am sure it is him." The boy replied while Phil turned pale. "Law, please ... anything you want, I will give you. Just help her." Phil started begging. "Phil calm down. Let''s go back to the camp first before we make a plan." Ruby interjected. Phil hesitated for a moment before shaking his head "No, I cant." Everyone looked at him in confusion "I am not coming back. I am dropping out of the exam here." That sentence was something very unexpected for them. "Phil, no matter what you still have a chance." Law tried to explain. "No Law you don''t understand. He is after me. He can''t forsake the rules and hurt me. So, he will abide by the rules while hunting for me. He will go to any lengths for me, to the point of even hurting Ava. The only way to stop that is to leave the exam, then he won''t be able to do anything to me. If I knew the exam this year was going to be like this I would have never participated. I should have just listened to Ava." Phil said while clenching his fists as a tear rolled from his eyes. "Law do me a favour: find and help Ava. After the exam, I will give you anything you ask for as long as Ava is safe." Phil looked at Law. Law was silent for a while before sighing "Ok, I will do it, but in return, you have to tell me everything that happened between you and Ellis. I don''t believe a person like Ellis will go after you like this just for bullying." Phil hesitated for a while before nodding "Thanks." Phil replied as he walked towards the marked area around the scoreboard. Suddenly Natasha moved in front of Phil and pushed him back. "Natasha what are you doing!?" Law shouted as he ran to Phil. However, before he reached Phil a loud sound was heard. *Bang* Everyone stared in shock at the ice bolt that partially pierced the shield barrier raised by Natasha. *Crack* Cracks slowly started forming around the shield. "Where do you think you are going?" Everyone turned to the source of the voice to see a familiar person standing opposite them, Ellis. He walked towards the group and stood opposite them 20 meters away. Seeing this Law shouted "Ellis, what are you doing? Did you ..." "Shut up! Don''t speak! This is between him and me." Ellis ordered as he looked at Phil. "How long has it been since we last saw each other, Phil?" Ellis asked as he stared at Phil. "Where is Ava?" Phil asked back in anger seeing Ellis. "You don''t want to play by my rule? Fine be that way." Ellis said as he threw another ice spike towards the barrier standing between him and Phil. The barrier shattered as the ice spike flew through it without barely slowing down, as it approached Phil. However, suddenly an earth wall suddenly appeared between Phil and the ice spike. "Why are you interfering in our matters, Law?" Ellis asked as he looked at Law. "You are trying to kill him. This is no longer your matter. This is a crime." Law answered. Suddenly Ellis started laughing. Everyone felt a chill on their back hearing his laugh. "Crime? Accident happens during every year''s magi exams. It''s not a crime as long as we are not in the same faction in this round. The only law governing here is that of the examiners and the exams." "Ellis I am not sure what he has done, but can''t you just move on from the past and forgive him." Law tried to explain to Ellis. "Forgive? We are way past that Law. I don''t live on the present anymore due to him. I don''t live in the future because of him. What drives me forward is the past, not the future nor the present. I have sacrificed everything I had just to get him to this state in front of me. The only thing standing between me and him is you. And if it means getting rid of you as well to get to him then I will do it." Ruby suddenly saw an earth spike moving behind Law "Law!" From there everything slowed down as she tried screaming while running forward, however overtaking her Lewies ran forward but it was too late as the knife was already too close to dodge or block by anyone. Natasha face changed hearing Ruby scream and seeing Lewies running to stop someone right behind Law. She prayed her barrier could reach Law before the assailant did. Chapter 114 - Episode 113- The Backstab "How?" The person asked seeing the spike failing to go through Law. "I had my doubt the moment Ellis arrived." Law answered. Seeing his confusion Law proceeded to explain. "When Ellis arrived other than Phil you expressed no sort of anger, resentment or any other sort of emotions. Especially considering that he had tortured you and your teammates, who are still contained by him." Law replied. The boy reluctantly gave up the earth spike and walked to the other side next to Ellis. "Sorry." The boy apologised as he came next to Ellis. Ellis shrugged his shoulder while removing the gloves on his hands. Seeing his bruised hand Law furrowed his brows while Ellis touched the boys'' badge. Soon the boys'' badge turned green, but different from the common minions his badge had a silver border, with his points still there, 67. "Sorry, guys I have to pass this exam. He gave me the best offer and all I had to do was be a distraction to you guys in-between the fog." The boy with brown wavy hair apologised to Law and the group before walking away. "Law, hand him to me. You will see worse things the longer you delay." Ellis warned Law again while putting his gloves back on. "Lewies, Ruby escort Phil to the scoreboard and get him out of the exam, Tash and I will delay him as long as possible." Law quickly ordered as he gathered magi in his hands. "No, I won''t. Not until he tells me where Ava is?" Phil screamed. "Phil trust me. I will get Ava back safely. For your safety just go out for now." Law explained calmly. Lewies and Ruby quickly dragged a reluctant Phil back to the marked area around the scoreboard, while Law prepared to stop Ellis. However, strangely Ellis stood there watching Phil, doing nothing to stop him. Law had a feeling that something was very wrong, otherwise, Ellis should have attempted to stop Phil from dropping out by now. "I spent quite some time yesterday, without any sleep, preparing for today." Ellis said as he took something out of his pocket. While Phil finally reached the marked area and broke his badge in two. Seeing the thing in Ellis'' hands Law finally understood why Ellis didn''t move. "It''s no use. He will stay here until the next few hours." Ellis said as he dropped the 2 pieces of paper he was holding onto. The sunlight reflected from the paper enabled many to see the golden paper many people desired. "On the bright side, if he manages to survive he can move onto the 3rd round." Law''s expression twisted hearing what Ellis said. "Leave him here, and I will leave you all alone. Or are you willing to put the future of all those students at risk for that scum?" Ellis asked Law. "What gives you the right to judge a person? Not only him, but I will make sure you touch not a single person here even if it means I fail this year." Law proclaimed while gathering the magi particles to form an earth spike. However, unlike Ellis'' shoddy spike the spike conjured by Law was more flat and streamlined which made it more usable as a weapon rather than a spike. Natasha stood next to Law, while Lewies and Ruby arrived behind Law, gathering their magi particles. Seeing them prepared to fight him, Ellis lowered both his arm, he sighed shaking his head and turning around to walk away. "Well, that went less clich¨¦ than I expected." Lewies joked trying to lessen the tension in the air, as he saw Ellis disappearing around the corner of a building. "Something doesn''t add up." Natasha murmured. Ruby who heard her nodded while keeping a watch on her surroundings. "Everyone carry on. We will leave as soon as the last person finishes." Law instructed seeing Ellis still hadn''t come back after a few minutes. "You guys lead them back to the camp. I am going to go after him, as soon as everyone is done." Law proclaimed to his friends, in a way to assure the agitated Phil as well. They waited until everyone finally finished looking at their results. Phil who was denied from dropping out was in a state of fear and panic. He knew if Ellis took so many preparations to stop him from leaving then he was bound to get him, whether it was this round or the next. As everyone got ready to move they suddenly saw a familiar silhouette making his was towards them carrying something on his shoulders. Standing quite a distance away from them, Ellis dropped what he was carrying. "AVA!" Phil shouted as he tried to run forward only to be held back by Ruby. "Leave me!" Phil shouted in fury as he tried to get out of Ruby''s hold. "Ellis, what have you done to her? She has nothing to do with us. Let her go! I swear if anything happens to her then you won''t leave here alive!" Phil screamed threats to Ellis while being held back by Ruby. Ignoring Phil''s outcry Ellis knelt next to Ava and opened her mouth before dropping something in her mouth. "No! Stop!" Phil screamed. "Ellis what did you do to her?" Law asked, while both Lewies and Natasha prepared to run towards Ellis. "She will die before you even take a step. If in doubt you can try it." Ellis threatened as he held an ice spike above Ava''s heart. Seeing him holding the spike both Natasha and Lewies backed off. "What have you done to her you bastard!?" Phil screamed. "Bastard!? Please don''t call me that. I don''t want anything to do with that useless person. As for her, she is just knocked out and just been poisoned." Ellis calmly explained. "YOU...!" Phil suddenly lost his calm, at the unexpected news he received. "HOW DARE YOU TOUCH AND HARM A NOBLE? UNDER MY AUTHORITY AS A NOBLE I DECLARE YOU AS AN OUTLAW YOU BASTARD!" Phil made a sudden declaration surprising everyone. "WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING? GO AND KILL HIM. OR DO YOU WANT TO DISOBEY A NOBLES AUTHORITY!" Phil screamed towards Law and his friends while abandoning the promise he made towards Law at the very start. Everyone expected Ellis to be afraid or worried. Yet despite Phil''s noble declaration Ellis just chuckled and smiled. "Noble? I am pretty sure she is just the daughter of a rich merchant let alone a noble. And your authority of a noble is invalid. You are nothing but an heir of a noble, hence you have no rights to make that declaration. Besides I doubt you will continue remaining an heir after I am done with you." Ellis explained calmly. Before any of them could explain Ellis carried on. "Now about the poison I just fed her. Only I know the name of the poison hence even if you manage to get her out of my hands you will only have 1 hour before she succumbs to the effects of the poison. Before that one-hour passes you will have to find the name of the poison and through that the cure. So, let me ask you this Phil will you be able to analyse and find what poison it is in 1 hour?" "What do you want Ellis?" Law interrupted Ellis'' conversation in anger before Phil could reply. "Give him to me." Ellis pointed to Phil. "Will you give her to us if we give you Phil?" Natasha quickly asked before Law could say something. "Naturally, however, I will only give you the name of the poison and its cure only after I am done with him." Ellis answered. Law watched as Natasha walked toward Phil. Before he could say anything he saw Natasha picking Phil by the collar and threw him towards Ellis. Phil landed roughly next to Ellis. "Natasha what are you doi...?" Law asked in anger. However, before he could finish Natasha responded back in equal anger, as her face turned red. "This is no longer the matters civilians like yourself can interfere with Mr. Law. As an imperial princess, I am taking control of the situation here. If you or anyone else are to interfere, it will be seen as an obstruction to law and obstructing the actions of an imperial princess. The punishment of such action is your execution and branding your family with treason. I hope I have made everything clear." The sudden declaration left everyone in shock, especially Natasha''s friends who were there. "Ruby, Lewies guide everyone back to the safe zone and proceed as planned. Law you are to stay here with me and act under my orders. Disobeying will have consequence." Natasha gave out clear orders. "Now I hope you will do as you have said." The stern imperial princess turned towards Ellis. "Naturally. Just give me a minute. After all I broke a few of her bones and she is going through agonising pain." Ellis answered casually while stepping on Phil who was moaning in pain, from the rough landing. Hearing and seeing what he said and did, everyone who was about to leave under the two rank 2''s guidance, was revolted, that a man would do such a thing to a woman. "She was like you Phil, manipulative and quick to catch on. However, unlike you she forgot to take into account I grew up since the last time we met. So, I had to teach her the hard way by crushing a few of her bones. So, if you would kindly do the honours of casting a rank 2 spell upgrade of a certain spell I hope you haven''t forgotten from 2 months ago." Ellis said while holding Phil by his hair up. "Ahhhh!" Phil screamed in pain. "Since you want a motivation I will give you one. The longer you delay, the less chance they will have to cure the poison in her system. Besides even if you lose a rank it shouldn''t be hard for you to get it back right?" Hearing what Ellis made sense. Even if he lost all his accumulation, he could easily get it back, but if Ava succumbed to the poison then he will never forgive himself. Without losing a moment Phil raised his arms to cast the rank 2 Relaxation spell. Such a change 2 months had bought. The person who used to beg was now ordering while the person who was ordering became the slave. Phil cursed himself for not finishing Ellis that day. How was he to know that those horny bastards would have disobeyed his orders and gone after this assholes mother? Green light surrounded Ava''s body. Seeing it Ellis smiled, before kicking Phil back to the floor. Ellis walked towards Ava and grabbed her by the collar and similar to how Natasha threw Phil, he too threw Ava. Before she could land Natasha -who after everyone had left was watching this calmly while keeping an eye on Law- caught her carefully, while Ellis stepped on the Phil who was about to get up. "How long will it take for you to give us the name of the cure?" Natasha asked, while handing Ava to Law who was tightly clenching his fists as he watched the injustice before him. "5 minutes." Ellis said while looking it Phil who was moaning under him. Natasha and Law watched how similar to what he had done to Ava, Ellis knelt down and made Phil swallow a pill. "Now to the part, I have been waiting for a long time." Ellis devilishly grinned as he held Phil''s arms up while stepping on his shoulders with one leg. Before the very eyes of the students who stood there as a witness, they saw how twisted a person with revenge as the vendetta could be. Phil''s muscles, and bones desperately struggled against the strengthened Ellis, but it all was in vain as he screamed in pain, while Ellis pulled and twisted his arm. The pain he went through made him want to pass out, but the same pain kept him from passing out. He could feel and hear his muscle tearing apart while desperately trying to hold together, while blood spewed in front of him. He screamed and begged, yet it was all nought as the demon before him was hell-bent on taking his arm off. After what felt like hours of agonising pain it stopped. Ellis held up Phil''s arm as blood dripped from the dangling nerves and tendons before the eyes of screaming and tired Phil. Lighting the arm on fire, Ellis threw it away as he squatted before the bleeding and exhausted Phil who was crying in pain. "I don''t want you dying so soon. I want you to see everything crumbling before you. You have to be alive to see what I have planned out for you. Only then will I be satisfied." Ellis whispered as he casted a spell to close the bleeding wound. "He will be allowed to drop out of the exam if he wishes in 2 hours." Law said as he threw the now partially light and unbalanced Phil across. Natasha caught him, now clearly seeing the revolting wound. She was glad in a way that her family made her go through that those harrowing moments, they called training. She looked at Law to see the blazing fire of anger in his eyes. She was glad she gave Ava to him. "The poison I gave her is called Birthless." Hearing the name Natasha looked at Ellis in shock, even she found what Ellis did to be bit cruel. After all from the investigation she gathered, Ava had nothing to do with what happened to his mother. Birthless. It was a pill given to women who enters prostitution to make sure they don''t get pregnant. Taking this pill will cause the women to barren for the rest of her life. All women who were considered barren among the nobilities only had 2 choices either live as a slut in everyone''s eyes and become a social outcast or actually become a woman who uses her body to pleasure other nobles for their needs and wants. Either way if they don''t get her the cure in time her life will be ruined. "She has less than 1 hour. I would focus on waking her up than catching up with me if I were you." Ellis warned them seeing the fire in Law''s eyes. "Ellis, you will pay for this. No, I will make you pay for this." Law who was silent for the whole time finally spoke. "You are wrong Law. I had already paid for this, and I paid in soul, blood, sweat and tears. There is nothing left in me to pay." Saying that he walked off disappearing around a corner of a building. Chapter 115 - Episode 114-Gold diggers of Nobility The annual magi exam. An exam hosted every year in the capital of the empire always boasted a high percentage of nobles pass rate. However, the first exam hosted by the 3rd Prince John Emberson became the turning point. The first day of the exam had its viewers witness a bloody fight from the very start. Proceeding to the 2nd day of the exam which was hosting the 2nd stage of the exam had even more ruthlessness and bloodshed. People going after points. The lucky ones to encounter a mini-game and going after them, only to realise the mini-games were even more dangerous than people. The unfortunate nobles or high standing students encountering those that they had pushed down. Many nobles who were watching from outside gritted their teeth in anger seeing their children suffering at the hands of mere commoners. However, they couldn''t do anything other than sit there and watch. Attempting to forcefully enter was resulted in a quick action of being taken down by the mercenaries stationed around the exam ground, not to mention the barrier surrounding the exam premises which stopped anyone from going in or out. Never had the nobles felt so helpless in their lives. Every exam had a guaranteed pass rate for nobles. Yet this was the first time that not only did the majority of the nobles were on the brink of failure most of them are being chased around and being hunted like dogs, by the very people the nobles looked down on. None of this was as bad as what happened to 2 families. They all sighed seeing that they didn''t suffer as badly as them. The Springwood and Sprinkles family. Everyone witnessed the carnage held by the rank 2 student Ellis. After hearing what he had fed the girl of Sprinkles family with, many who were unaware of what both families did to Ellis, wondered how the hell did they offend that maniac. As soon as Ava was taken out of the exam hall, her father ran out with her to quickly go and find the antidote to the birthless poison. There are often women amongst the nobility who uses their body for benefits from other nobles. Since these women have exceedingly large amount relationship, close to one man a day, they have to take a birthless pill to make sure they don''t end up being pregnant. Most women in the empire considered there was nothing more precious and important as being able to give birth and raise their own child. But to make sure they don''t lose their clients they take a birthless pill to assure them they stay barren. These type of women care little for theirs or other people''s family, and only for wealth and power. Women like these were usually hard to find amongst other nobles, due to them hiding their secret very well, as well as to protect the identity of their clients. However, once someone found them out then the social isolation and ousting they will face can be naturally imagined. Along with that once they are exposed it was guaranteed no man will go to her, in fear of his status being ruined as well. Ava''s fate was sealed if her father couldn''t find that cure within the time limit: being branded as one of these women even though she didn''t even commit anything wrong. Along with, not being able to marry into another family. Even though many people can bear witness to what really happened to her, they all knew very well the destructive power of false rumours. And not to mention the greatest disaster to any women in the empire, not being able to give birth. Compared to her everyone knew Phil had it easy. His arm could be healed as long as they had enough connection with the imperial healers serving under the emperor and money to pay for the healing. His, accumulation can also be brought back by eating John''s food. However as soon as Ellis was taken out, an hour later, his father quickly took him to be examined. He had noticed how Ellis had slipped a pill into his mouth. He was worried it was another poison like Ava''s. "Darn that bastard. He came prepared." Phil''s father gritted his teeth as he carried his son and his charred, burned arm off. Ellis sat in a corner, reflecting on what he had just accomplished. People often said, revenge was not worth it. Unlike what people said he felt relief from his heart, as he completed part of his revenge. He was glad he had prepared for this long ago. He had used his first salary for working with his highness to buy these 2 pills -hoping to use them on the fateful day they were to slither into his palm. --------------------------------- The test proceeded as normal. However, what no ever expected was the royal princess to not go back to the camp. Instead, she walked off to the opposite direction of the camp, while her friend, Law just silently watched her. Law came back to the camp, seeing his downcast expression no one asked where Natasha was. After all the feeling of betrayal stung, especially when it was done by your best friend. The camp held up surprisingly successfully, under the assault of the predator for the rest of the remaining time. However, those watching the test knew it was because Ellis didn''t purposely report the location to other predators, thereby easing their pressure. Then end of the test arrived at the end of 48 hours with an announcement. "Everyone stop! This concludes the end of phase 2, Survival." The voice of K announced. "Those who have successfully passed this round will have a golden border on their badge. Other than those with golden badge, can the rest of you as well as those who don''t want to proceed with the exams make their way out of the barrier that is about to open please." Amongst the 10,000 students only close to 10% passed the test by the end of round 2. Many students tiredly made their way out, having been starving for the past 2 days without food and water. Yet what awaited them outside was a feast. Contrary, to many people peoples guesses there were still quite a lot of nobles amongst the 1,000 students who passed the exam. After all, to the students who had nothing but a golden ticket, when you are offered money more than you could ever make, who would reject it. They could take the test again next year, but would they ever be able to get a chance to make this much money even if they worked hard as a graduate rank 1 magi for 5 years? Especially when considering their barely financially stable family back home, who was relying on them to pass the exam. "The students who have passed, food is being arranged for you at the safe zone. This time, there is no limitation to using the safe zone. Our staff will be inside the safe zone to guide you in an orderly manner. The predators will be given priority. The safe zone will be open until tomorrow afternoon, after which your next test will start. You won''t be able to leave the exam venue for your own safety and to limit cheating. So, eat and rest properly for tomorrow. Goodbye." Announcing that K had left. The remaining students without waiting for anything else quickly made their way towards the safe zone like ravished beasts. As Ellis arrived at the safe zone many avoided him and stayed away from him, after hearing what he had done. After all, associating with someone as bloody and cruel as Ellis is asking to be killed, especially when his target was a noble. The most anyone else in this exam done was beat their target of vengeance up, not leave them half-dead like Ellis. Not only Phil, but many students had heard how Ellis had tortured other students in a similar and ruthless way as well. Ellis grabbed his plate of food and grabbed a bottle of water and made his way out. Coming opposite him was Natasha. Seeing him, she stood still for a second with complicated expression running through her eyes, before walking forward. As they passed each other Ellis said in a quiet voice, "Thanks for the stone." Natasha''s heart stood still at that moment as terror went across her face. ''How did he find out? Did anyone else find out?'' As she turned around to ask him, she saw that he had already walked quite a distance away, alone. --------------------------------- In a room filled with hundreds of screen sat a person who watched the short exchange between Ellis and Natasha, in amusement. Seeing the half-sister of John freeze like a deer caught in headlight was priceless. Although there were plenty of cameras around the exam site, the students weren''t aware of that unless they could identify the hidden cameras. I had already seen Natasha covering her face and coming out that night. I made sure no one would notice the exchange by controlling what the people in the waiting hall saw. ''Hope you don''t cross my path little lamb.'' I thought while anticipating the knock I will soon hear on my door. *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* "Come in." I ordered as I turned around in my wheelie chair, to face the messenger that had arrived. A young teenager walked in, as the sword on his waist swayed in his movement. "I passed the message to the boy, your highness." Luke replied as he bowed towards me. "Boy? There is not much age difference between you and Ellis." I teased him. His face suddenly showed a case of carelessness before quickly covering it up. "Anyway, thanks, Luke. You can get back to work, and I hope your lips are as tight as the grip of your sword." I smiled towards Luke, who nodded seriously to me, understanding the meaning behind what I said. He left the room closing the door. ''What the hell is going on here? A time traveller, who transmigrated into his parallel worlds body. What next a system user?'' I cursed my rotten luck as I looked back at the screen observing all the students. "Where are you, infiltrators? I have weeded the useless ones out to find you." I mused out to no one inside the empty room. Chapter 116 - Episode 115-Soon only few will remain "Alpha report your status." A well-built muscular boy with green hair listened to the instructions coming out of the extremely tiny device, in his ears. The boy''s face slightly flushed imagining the sexy assistant of commander, in her black tight skirt. "Alpha reporting in. Currently being heavily monitored by the live feed camera around the exam venue. Give me 2 mins to move towards a blind spot." The boy replied as he made his way towards the safe zone. Unexpectedly, the only place without any monitoring device was outside the safe zone. "I have gathered relevant and sufficient background info about the target mam. Currently in motion to getting closer to the target." Alpha gave a quick summary of his report in. "Umm... be careful." The sweet voice warned through the device. The boy nodded while missing the comfort of his home due to this infiltration mission. ''Just a bit more before the replacement unit arrives.'' The green-haired boy thought as he strode into the safe zone to collect some replenishment. -------------------------- Everyone was resting amidst the protest of their biological clock wanting them to wake up in the afternoon. No one wanted to wake up, as this was one of the only resting time they received in the past 3 days. Along with that, they wanted to be at their peak for whatever the examiner could throw at them for the next round. Soon an alarm raging through the speakers situated inside the exam venue, startled the resting students. "Rise and shine beauties. Time for the final ordeal. The sooner you guys are ready, the sooner we can start." An announcement was soon made after the alarm. "Please make your way towards the exam hall after you have had your lunch please." The announcement ended there. Everyone without delaying quickly refreshed themselves, had their lunch as they quickly made their way towards the exam hall. As the students poured into the hall they were amazed at the transformation that occurred inside the hall. What used to be a hall covered in tables and chair was now layered with 10 massive fighting rings. "As you have all guessed the last exam is clearly fighting each other. However, since there are so many of you we need to whittle that number down, so it won''t take so long to get you to 1vs1. So welcome to the first part of the 3rd and final phase of the exam. Time bomb!" Another announcement quickly welcomed the gathered students. "You all are free to choose which arena you want to be in but remember only a maximum of 100 people can be in 1 arena. Since there are less than 1,000 of you here it should be easy to accommodate all of you in all 10 arenas." The voice informed everyone. Following the instructions, everyone soon picked an arena. Some chose to go in with their friends, some chose to go separately. No matter the choice, everyone was soon inside the arena, awaiting what was to come. "The rules are as follows for this stage. 1 person amongst you in each arena will be randomly chosen. The chosen person will be identified by the green hue surrounding him. That person will have 30 seconds to pass the hue on him to another person by tapping another person, otherwise he will have to endure an explosion which I am pretty sure will knock out or even seriously injure that person no matter their rank." Hearing the face of many students started to twist in anger and despair. Before they could make an outcry the unidentified examiner made another announcement. "However, the person with the green hue on them will be allowed to forfeit by simply saying ''I forfeit!'' as long as they manage to say it before the timer runs out." Hearing this many students sighed in relief. After all, they had already suffered way too much, they weren''t willing to be seriously injured just because of another test. Most of them who had made it to this round had acquired just about enough score to graduate according to the magi association''s criteria. Moving forward putting the life in line was just a foolish attempt for those who simply wanted to pass. Yet there were many amongst the students who desperately wanted to get to the top 100. Not only because they will be offered better jobs according to their ranking, but because of the extremely generous reward of being in the top 100. "Once a person is out, either by forfeit or by the explosion, another person will be chosen randomly to be the next bomb, inside the arena. Once we have 10 people remaining on each arena we will conclude the test and move to part 2. The condition to enter special ranking in this test is simple. Once a person receives the green aura, he has to stay immobile for the next 15 seconds, after which he/she is allowed to move. As long as they fulfil the prior requirement and complete the challenge in this test they will be allowed to enter the special ranking." The examiner paused for a while to let the students understand what he had announced. "You will have 1 minute to prepare, after which the first person will be chosen." After this announcement each person started to put up distance between other students in the massive arena. ---------------------------- Ez threw the mike in his hand to the table as he started observing each screen intensely. "Thank you, Luke." Ez turned around smiling to the person who had just read the script he had written on a paper. He then proceeded to press a button which started the timer on each arena which signified the 1-minute preparation time. "It''s my honour, your highness." Luke carefully gave a bow as he walked out. ''Has he noticed anything? If not then why is he always picking on me?'' Luke thought in frustration as he walked out. So far he had found no traces of his sister inside or outside the exam hall. ''Either she is disguised so well that no one could spot her, or they might have changed their plan.'' Luke wondered as he walked out of the hall towards his post. --------------------------- A light shone through Albert''s eyes as he observed one of the students on the screen. ''He grew extremely quickly in such a short span of time. Not to mention his absurd combat experience.'' Albert analysed as the screen finally shifted away from Ellis. ''Dangerous! I am going to have to step up my plans. I never expected him to grow this quickly.'' Albert made a decision as he looked at Merlin, the only other person who chose to stay behind. Over the past few days, although the screen was showing a live transmission of all the exciting fights, amongst the four of them not everyone was willing to stay here fulltime watching the exam. The first to leave was obviously the 1st prince who left right after the 1st phase of the exam. Followed by Jake who left soon after the beginning of the 2nd phase of the exam. Leaving only Albert and Merlin as the only remaining people here. Merlin had obviously stayed here due to being forced by his assistant to monitor so that no inconsistencies or favouritism will appear during the exam. Albert had stayed here for 1 reason: to make sure not to blow the disguise of their poison they had sent in. "How is it Merlin? What do you think of the exam this year?" Albert asked as they waited for the timer to go down. Merlin frowned before replying "Very bloody, but very fair." "Oh, how so?" Albert teased trying to make him say the impossible. "You know what I mean." Merlin replied while shaking his head not knowing whether to applaud the genius 3rd prince or not. This was the first time since he had taken over as the head of magi association, he had ever seen a fair and uncorrupted exam. Although the magi association was there to monitor the situation, sometimes under the pressure of a collective group of nobles and other influential people, they would have had to close their eyes as their children''s or pupil''s cheated. Unless a student was to blatantly cheat right in front of them, or someone was to come up with solid evidence that a student had cheated, the magi association rarely took action against those students. The association after all isn''t above the empire or the emperor. The association too had to sometimes rely on these nobles or their associates for help. "No, I don''t. Please do explain." Albert asked ignorantly to Merlin. "Then you won''t understand even if I do explain." Merlin answered back. ''Go to hell you stupid fox. You have already conned me a million times. I am not going to fall for it again and praise the 3rd prince and be blackmailed by you again. My various project has all been set back by 1 year due to you leeching of my resources.'' Merlin cursed Albert as he watched the timer tick down. "You used to be so much more fun when you used to shiver and answer everything I asked of you." Albert recounted his loss as he sat back with a glass of wine. "It would have been more fun if you hadn''t gone and reported everything to his highness causing my assistant to scream at me and give me a lecture about dignity as the head of magi association every time I go out." Merlin answered back in confidence seeing that it was just the both of them inside the room. After all, he never had any sort of problem talking to another mage, especially one stronger than him. Chapter 117 - Episode 116-Teenage Dramas It took roughly 1 hour for the remaining final 10 students in each arena to emerge. Many students were walking out of the hall depressed and tired, but there was still a small amount of joy inside them knowing they had at least passed the exam this year. Those who were severely injured by the explosion were being healed by the magi''s outside each ring as they left. "Congratulation to the final 100 students, who made it this far. Please make your way towards the safe zone and grab some refreshments and make you way back here by 7 pm the latest please for the final part and phase of the exam." The announcement ended as the final 100 students left the hall. What used to be a bustling hall now became an empty large room as the 100 students queued up for food. Natasha finally spotted Ellis and slowly made her way towards him. She wanted to know how he came to know about that night and who else knew? Her fate currently laid in those answers. If anyone ever found out that she had helped the subordinate of the 3rd prince in any way, especially in assisting in carrying out an attack on their rival factions member, then she was as good as dead. Just as she was 20 meters away from Ellis someone blocked her path. "What are you doing?" Natasha asked the tall boy blocking her path. "No, the question is what are you doing?" Lewies asked back. "Why didn''t you come back that day?" Lewies questioned Natasha who looked around to notice her group of tired friends making their way across as well, except for Law who was sat in a corner with his head down. "Did he not say anything?" Natasha asked as she saw Law looking towards them while avoiding her eyes. "No, he wouldn''t talk to anyone much about what happened that day. What happened after we left Tash?" Ruby asked as she along with others finally caught up with Lewies. "What was meant to happen happened. If Ellis did something then there must have been a good reason to do it. But what does that idiot do? Play the hero and try to save and get in the middle of everything. He needs to start learning that the world isn''t as simple as black and white. He needs to understand we don''t live in a nice world where everything moves as he wants. Everything here moves according to those with power." Natasha scoffed while looking towards Law. Lewies sighed in defeat while Ian rubbed his head seeing this was going nowhere. "Tash we all know that, and he probably understands that as well. But like everyone here he has his own principles and codes to follow." Rondell "That doesn''t mean he can instil his principles on everyone..." Before Natasha could say anything more Maisy grew tired of this back and forth talk going nowhere. "You know for a bunch of people who always acts mature you two are being extremely childish. Just come back and apologise to each other." Maisy ordered Natasha. Seeing Maisy get serious after a long while, left Natasha want to follow what she said. But the conviction in her heart grew when she remembered that she couldn''t go back, not after Ellis found out about her that night. First, she had to get an answer from him, till then she has to avoid her friends at least until the exams over. "No. I won''t apologise. I tried stopping him from interfering in their matters many times, and he ignored all my warnings by constantly wanting to meddle in matters that was not his. He always wanted to know what was the deal with Phil and Ellis even though I made it clear to him not to, and in the end, he tried interfering. I mean did we proceed to interfere in his life and question him more about that girl who came right before the 2nd stage of the exam? No! We left him alone seeing that he wanted to avoid that topic. It is always like this. Him wanting to know everything, while keeping us in the dark. If anything, he should apologise to me. I had saved his life by using my authority as an imperial princess and he thinks I betrayed him using my authority. If he is still not convinced then let this be a lesson. Tell him to fight it out with me. Whoever wins will apologise. After all the world moves according to the will of those with power." Saying that Natasha moved to the right of Lewies as she made her way across, leaving behind her stunned group of friends. As she approached Ellis, she found he was already preparing to leave after finishing his meal. "Who else knows?" She asked as she stood blocking his way out. "I am not obliged to answer to you." Ellis replied as he sidestepped to avoid her. However, Natasha blocked his path with her right arm outstretched. "You are obliged. You owe me for that information." Ellis sighed for a minute before looking at her. "Do you really want to do this?" "Or else what? I will draw blood if I have to. I have nothing left to lose at this moment in time." Natasha lowered her voice noticing that everyone was looking at them. Seeing that everyone was looking at them, Ellis hesitated for a moment. "I won''t betray my lord. If I am forced to do so then I will draw blood as well, not caring about the exam. After all my purpose for coming to this exam is accomplished." Ellis said as moved aside avoiding Natasha''s arms as he walked out. Ignoring Law staring daggers at him Ellis made his way out. ------------------------------ ''I won''t betray my lord. That must mean it was him that told Ellis about me. But how did he know it was me?'' Natasha who at this moment lost all hope walked out ignoring the worried glance of Law and her friends. She chose a building and went inside and picked a corner and sat there in defeat. After all, now her fate lies at the mercy of her half-brother. She hugged her knees and placed her head between her knees embracing her vision in darkness. She lost all hope. Soon everyone will know, then all that remains is execution. At least she had managed to not involve her friends, her only friends. She knew she will one day have to cross her half-brothers path. When that day comes she will have to make a choice of working for him or to cross him. Earlier she had to confidence to cross him, knowing that her family will support her and save her. Now, either way, it is a path of death, now that he knows about me assisting Ellis. But she still wanted to live. Once a caged bird in the royal family, then always a caged bird either dead or alive. That was how she was taught when she was young. That was the life of a royal. All she wanted was to live freely without following anyone''s wish. She had laid a perfect plan for that since the moment she was thought how to plan. She declined the power of award in order to be free from the chains of her father and the court. She chose to accept the power of magi to gather sufficient strength to run away. But now everything was slowly about to crumble before her. It won''t be long. She wanted to savour the last few moments of freedom before she lost everything. She felt at this moment that darkness was her only comfort. So, she embraced the darkness as a tear rolled from her eyes. She hugged her knees tighter feeling if she hugged it tighter, then the darkness in front of her could make all her problems disappear. She lost herself in her despair and sorrow accompanied by the surrounding darkness. "...p...r" She heard an inaudible whisper from her surroundings. She ignored them as she laid in the warmth of her darkness. But the whispers grew clearer and clearer as time passed. "...po.r." "...pe.er" She was taught from a young age the beginning stage and symptoms of corruption in preparation for her award ceremony. So she knew full well the basic symptoms of one going mad. She wanted to shout at the whispers to go away. But she knew she was slowing enter the path of madness and responding to the whisper was tandem to accepting she was going mad. "..power" "..power?" The more the whispers grew the tighter she hugged her legs, and in that way the tighter she hugged the darkness, no her darkness. "Do you want power?" Suddenly the whispers sounded right next to her ears. Something was wrong. The words and voice felt wrong in a way because they were extremely clear despite being made out of whispers. This wasn''t the whispers showing the signs of going mad! Startled she looked up to see darkness everywhere. "Do you want the power to be free?" "What is happening? Where am I?" Natasha asked in worry as she looked around. She was worried that she had corrupted herself. But then she remembered although she was trained to wield award since childhood, she wasn''t an award user. If she isn''t corrupted, could it be the award ability of someone? If so who? And why? Could it be someone under John? Did he want to talk to her without getting the attention of anyone? If so then where is he? "Come out, whoever you are?" Natasha put up a false bravado amidst the growing repetition of the question from the whispers. ''What is this place?'' She was about to go mad with fury from constant echo of questions from the whispers. Is answering the questions from the whispers the key to escaping here. So, for a moment she finally tried to properly listen to what the whispers were saying to her "Do you want the power to live and be free?" "Power to be free?" What does it gain by asking such a stupid question? No power gave true freedom. As power always chained a person up one way or another. True freedom was there only when there was no power. But avoiding power means walking to the grip of death. And death will stagger the path to freedom. So in a twisted sense, one needed power to escape from death so that they can long for the freedom they will never get. But here the whispers asked her the power to be free? What kind of power was that? She thought about it. Does she really need that power? Does she want the power to be free from her family? Does she want the power to be free from her half-brother? Yes! She needed power. There was no other way in this world other than power. Power answered for everything. But every source of power is a bondage that ties you to the source of that power. The power of award given by her father will tie her to him. The power of magi given by the magi association will also tie her to her father and the empire, but not as tightly. The stronger the power the stronger the bondage to the person that gave it to you. But the whispers here were offering her the power to be free. How can there be such power? No power lets you be free. She wanted to know what kind of power it was, that made you be free. "Yes!" She answered back. But at this moment she realised she had no voice. Yet strangely as if hearing her reply the whispers faded. After waiting for a while, the whisper came back. This time even more creepily with the voice of children''s and old ones amongst them. "What will you give in return for the power to be free?" What will I give? So, it is true, no form of power is free. Everything has a price. But at this moment where she is walking on her path to her death, she had nothing to lose, and nothing to give. But she wanted the power that the whispered offered. The power to be free. "I will give anything!" Natasha decided to rely on this last glimmer of hope from the darkness. The whispers became quiet before it said, "Very well, you shall get as much as you give." And so, the darkness, no her darkness embraced her back. Chapter 118 - Episode 117- A long story "Ahhhhh!" Natasha screamed in agonising pain as the horde of green dwarfs bit of her flesh in frenzy. Chapter 119 - Episode 118-Teleportation [Name-Where did you go?] [Uses-1] [Description-Allows the user to teleport to a maximum distance of 25km from their current location.] [Price-20 points] Without a moment''s hesitation, Natasha brought the ring using all her saved-up points. Suddenly a yellow ring appeared in front of her, floating. Concentrating for a bit she made the colour change from yellow to white, matching the ring on her right hand. When the information about this realm was being processed through her mind, she understood she could buy anything from this place as long as she had enough points. Amongst immortality, eternal youth, resurrection, and other offers, only one thing grabbed her attention at that moment. [Name-The Vanishing Act] [Description-Allows the wielder of this ring to teleport anywhere they want at any time.] [Price-975,000 points] It was a teleportation tool. Seeing the price, she gasped in shock, wondering why it was even more expensive than resurrecting someone from the dead. The absurd cost of that godly item led her to settle down for this lesser version. From what she understood, the difficulty of the scenario always remained proportional to the users'' strength. If the user got stronger so will the difficulty of all the scenario. Therefore, she found it pointless to acquire more strength. Some would say that she was a fool to waste her hard-earned points on this item, instead of acquiring strength. Trying to jump into a scenario with unfamiliar strength seemed not logical in her point of view. She knew first-hand the deadly price of making a mistake during a scenario. Mistakes will only increase if one entered a scenario, without getting used to or familiarised with their sudden increase in strength. Besides, she had no need for a sudden increase in strength. In fact, if there is a sudden development in her strength it will put her in the spotlight even more. Hence her decision to buy this item. This item will not alert anyone keeping tabs on her, along with being her life-saving card if everything went south. Grabbing the ring from the air, she examined it. Strangely there was not even a single trace of magi particle in this ring, even with its insane ability. She knew if the information about this ring was to come out, then she was done for. A ring that is able to teleport its user was powerful as it is, even if it came with limitation, not to mention not a trace of magi particles on the item. All the magis will scramble to fight over the ring to study it, including the Magi association. She slid the ring into her left middle finger while feeling the cool sensation of the metal. It strangely fitted her perfectly. With a thought, the screen went back to the main screen followed by the same enquiry by the whispers. "Would you like to carry on or leave?" This time she chose to leave. She had lost track of how long she was inside of the game realm. If the information were right about the timeless nature inside the scenario then she would have gladly spent more time in here, after resting in the white room. However, the white room had a natural flow of time as the normal world. She had wasted enough time after each scenario inside the white room. She had to wake up lest, she wakes up to find she missed out the exam, by spending too much time here. "Very well. But remember you shall only get as much as you give. Hahaha." The whisper started to make their crazed sound of laughter/crying. Suddenly the view in front of Natasha, started to distort as it would do for a mission. Feeling dizzy, Natasha closed her eyes. After a while she opened her eyes, to find she was sat in the same position she was in when before she started hearing the whispers. Lifting her head, she looked around the room, as she slowly made her way out. Before she left the room, she removed the fancy white ring on her right hand and pocketed it. Now only one white ring remained on her left hand that looked similar to the one that she took off. She had entered this room without any hope. However, she is now leaving this room not only with hope but with a way. ----------------------------- A boy with badge number 2234, stood opposite his unconscious opponent, drenched in blood. "Arena 4, participant number 2234 winner!" An exclamation came out amidst the gloomy hall. 10 matches were running at the same in the 10 arenas, in order to quickly get to the semi-finals. As the boy walked out he saw his teammates sat in a corner. "Did you guys make it?" The boy asked after he sat down. "I did but Anna didn''t." The leader of the group responded as she shook her head towards the girl who sat with closed eyes. "That means one of us has to get to the finals, at least to get his attention." The boy sighed as he leaned back and closed his eyes. "Dan I think you should proceed with the finals. I am going to drop out. I and Anna are going to search for the chosen one in another direction." The leader of the group addressed the boy with badge number 2234. The boy contemplated the decision for a while before nodding. As they silently sat there, another announcement came through. "Now for the first battle of the top 50. Would badge number 2234 and 2172 please come up to arena 9?" Dan opened his eyes in shock as he looked at the badge on their leader''s chest. "Well, that was lucky." Dan smiled as he followed his leader to the arena. ------------------------- "How is it?" A voice appeared inside a certain charming girls head as she kicked the girl opposite her off the arena. "He still hasn''t made a public appearance; therefore, I found no chance to get close to him. How are you taking care of the magi association?" The girl mentally replied while smiling charmingly toward the drooling mass of lustful teenagers eyeing her from far. "I am taking care of Merlin. Don''t worry. Also did you manage to enter into his special ranking?" Albert inquired. "Yeah, wasn''t too hard, but trying to keep a low profile while doing his challenge in front of his cameras was annoying. Oh, also I think I just pissed off a nobles punk. You should be seeing who it is from the screen soon. Tell them to keep their daughter in check or don''t blame me if a certain noble family goes mad someday when their mindless daughter is found in a brothel." The girl warned as she ignored glare from her defeated opponent. Hearing Albert''s sigh she smiled playfully as she made her way out of the arena. ''There are about roughly 10 puppets left inside here, how many should I bring in to the finals with me...'' The girl calculated while another announcement invited one of her puppets inside another arena. -------------------------- Ellis looked at the girl opposite him without a change in his expression. "Ruby" The girl folded her glasses and placed them outside the ring. "Ellis" He to did a short introduction as he watched one of the 7 stars gathering the magi in her hand. "I have to admit your plan to restrain Law and Natasha was brilliant." Ruby praised Ellis, who in turn observed Ruby silently. "But in doing so you destroyed our friendship. So, don''t think I am going to go easy on you, no matter your reason for doing what you did." The quiet and timid Ruby adorned a serious face. Suddenly Ruby threw a fireball at Ellis while running towards him. Seeing the incoming fireball, Ellis conjured an ice bolt and threw it in the same direction. The result being an explosion between a hot and cold substance which created a heavy cloud of steam in the arena they were in. Without panicking, Ellis quickly turned around with another conjured ice spike parrying the icicle aiming for his heart, followed by the kick aiming for Ruby''s chest, enhanced with a rank 1 strength boost. *Bang* Ruby crashed against the wall and slid off it, with blood between her lips. "Ahhhh..." Ruby screamed in pain, as the agony of broken ribs pressing against her flesh must be unbearable. Ellis sighed as he looked at the struggling Ruby. If it wasn''t for his experience in the game realm he would have fallen for her tactic and would have most likely been stabbed right through his heart. From seeing him use an ice bolt during his initiation as a predator and his attack against Phil, she probably expected Ellis to be proficient with his ice spells. She knew if she threw an attack that was so quick to react then he would use his most proficient spell to react or counter it. So, she decided to take advantage of the reaction between the hot and cold element to backstab him. Although she was right about his proficiency in the ice element, she was wrong about his proficiency for his other elements. Ellis'' mastery for his other is similar to his ice element, it''s just that he prefers to use ice element because of how stable, solid and sharp it is which can be replaced for his sword occasionally, which the other elements easily can''t. He saw through her plans as soon she disappeared in the steam created by the clash of both their elements. His combat skills and intuition at fighting was much higher than what a student his age should have, due to the bloody fights he has to survive through every month. Combining all this it wasn''t hard for him to counter and take her out of the fight. An announcement came declaring his victory and placement into the top 10, while a healer came next to screaming Ruby to heal her, while her friends kept watching his every step as he made his way out of the arena. --------------------------------------- This exam had changed her life upside down. From now on she was going to play with fire. Before that she had to cut all her ties with her friends. Otherwise if one day she disappeared and a headhunt for her was issued, then her friends will be implicated. She came in with friends, but what she was about to do will leave her without friends. She stood opposite Law. This was one of the last few matches before the semi-finals. So far other than Rondell, the others had failed to get in the top 10. From what she saw there were few people she recognised in the top 10. Rondell, Ellis, the girl who kept her eyes fixated on Law all the time. The other people she had no idea. As soon as Law gathered the magi particles, she raised her arm. "I surrender." Surprising everyone watching the battle. Following that, she turned towards her friends "This is my repayment for the friendship you all have given me. From this day on, we have no relations. I am the imperial princess Natasha Aeruseius and you shall address me with the given honorifics of my position, failing to do so will result in appropriate punishments for those that go against the imperial family, without any consideration of our past." "That includes you, Mr Fowler." Natasha said as she turned towards Law. And in doing so she walked out of the arena to the shock of everyone. "We will proceed to the semi-finals tomorrow. Those not in top 10 please make your way out." Shortly after the announcement came in at 10 pm concluding all the matches for the day. The semi-finals and finals being held tomorrow. Chapter 120 - Episode 119-Take it or Leave it! "Hey, sweety!" The ravishing beauty stood opposite Law as she greeted him. Law stood in silence as he observed the very person he has been wary of the whole exam. He had tried avoiding her in any way possible but in the end, he had to face her in the semi-finals. "I heard about the grudge you hold against that guy." The girl''s eyes landed on where Ellis was watching them. "He did quite a number on you didn''t her? Hurt the people you swore to protect, broke your little group of friends up." The girl talked while walking towards him. Law gathered his magi particles as he prepared to launch the fire projectile towards her if she came any closer "I can let you win, but you have to grant me 1 thing I ask of you no matter what." The girl stood 5 meters away from him as she offered Law the deal. "Think about it. If you fight me then you will have to employ all your trump cards against me. That is tandem to revealing it to him." The girl enticed Law. "Even if you somehow manage to win against me, you might have to end up using your rank 2 accumulated magi particles. Do you want all your effort to go down the drain? Not to mention, your next opponent won''t necessarily have to be him. He could be defeated in his next match, which I highly doubt, or he could give up like your friend. After all, he seemed to have achieved what he came for. Won''t you have wasted too much just for an uncertain match?" Law hesitated for a moment before he opened his mouth "What do you want in return?" Hearing what she had been waiting for the girl flashed a smile as she posed a thinking position before replying. "How about you let me tag along with you for a day that I choose?" Before Law could reply she carried on to show that her condition was non-negotiable "I will give you 20 seconds to make your choice." She started counting down Law quickly thought about it and made a decision as she counted "9!" "I agree." "Very well. I will come find you on the day I choose." The girl smiled charmingly towards Law. "Don''t you need me to make an oath or something?" Law asked her. The girl shook her head as she looked towards Rondell, while replying "I think I don''t need to explain the consequence of what happens when you break your promise with me." Law shuddered as he followed her sight to see Rondell in his match against a girl. "I give up!" Law watched in fear looking at the girl walking off the arena. ''Not just my friends, she is threatening the existence of everyone close to me.'' Law thought as his match was concluded. ---------------------------------------- The top 5 took in a deep breath marvelling at the new remodelled hall. They had fought early in the morning and was given time to rest until noon. The change that happened to the massive hall and its surroundings in the few spare hours was astounding. The walls of the hall and roof had been taken out, instead what replaced it was stands surrounding a massive arena. On the stands sat people, mostly previously disqualified students along with teachers and a lot of other people whom Ellis assumed to be nobles and other big shots. Everyone was cheering wildly as the top 5 entered the large arena, surrounded by translucent barriers. The barriers were there to ensure none of their attacks reached the outside or any interference was made during the match. "Welcome everyone to the Finals, where the final 5 students will fight amongst themselves to find the Valedictorian of this years graduation batch!" Everyone clapped and cheered as his highness John stood in the middle of the arena giving out announcements. His voice was magnified so that everyone around the massive stadium was able to hear him. "This year we will have something different. Before that let me introduce you to two special guests." Law waved his right hand to two people sat at the very front. An old man in his 60''s dressed in a red suit with a badge of rose pinned on his chest accompanied by a young man wearing a blue suit. "Let''s welcome our honoured guests, the head of the Magi association Merlin and an Envoy from the Thorn Commandment Family Mr Al!" Everyone cheered thunderously at the honoured guests, who sat behind a glistening blue table. "These two special guests of ours will be the judge for the finals along with doing special something called live commentary." Everyone quieted down wondering what live commentary could be. "I am not going to explain and spoil the suspense so just wait and see what is about to happen." Prince John smiled as suddenly 4 large screens appeared 20 meters above the centre of the arena, displaying the close up of Prince John who was standing in the middle. Seeing this, people started whispering at seeing something new. Usually, everyone had to hope they sat close to a performance to watch what they wanted. But now the screen enabled them to see what they were missing out on. "Now lets now begin the draw for the finale." As Prince John said it a small glass bowl floated in front of the 5 participants. As it did so the names and badge number of the 5 students came upon the 4-screen letting everyone clearly see their badge number. Lawson Fowler -00572 Alister Bright-01571 Dan Stands- 02234 Emma Redwood-04326 Ellis Wright- 10090 "Please proceed to place all of your badges inside the bowl please." John instructed the 5 finalist. The 5 of them did as instructed. Everyone watched as the badges started to whirl inside the bowl while the bowl slowly turned opaque. After a 20 seconds a white bowl was placed in front of the Albert and Merlin. "Would our kind honoured guests please pick a badge each from the bowl please?" Prince John kindly requested of the two. "My pleasure your highness." Albert grinned as he went first and picked a badge. Merlin sighed while wondering how he was coerced into doing this, while picking a badge as well. ''All he remembered was Prince John offering them both a free opportunity to cook their ingredients. He had naturally rejected due to his social awkwardness, but the next moment prince John offered Albert an extra free opportunity if he were to convince him. Without losing a second the old man had resorted to looking through his list of blackmail records to force him into this.'' ''The only good thing is that I just have to analyse the battle while the old man took care of the rest.'' Merlin sighed as he looked down at the badge in his hand. "Looks like our first match is between badge numbers 10090 versus 00572 or in names Ellis Wright versus Lawson Fowler." Ez announced to the surprise of Law contestants. Law had expected they would have to put his all in his fights before reaching the finals to face Ellis. That was how the stories in his original world went. However, reality and fate had seemed to have other plans. ----------------------- Steven sat in front of a bed with an extremely rare expression of gentleness, as he observed the comatose middle-aged women sleeping on the bed. "Not long my dear." Steven sighed in mourning. *Knock**Knock* "Come in." Steven ordered excitedly. Isabella walked in dejectedly. "She wasn''t there?" Steven asked seeing her dejected expression. Isabella nodded her head. "It seems we might have received false information. She wasn''t present amongst the final contestants." Steven became silent for a while before a glint passed through his eyes. "Hahaha! Good one old man! You managed to nearly fool me." Steven started laughing hysterically. Isabella was confused by seeing Steven reaction. Steven calmed down before asking Isabella "Did you check all the final contestants?" Hearing this Isabella was silent for a while before disbelief plastered her face, as she quickly ran out of the room disappearing from Steven''s sight. ''Dammit, how could I forget it? She doesn''t need to be present in the finals.'' Isabella thought as she ran out of the mansion. ''Lord Albert must have been got the information that the finals will be held in public in advance due to his participation as a commenter by Prince John. He knew if the competition was held in public that we will be watching. And if we noticed Sophia then that was the end to their plans. However, that information had given them a headstart. He must have informed Sophia, and she must have decided to back out of the competition and chosen to control her puppets from behind the scenes. After all, all she needs to do is make sure her puppets can retrieve that one strand of his hair or blood for her. She doesn''t need to personally get her hands dirty.'' Isabella quickly arrived at the stadium where the finals were held and walked in. She observed the 2 students currently standing inside the arena. She excluded Ellis right off the bat, as Sophia wouldn''t dare do something stupid to reveal herself so blatantly. After all, he is someone close to Prince John and is always being monitored by all the commandments. ''Then what about the blonde-haired boy who is known to be Natasha''s friend. Not him either, his eyes are alive and seething in rage, something her puppets are incapable of showing.'' Isabella quietly observed the other 3 students sat outside the ring. ''Interesting all 3 of them are observing Prince John, subtly. Wait, that girl. The burning sense of desire and adoration in her eyes. Found you!'' Isabella made a smirk of victory on her face as she looked around the stadium. ''Now for the puppet master, where are you?'' Chapter 121 - Episode 120-A Systematic Life {Earth 2019, February 28th} "A sham again." Saying so Dean threw the book in his hand to his bed as he walked out of his room in frustration. Life was extremely lacklustre for Dean. How there came a point where life seemed extremely colourless for him? There was simply nothing interesting to him anymore in life. Maybe it was due to his hobby being a major influence, or maybe it was because he had no friends because of how he looked. His only comfort was his PC- which contained the bookmark of all his favourite anime, manga, novel, and collections of games he played. Being a loner, these were the only thing he had to be called friends. He wanted more than being in a normal world. The amount of time he spent on his hobby made him desire a world with magic to master the very elements or a world with Qi to cultivate and become immortal. Yet the truth was harsh, and he was stuck in here, amongst normality. He had brought a book named ''Ritual of wishes'' from an antique store while passing by it yesterday. He had closed his eyes and made the wish to transport to a magical world. However, when he opened his eyes he realised he had just lost the money he spent on the book. He knew the book was a scam, but still, a part of him wanted it to be true, hence the reason why he bought it. Dragging his heavy body out of the door he to go out and buy some snacks for his all-nighter. He pulled his head back into his hood seeing the glazing sun of noon. He walked on the pavement watching the cars go by. The traffic was much higher due to it being lunch break for most people working. Suddenly a shrill scream awakened him from his daze. "Ahh! My bag!" He turned around to see what was happening. "Get out of my way fat-ass!" However, before he could do anything he felt a heavy force hitting his shoulders, pushing him back. He saw a man grunting as he ran past him holding a bag that definitely belonged to a woman. Before he could react he felt a loud horn followed by something hitting him heavily. Next thing he remembered was flying amidst intense pain, then he lost his conscious. He felt warmth filling him. He slowly opened his eyes. He was inside a white room. Standing in front of him was a person who he could only describe in 2 words. Smoking Hot! Her blonde silky hair matched perfectly with the brilliant white chiton cloth. Strangely an aura of warmth and happiness radiated from her. However, her concerned face did not match with her presence. Her blaring blue eyes fell upon him. "Oh, you are awake." A sweet voice entertained his ears. The women in front of him tried putting a smile on her face. However, he could see it failing due to the worry and concern taking a major portion of her emotions. "This may come as a shock to you, but I am sorry you died!" The women apologised in front of him. Strangely instead of feeling shocked or scared, he was extremely calm and serene. The women waited for a while before saying. "You took that extremely well for a mortal, Dean?" For the first time since he woke up, he opened his mouth. "You have no idea how many times I have envisioned and practised for this scenario. So, it is normal for me to be calm." I replied proudly that my otaku training paid off. The moment I saw her weird clothing and the weird room I was in; I had felt a rush of excitement. This was what I have been waiting for my whole life. The women paused for a while, probably doing what all gods do in novels at this time "That is true. You are a strange one, Dean, practising and longing after something you could maybe have never got." The women smiled awkwardly amidst her worries, after probably reading his mind. "Umm, can you please tell me what happened?" I asked respectfully while keeping my mind clear of any thoughts. Usually, in many novels, scenarios like this often lead to the MC being in the presence of a divinity. The first rule when in front of divinity is to be aware that they can read your mind. The women tried pulling a smile again before saying "Well there wasn''t much to it, you simply died after that thief pushed you into an oncoming car. Then you are here." "Did I come here because I died too early or something along the line? Or was it because of that weird ritual book?" I asked excitedly, this was how the novels usually went. The beautiful divine being looked at him strangely for a moment, before giggling. "No Dean. You died where and when you were meant to. Also, that book was a sham." "Then why I am I here?" Dean asked her in confusion. The women in front of him suddenly brought her serious face-up. "Dean, can you please help me out?" ----------------------------------------- The goddess Lucy or also known as The Almighty One here had requested him to become her champion and with the help of her other champions to defeat the dark one, threatening the existence of all being in one of her world. Apparently the gods themselves cannot act due to their mere presence causing more destruction to the world than the ones they are trying to stop. So instead they choose champions who act for them. The other gods had chosen their champions, however, they all failed to accomplish their mission and perish. Hence they all turned towards Lucy. She had chosen him because of his extremely strong soul, which was needed as a vessel to carry her power. Ultimately Dean had agreed to her request, due to this being one of his lifelong dreams. The only problem was he was stuck in the body of an infant. The reason being along the line of his power needs to gradually grow along with him or something. Lucy had apparently dropped him in a remote village, where he can safely grow in power. She promised him he will be safe till someone took him in. Lying amidst the thick comfort of the blanket, Dean still could not believe he was in a situation he has always been desiring, Before being sent here Lucy had warned him of the extreme danger of the world and not to take it lightly. He naturally understood, after all, it wouldn''t be an easy world if the gods had to send multiple champions to take care of their problems and still fail. "System are you there?" He mentally asked while waiting for someone in the village to notice him as the sun slowly rose. "I am here host. What would you like from me?" The system was the blessing, or the power Lucy had given him. "Show me my status." Excitement welled upon him as suddenly a blue screen appeared in front of him. [Name-Dean Race-Human Age-0 Level-0 Health-1/1 Stamina-1/1 Magi-0/0] He understood the reason why his health and stamina being low due to him being an infant. But what was all this about his magi being zero as well. "System why is my magi 0?" Dean asked. "Host hasn''t activated the magi particles in him hence its 0." Hearing the response Dean became quiet for a while before moving on. "Can you show me the menu, System?" Dean requested the intelligent system. [Status][Stats][Skills][Quest][Inventory][Shop] To his dismay inventory was greyed out meaning he could not access it. "System why is the inventory blocked?" "Host has to unlock the inventory." The system replied back in an annoyed voice as if implying is that not obvious. "How do I unlock it then?" He asked back in equal annoyance. "When I judge it''s the right time." The A.I of the system replied before going silent no matter how much outcry Dean poured out. Realising it is futile he decided to explore each of his available options. First, he chose stats. [Physcial-0.01 Agility-0.01 Spiritual-0] [Stat points-0] "System can you explain these stats to me?" Dean asked the system mentally. "Sure host. Physical represents your overall physical condition. Improving it means improving your overall physical condition like how much you can lift, how much force you can exert in 1 punch, your health etc. Increase this if you want to be an extremely buff person. Agility represents your nimbleness along with your finesse interactions with delicate or small objects. Improving it means increasing how well you can control your limbs, movement speed, your stamina etc. Increase this if you want to be an extremely agile or dexterous person. Spiritual represent your control over non-physical matters. Increasing this means increase control or capacity over spiritual matters. Increase this if you want to be like a mage. Remember increasing this is pointless if you have not managed to unlock it first. Stat points are points used to increase your stats manually. They can be earned from levelling up and quest rewards. Remember stats can also be increased by training them or from other methods or resources." It did not take long for him to understand the stat screen due to his previous experience with playing games. Quickly he went back and chose the next option, skills. However, what he saw next dismayed him. [Skill points 0] It was empty with just 1 line. "System why is the skill section empty?" "Because you need to acquire skills either by training or by buying them from the store." "Then what is the skill points for?" "To improve the grade of your skills. Skill points can only be earned from level-ups and from quest rewards." "Grade?" He asked in confusion. "Skills, items, and many other things are categorised in grades. There are 8 grades: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet and Rainbow. A Rainbow grade item/skill is unimaginably more powerful than their red grade counterpart." Having understood the explanation Dean moved onto the next section quest. Unfortunately, he did not have any quest hence it was empty, so he moved onto the next thing, shop. [Search: ] [System Coin-0] Before he could ask the system answered his questions "Think of what you want according to their grade host and I will display the result to you. However, to buy anything from the store host is required to have system coin, which you can acquire from completing quests." Dean following what the system told him and thought of an item and what grade he wanted them to be. Suddenly the screen showed the result. [Pill of Magi(Red)-Unlocks the magi particle in you. Cost- 10 SC] Dean sighed seeing the price. Suddenly he was awoken from his concentration by a sudden shout "SERENA! Come here quickly!" Chapter 122 - Episode 121- The Secret Behind Being a 2 Timer! {Back in the arena} Law tested the grip of the sword. For the finals, they were allowed to choose weapons if both the participants agreed to it. Law came back into the arena as he saw Ellis standing opposite him calmly with his sword drawn out. "Looks like both our participants have decided to fight each other with the sword. What do you have to say about the two futures of the magi association, Sir Merlin?" Albert casually talked about the upcoming fight from the side, but this time every word of his amplified to the point everyone in the arena could hear them. "Law is a high capacity magi with extremely high talent. Him being a rank 2 shouldn''t, therefore, come as a shock to many." Most students inside the arena started murmuring hearing that Law was a rank 2 magi. Most people who took the graduation exam were usually Rank 1. "What about his opponent Ellis?" Albert asked. Hearing this Ellis gave a quick glance to the old man by Magi Merlin. He made sure to not reveal any sort of emotion as everyone is observing him right now. If anyone found out he somehow had some kind of relationship with someone from the Thorn family it will be problematic. "I have been told, Ellis is a genius in understanding and mastering spells even that are higher rank than him from his teachers." Merlin ended it there not knowing if he was allowed to say more or not. He wasn''t sure if he was allowed to publicly reveal any information pretraining to an imperial princes bodyguard. He not only hated social events, but he was a bit dumb when it came to politics as well. The only reason he was chosen as the head of the magi despite the magi association having it''s on political warfare was simply due to his immense talent, understanding and desire towards Magi that not only the previous head respected but all the other senior Magi as well. Due to this reason he was appointed to have an assistant, who had made an oath of equality, to deal with all political affair for him along with explaining things to him in a grand scale before he made any important decision. Albert slightly nodded in understanding seeing Merlin''s enquiry. "So what rank is he in? Could he also be a rank 2 magi? Does he have a unique capacity as well?" Albert asked, trying to lead the conversation in a direction where not too much information is revealed. "He is a rank 2 magi as well. However, he only has a normal capacity." Merlin answered. This time however there were not many murmurs or talk when discussing Ellis. Most people had directly witnessed and seen Ellis'' might during the start of the 2nd phase of the exam. It would be dumb if they all assumed Ellis is a normal rank 1 magi as well. But what did shock many of them was the reveal that Ellis had a normal capacity. Most had expected Ellis to have a specialized capacity. "Looks like they are starting." Albert announced as he watched Law casting a spell. "What do you think he attempting, Sir Merlin?" Albert asked. "I believe he is aiming for a frontal assault with his sword using a speed boost. Unless Ellis counter with a strength boost or some other kind of spell to cancel his momentum it will be hard to block, Law''s attack." Merlin analysed. In all honesty, Merlin did not mind this job. He wasn''t put in an awkward spot where he had to talk unknown bullsh*t, but rather do something he actually enjoyed, analysing the application of spells. Law ran forward. He felt strange as he saw Ellis preparing to take the full impact of his attack. He knows Ellis is a smart person, so he knew there should be a reason if Ellis wasn''t moving. Warily Law ran forward expecting an attack from him any moment. However, to his surprise, Ellis did nothing other than prepare to counter his attack with a sword stance. Using his charging momentum Law swung his sword diagonally from the top, towards Ellis. Till the last moment, Law had expected him to use a spell or be pushed back. However, what he did not expect were the fancy sword movements Ellis exhibited upon meeting his sword. Blocking Law''s sword with the flat side of his sword, Ellis quickly took a side step to his right and slowly moved his sword away while redirecting Law forward with his momentum. Law, moving forward and slowly losing his balance as he was about to face the ground, quickly discarded his sword and rolled forward using the forward momentum. This was later considered as a good decision as he saw Ellis'' sword launching at where he should have been. Quickly Law maintained a distance between them. Ignoring the cheering and commentary in the background Law focused. He remembered something Natasha has said about Ellis before. "Repelling sword art. A sword art designed uniquely for opponents fighting with weapons. Anyone fighting with a weapon against someone who mastered that sword art will become unarmed in seconds." ''If a weapon can''t do it, let me see how you deal with spells.'' Law smirked as he launched a firebolt at him. Law clearly made sure not to throw any sort of solid spells at him like ice or earth as he could easily repel them. As Law expect Ellis quickly moved out of the way seeing the incoming spell. Trying to deflect a firebolt was akin to slicing a water bubble. Not only will it burst but it will throw out its resulting fire and shockwave everywhere including at the person who cut it. Seeing he had a way, Law quickly casted an ice spell to freeze certain areas around the arena, while at the same time launching firebolt towards Ellis to stop him from getting close. Suddenly the whole arena became quiet seeing Law casting two spells at the same time. "Hey Merlin, didn''t you say Mr Lawson was a high capacity user?" Albert asked while wearing a stupefied expression which was showcased on the screens allowing everyone to see. Merlin furrowed his brows while looking at Law strangely. "He is indeed a high capacity user." "Then how do you explain him dual casting, something only a low capacity user should be able to do?" Albert asked unable to still get over his shock. "I..." Merlin too was speechless seeing this. "..he is indeed a high capacity user; otherwise how can you explain him casting so many spells." Merlin tried justifying himself while pointing out Law who was still casting spells that should be way over the limit of a low capacity user of Rank 2. "But look at that ice spell on the ground. If I am right that is a variation of water freeze spell that low capacity users do to freeze small areas around them right?" Albert inquired. Albert had already come out of his shock, but he still found it funny to put Merlin in a tight spot in front on thousands. "Stop putting him on spot and do your job properly." A familiar voice came from both of their ears. Hearing it, Albert looked towards John and established a 3-way mental connection "Then do you know how to explain why a high capacity user is able to cast spells like a low capacity user, lazy ass?" "How am I supposed to know? Besides, you guys are the experts, and this is your job, make some bullshit up so the people will believe you." John ordered through the device in their ears "Wait I think I know, how he did it." Suddenly, Merlin shouted excitedly through the mental connection, the speakers and the device in their ears at the same time. Everyone turned towards Merlin wanting to hear what the head of the magi association had to say. "I always had an assumption about this theory back when I was in the academy, but this is the first time I have ever seen a real-life application of it." Merlin sputtered in excitement. "Calm down, Sir Merlin and explain it to us." Albert tried to calm down the excited Merlin. "I always had a theory, during my academic years that high capacity users could simply practise with their spells and get better control over it. In fact, I had even applied for a grant to research on this theory to test this out but as you can expect, it was rejected at that time." Merlin explained while those in the crowd with high capacity got excited at hearing they could have the best of both worlds. "Ohhh, why was that then?" Albert asked in amusement, as he remembered hearing about that theory from the previous magi head as well back when he was visiting him. Both he and the previous head had obviously rejected this idea, due to them making the same conjunction in their younger days as well. Merlin sighed in dejection as he answered Albert "Obviously because the improvement brought by doing this was only limited to that certain spell. So, for example, Mr Lawson there should only be able to multicast with the spells he has practised and wasted so much time on, like firebolt and water freeze. He could only repeat this with spells he had mastery over. Also, besides that, the improvement brought by such a spell was abysmally small for a high capacity user, that spending time to mastering a spell could be used to advance themselves in rank. In my opinion, the time he had to spend mastering those two spells could have been used to become mid-way through rank 3 magi by now." The high capacity users became dejected when they heard Merlin. They already had to spend 10 times longer than other people to accumulate magi particles due to their high capacity, to the point that most high capacity users spend less time practising and learning their spells and focused on accumulating. However, now everyone looked at Law like a freak. "If my analysis if right Mr Lawson should be extremely talented in accumulation that he could easily afford to spend time mastering each spell of his, while at the same time make progress with his accumulation that makes everyone seem that he is practising normally like a high capacity user." Merlin did a spot-on analysis. Albert''s eyebrows twitched as he looked at the crazy nutjob in front of him. No wonder this guy was the head of the magi association. His monstrous insight into everything that is related to magi is unbeatable. Both Albert and Merlin then turned to look at Law like an idiot in the arena and sighed. ??Only if he had advanced in ranks, with his talent he would have realised within a few years, mastering those spells was a waste of time.'' "Wait there is more to this than simply it is a waste of time for your project to be cancelled Merlin, right?" As if on cue John asked from the device in their ear through which only they could hear. Merlin looked at John startled. ''How did he know that?'' Merlin looked at Albert as if asking him ''Does he know?'' Albert shrugged his shoulder while asking through his mental communication "Brat how much do you know about magis?" "Only as much as what was taught to me, which I should expect is slightly bit more than most students here, from which I have derived a few theories of my own." John answered. "Bu...but how did you know there was more reason for my project to be cancelled?" Merlin stuttered in confusion. "He probably guessed." Albert mused entertainingly seeing that John made Merlin panicked. "Nope." John said as he smiled from the other side. "I know that there is no way the empire will reject such an excellent opportunity to turn a magi into an unstoppable being. I mean look at this guy in the arena, even with Ellis'' combat training given by the best he is still being cornered by an inexperienced noob, who don''t even know the basics of proper stances. Besides that, that theory of yours will open so many doors and opportunities to magis that most high-ranking nobles will reconsider picking an award over magi." John explained his reasoning. Ez clearly had a rough understanding of the advantages of a magi over an award user. Sometimes the advantages offered to a magi was greater than an award in certain areas, hence the reason why many of the senior magis in the magi headquarters rejected being an award user when they were offered one. Chapter 123 - Episode 122-Info dump(Where else would you see a title that says info dump) From the knowledge that I had gathered recently it seems, there were pros and cons of being either a magi or award user. Magis are extremely versatile being able to manipulate any elements as long as they studied and understood the spells. There is no restriction to accumulating magi particles the only limiting factor being talent. Not only that I had recently found out one of the reasons why Albert chose to be a magi instead of an award user. Magis have extended lifespan. How this is done I am not sure, but I bet it has something to do with the magi particles interacting with their body? How long their life are extended needs further clarification as well, but one thing is for sure, if left alone magis will live longer than an award user and how long they live depends on their rank. Albert being the one in control of intelligence of the whole empire requires him to deal with certain things in person. After all, I do not believe it is easy to find people like Albert in the whole empire-extremely talented as a magi and extremely good at psychological manipulation. So, therefore, him being alive longer to deal with those things personally was the best-case scenario for the empire, not only to deal with certain scenarios (like me) but also to train a prot¨¦g¨¦(that too from his family itself). Next advantage of a magi is that they cause almost no backlash with not properly wielding their spells. The only backlash they might face is losing their accumulation of their current rank and becoming a semi-soulless like me, but that only happens in extreme cases where the user is seriously dumb, beyond saving, to not properly wield his accumulation and let his accumulated magi particles damage him. Semi-infinite amount of spells to cast is another advantage. A magi can always cast spells of lower rank almost infinitely due to their accumulation regenerating the lost magi particles, for that spell, close to instantly. The only limiting factor for this is that their current surroundings do not run out of magi particles for them to absorb. Now for the problems of being a magi: Although magis are versatile most tend to specialise into one aspect, such as focusing on fire element or water element, after all, no one likes to remain as a jack of all and lack attack power. The main disadvantage of a magi is that although they lack power compared to an award user. For example, a fire award user of the same rank can easily overwhelm a water magi (even though fire is usually restrained by water). Even though magis have extended lifespan, they still age like normal people to the point extremely old magis have deteriorated senses and their minds have turned senile(dementia etc) from old age(hence the reason why my food is desired by all magis due to it being able to return someone their youth.). Although they can temporarily alleviate this condition if they are a high-ranking magi with certain spells. Also, once someone decides to transit to an award user from being a magi, they will lose all their accumulation, along with that all its benefit-such as their extended lifespan. This means if someone who is well beyond their life expectancy gave up magi for an award, that person will die as soon as magi particles leaves his body. For award user their pros lies in having increased physical and mental capabilities which get enhanced each time they rank up. Stemming from their increased physical ability is their unique ability of extreme healing. In a fight against award user, the only way to make sure that you definitely killed them is by decapitation. Otherwise, even if they have a single and weak heartbeat in them they will recover soon enough to their peak, given enough time. This is so potent that award users are extremely resilient against most poisons and diseases. Similar to magi user, award user to have a quality of life treatment from being an award user that is having eternal youth. This came as a surprise to me after I noticed that most award users I met were in their late 50''s yet they look as if they were in their prime of the late ''20s or early ''30s. It seems the award user can choose when to stop ageing or their ageing slows down and the rate it slows down depends on their rank. To top it all off award users gain a single ability that the user can derive to any unpredictable form according to their wishes. A major con of being an award user is that unlike magis their lifespan is not extended so they will still die once they reach the limit of their life expectancy. This means if they die after reaching an age of 80 years old, they will die looking young. Although award users have extreme healing, it doesn''t mean they have regeneration as well. So if someone chops of an award users limb then they will lose that limb forever, unless are put under an award ability or a magi spell that can regenerate or connect lost limbs together. Another problem is that to be an award user requires a memorial stone. Everything related to memorial stone is kept in strict confidentiality, to the point that only those that swear oath of allegiance to the empire and those under certain nobles will have access to them. If an award ability is not properly wielded then it will lead to a state known as corruption. All I know of corruption is that the user will go into an uncontrollable mindless state where it attempts to destroy everything. I am not too sure what happens after that. From all this advantage and disadvantage, it might seem award users have extremely huge risks associated with wielding it when compared to magi. However, people still prefer choosing an award over being a magi. The reason being simple. No one wants to die old and frail. Any award user of the same rank can easily take down and overwhelm a magi user of the same rank, just by relying on their physical capabilities itself, not to mention their unique abilities along with their capabilities when dealing with beast ingredients. Beast ingredients are plants or creatures that have somehow managed to accumulate magi particles inside them. Beast ingredients can be referring to plants, animals, fish etc since calling them beast animal or beast plant as a collective term is bothersome. These creatures or plants are extremely dangerous once they have successfully managed to accumulate magi particles and turn into a beast ingredient. This is to the point that even an infant beast ingredient of similar accumulation rank as a rank 1 magi, can cause devastating destruction similar to a rank 2 magi. This is including the fact that this beast is not in its natural habitat and is in a place that restricts its abilities. In order to differentiate between beast ingredients, they are categorised into 10 levels depending on their rank. For a rank 1 beast ingredient (similar to a rank 1 magi in accumulation level), they are categorised into levels from 0 to 9. Rank 2 beast ingredients have levels ranging from 10 to 19. Rank 3 beast ingredients have levels ranging from 20 to 29. Rank 4 beast ingredients have levels ranging from 30 to 39. Rank 5 beast ingredients have levels ranging from 40 to 49. The 10 levels in each rank (0 to 9 for rank 1 or 20 to 29 for rank 3), is there as a scale to represent the difficulty of their capture. These levels are arranged for each beast depending on many factors: the location of where the best ingredient is found(e.g. edge of a cliff or inside a volcano etc), its environment(e.g. poisonous, heavy mist, extremely cold etc), is it found in groups or not, how adaptable is it with its magi ability, if the beast ingredient is guarded or hunted by even stronger beast ingredients etc. In simple terms, these scales of levels are there to denote how extremely dangerous the creature of that rank is. So a beast ingredient of level 29, will be extremely dangerous to kill or capture than a beast ingredient of level 20, despite both beast ingredient having the same accumulation level as a rank 3 magi. This is all excluding the factor that the people hunting for these beast ingredients have to travel through a long journey through treacherous location, as most beast ingredients have been pushed out of the empire into the danger zones(Zones that is too dangerous for people to live in or occupy). Most beast ingredients are close to impossible to capture for a magi of the same rank due to their weak physique and abilities. This is to the point magis sometimes even find it difficult to capture ingredients that are even 2 or 3 ranks below them, even if they are in a group. While award users have no such problem due to their extreme healing and high physique. Award users are even able to sometimes capture beast ingredients of 20 levels above them, depending on their unique ability. Now, here was a way for all magis to grow in devastating power and gain an advantage over beast ingredients, yet everyone ignored that method. There had to be a more reasonable answer other than it takes too long, and I am quite curious as to why. If my guess is right that reason is probably one of the reasons why Albert, Merlin and other powerful magis probably do not regret rejecting the gain of an award ability. Along with that, from all the books I have read and everything I have been taught it excludes any information pertaining to beast ingredients of level 50 and above(Beast ingredients of rank 6 and above). From what I just concluded from Merlin''s theory, something happens to a magi at rank 6, some kind of qualitative change, that causes them to ignore the benefit of grooming a high capacity user as a low capacity user along with having a strict control of the flow of information pertaining to level 50 beast ingredients and higher. "Well?..." I asked through the mental connection after seeing that both of them were silent for a while. "Fine, brat. But do not tell anyone I told you. If anyone asks you say his name." Albert cheekily smiled while pointing towards Merlin secretly. Both Merlin and I sighed seeing his antics at work again. I nodded while Albert multitasked in commenting on the fight while talking to me at the same time through the mental link. Chapter 124 - Episode 123-Thinking of Titles at this point is a burden The fight between Law and Ellis was slowly turning into the favour of Law. So far Law seems to be slowly freezing portions of the whole arena in order to restrict Ellis'' movement while keeping him at a distance with his fire spell, while not giving a moment to cast any spell. "Oh, it looks like Mr Lawson is restricting Mr Ellis using his mastery over two of his spells and taking advantage over his large capacity." Albert made his commentary. This caused Ellis to be even more careful when dodging Law''s spell in order to not slip and be hit by his spells. "You know I have never hated a person as much as you Ellis." Law suddenly spoke up while casting his spells. Usually, high capacity magis are required to maintain their attention when casting their spells as they do not have delicate control over their spells like low capacity magis. "I wouldn''t have minded it much if you had hurt Phil but trying to use my friends to restrict me was something you should have never done Ellis." Law spoke as his voice grew in anger. "What was I supposed to do then? Watch as you and your friends stop me from doing what I want?" Ellis answered back in equal anger. "Dream on Lawson!" Ellis muttered as he dodged another spell aimed towards him. "So what? That does not give you the right to use people like tools. If it were not for you Natasha would still be with us. Do you have any semblance of an idea what you have taken away from her?" Without waiting for a reply Law shouted "No you don''t! And for all that I will make you pay!" Law retorted as the number of his fireball and freezing spell increased. Ellis carefully tried to dodge the increasing number of fireballs raining upon him. However, even for someone who has an astoundingly massive combat experience like him is bound to make mistake when the odds are stacked against him, after numerous rounds. As he tried to dodge the incoming fireball he stepped on frozen ground and slipped. However quickly he turned himself around to be surprised that the rain of fireballs had stopped. Instead what was coming towards him was a massive wind blade. "Rank 2- Wind blade" Law smirked as the blade flew halfway to Ellis. Ellis sighed seeing Law in that state. In a small way, Ellis saw himself in Law. Someone who desired revenge for what was done to someone close to him. He was willing to depart with something important for his revenge, as his accumulation. But to Ellis, Law''s flame of revenge was too weak. His flame was nothing compared to the ravaging fire Ellis had in him. "So, what if I used your friends?" Ellis asked as he laid there watching the wind blade rush closer. There were no rank 1 spells capable of defending against it. He had to use a rank 2 spell. However, for someone like him with no talent, every single point of accumulation was not something he could waste upon. He had spent countless amount of time, blood and sweat for each point of accumulation in the game realm. He didn''t want to waste it all for a rank 2 spell and be set back. Not to mention he was sure, his highness would intervene should things get dire. However, he didn''t want to lose. Not because of some fame or achievements, but to show Law his resolve that he wouldn''t back down and he wouldn''t regret anything. "So, what if I hurt your friends?" Ellis said as he grasped the sword lying by his side while the wind blade came within 10 meters of him. He could already see the wind blade tearing through the ground as it came closer towards him. Albert quickly glanced towards John who shook his head. "Don''t interfere and remain partial." These were the only 5 words both Albert and Merlin heard from their device. "To me..." Ellis raised his sword while looking towards the sky as he laid there. "...anyone who stands in my..." For Ellis, in order to carry on with his revenge, he had given up on everything. "...way of revenge will suffer, be it your friends or YOU!!" Ellis screamed the last word as he swung his sword diagonally at the wind blade in front of him. And as promised by the creator of that world- ''You shall get as much as you give.''- Ellis too received. *Clang* *Crack* The sword fell from Ellis'' hand and laid on the floor beside the unconscious Ellis. Then very quickly, the sword shattered in pieces. But no one noticed it as everyone was gobsmacked looking at the wide-eyed Law whose blood was pouring as if it was a fountain on the floor from his chest. "H..ow?" Was the only thing he managed to say before he collapsed. The only thing everyone remembered seeing was the wind blade breaking and scattering followed by Law being pushed back as a large scar appeared on his body, diagonally, tearing open for his blood to seep out. ----------------------- Everyone was silent for a while before looking towards Albert and Merlin to say something. However, to their surprise, they found both Albert and Merlin to be looking at Ellis like a freak of nature. Without using any form of mental communication Merlin asked trembling "Is... Is that..." Before he could reply Albert shouted, "Move quick!" Both Albert and Merlin suddenly disappeared from where they stood and appeared near Ellis, instead of the gravely wounded Law and checking upon him. Prince John walked into the arena calmly. "Ahem..." John coughed to get the attention of both of the intrigued commentators. Both of them looked up to John in annoyance who signalled with his eyes towards Law. "Sir Merlin." Albert nodded towards Merlin who went to check upon Law. Before everyone''s eyes, Law started to glow for a second before his injury closed itself. "He should be fine and should wake up in a few minutes." Merlin assessed while Albert nodded in relief. Law''s friends who were attempting to force their way through the barrier relaxed upon hearing what Merlin said. Seeing their worried look John look towards them calmly. "You guys heard him. He should be fine. As you can see we have the best of the empire here to look after your friend. We cannot allow any non-participants inside the barrier until the end of the finale. So please go back." Hearing him Law''s friends calmed down before apologising and bowing towards John and walking back reluctantly. "What about Mr Ellis?" John asked Albert who seemed excited about something, while a light similar to the one that appeared on Law appeared on him. "He is fine your highness and should similarly wake up in a few minutes." He replied in excitement. "So, Mr Al and head Magi Mr Merlin. Could you both please clarify what just happened to our dear audience." Prince John announced as suddenly the screens on the arena started playing back what happened as the wind blade approached Ellis. "Two words your highness- Sword Whisperer." Hearing what Albert said send a ripple of crazed murmuring around the whole arena. Words such as "Impossible", "He is so young." etc started to be heard. Sword whisperer- A title usually given to those that are able to resonate with their swords and the magi particles around them to produce devastating attacks with every swing of their swords. Whisperer-Rather than an ability or a form of power like award of magi it is a state achieved by those that follow the path of a weapon. Once the wielder of a weapon achieves this state he/she will be able to release devastating attacks known as waves, with each swing of their weapon. To a normal passer-by, it will seem like the user is releasing an invisible wind blade each time they swing their weapon. But, what happens is that each time the user swings or thrust his weapon the surrounding magi particles will resonate with the weapon and users intention and take shape to follow the user''s direction of attack like an invisible wind blade, carrying forward the strength and power behind the swing. Due to this each time the user swings their weapon not a single shred of his/her magi particle will be used, instead only the surrounding magi particle will be used. Moreover, if one is a magi they can affect the properties of their waves, like adding fire or ice property to their attack will mean that not only will the attack slash the opponent, but it will also burn or freeze them depending on the property added to the wave. Along with that, the strength of each wave send out by whisperer increases in strength depending on their magi rank. However, achieving this state is impossible for people unless they have a desire to follow the path of their chosen weapon and practising with the said weapon for countless years and going through numerous battles. The people that usually master them are well on their ages, extreme fighting maniacs or someone who has gone through countless battles relying on their weapon. However, this was the first time someone extremely young has become a whisperer. This was the reason why many of the audience found it hard to believe. But the people more shocked than them were Albert, Merlin, Isabella, and others who knew about Ellis'' background. They knew he was someone who hadn''t even started practising sword for more than 2 months now, and he hadn''t even gone through as many battles with his sword as a proper sword whisperer. This only meant one thing; that Ellis was a pure unblemished rotten genius that was meant to be with the sword. Everyone turned to look at John who stood there calmly watching everyone with his usual poker face. No one could read him, not even Albert. ''Did he know from the very beginning?'' Albert thought as he gazed at John subtly but then found it impossible. Ellis had come nowhere near sword before he met John. In fact, from the report he received Ellis was a complete newbie when Titus had introduced him to the sword. That meant John was extremely lucky. ''Darn it. Why is this punk so lucky? Why don''t I get any genius dropping out of the sky into my hands? All I am stuck with is incompetent fools.'' Albert wailed while watching John declare the result of the match. "The winner is... Mr Lawson Fowler!" John announced to the surprise of many. Before people could question his decision he spoke. "No matter whether he is a whisperer or not, what matters is the last person standing. And here the last person that was conscious was Mr Lawson despite the grave attack he received." John justified. Suddenly Albert seemed to have remembered something extremely important, as he observed the fainted Ellis. ''His combat talent and experience are way out of his league. It is as if he has been through countless fights. Not to mention his sudden growth as a sword whisperer. Is there a link between the two or is it a complete coincidence? Darn! I won''t be able to get close to him from now on as well. I bet they will value him more now, and someone will always keep an eye on him. I can''t even apply for a mind read even.'' Albert looked at Ellis as if he were hiding some deep secrets. ''I hope you don''t become a threat to the empire boy.'' Albert sighed as he walked back to his spot with Merlin. ------------------------- {Few hours after Phil was taken out of the 2nd phase of the exam} "Lord Springwood, I need you to make a decision now. We can only do one today. I rather hope you chose the arm as it has a much higher chance of succeeding when treated today itself. Which will it be the arm or...?" The medics words were suddenly interrupted. "Ahhhh!" A shrill cry of pain came from the inside. ''It''s started!'' hearing it made Pablo Springwood''s heart bleed. "I am sorry, son. I hope you will forgive me." Muttering the few words of apology, the head of the Springwood family, made a decision. "The arm." Hearing the words from Pablo''s mouth, the medic looked towards the source of the agonising voice in sympathy. ''Before it had been just business, but now it''s personal.'' Pablo looked towards the general direction of the test centre in growing resentment and hatred. ------------------------------------- {Few minutes after Ava was taken out of the 2nd phase of the exam} "Sir Sprinkles, you have to make a decision now? Either the birthless or the..." The medics words were drowned out by the scream that increased in volume. ''I hope no father ever has to make such a decision for their daughters, Ava.'' Adam Sprinkles silently wept in his heart as he said in a voice of assurance. "Give the cure for birthless first." Adam Sprinkles gave the order, as a part of him screamed with his daughter. Hearing him, the women beside him wept in pain. "Go and stay with her dear. She will definitely need one of use by her during these 2 days." Adam held his wife up as he instructed her. She walked with pain towards the door. Before she completely disappeared to the other side she halted "Dear, make sure he begs for death." Adam nodded as he replied, "He will beg for it, but will never see it." Saying so both Adam and his wife walked away from each other. Each to their own destination and goals. Chapter 125 - Episode 124-Sleepy Sleeper The rest of the match began to proceed after Ellis and Law were moved out of the arena. The next two participants were chosen by lots again. Each round lasted between 5 to 10 minutes, and every move of each participant was analysed and interpreted by the commentators. At the end of each round, the commentators gave their opinions on how the match could have gone for each participant etc. To the ones watching they finally understood the value of commentators, as their role was to offer advice to each contestant while informing the observing students the best way to deal with each scenario. The winners of each round proceeded to fight against the winners, while the losers against the losers to determine their final rankings. However, unexpectedly Ellis had dropped out from his rest of the match, opting to just watch from the side to the dismay of everyone wanting to watch how a sword whisperer fought. After Law''s initial bare victory, to his dismay, he faced constant defeat from his other opponents. In the end, the final rankings were as follows: 1st place-Alister Bright- 01571 2nd place- Dan Stands- 02234 3rd place- Emma Redwood- 04326 4th place- Lawson Fowler- 00572 5th place- Ellis Wright- 10090 However unknown to many was the fact that the top 3 were spies sent to infiltrate, each for their own purpose. Alister Bright, also known as Alpha. Dan Stands the child send from the Almighty church in order to look for the chosen one. Emma Redwood, a puppet controlled by Sophia, her goal seemingly being to get a strand of Prince John''s hair or blood to control him. Whether she can do more than control him seems to be unknown. Unknown to many at this time, Luke Storm, stood where he was assigned from where he watched every movement of the crowd warily. He wanted to know when his sister and her fellow members would strike. At the same time, Isabella too observed the crowd, looking for Sophia who was controlling Emma Redwood. While this was happening, the matches concluded and from there the results were announced after John arrived at the stage. "This concludes this years graduation exam. Everyone please go home and get some rest. I expect all of you to arrive tomorrow at the same place where the opening ceremony was held. Please arrive no later than 8 am for your graduation ceremony. Also, could all the teachers please stay behind after everyone has left, please." Saying so Ez or also known as John dismissed everyone. After giving instructions to the teacher Ez walked out of the arena while mages who were stationed there did a final inspection before they proceeded to deconstruct the arena at a rapid rate. As he walked out he saw 2 people waiting for him, both of them examining each other carefully. "Ellis, I believe you have met Luke after the 2nd stage of the exam." Ez smiled as he greeted them both. "Luke as per contract your services are required tomorrow and for the banquet prepared for top 100 students and those in the special rankings. You are free until your services are required. Thank you." Ez dismissed him, after which he walked with Ellis to the store. "Thank you, your highness." After Luke left, Ellis bowed as he thanked his benefactor for giving him the chance to enact his revenge. In return to his thanks, Ez asked him a question. "Are you satisfied?" Ellis became silent, which clearly indicated his answer to Ez. "That is what I thought as well. No problem, I will give you what I promised." "So how was the exam?" Ez asked after they walked in silence for a few moments. "Harder than I thought." He replied, glad the conversation wasn''t going in its previous direction. Ez suddenly stopped and faced Ellis "Good. Also, congratulations on achieving the state of whisperer." Ez patted Ellis'' shoulder before walking back to the store. Ellis nodded with deep-rooted hatred and guilt against himself for betraying the one who offered him a way. There were only two people in his life who he owed everything for: one his mother and the second... He clenched his fist while making a promise ''Once I finish with my revenge, next will be you old man.'' ------------------------------------- Titus barged through the door into the door. "Stupid arrogant pricks." Muttering some insults, he looked at John who was laying on the table. Seeing him calmly sleep through all the troubles he caused himself annoyed Titus. Feeling annoyed Titus kicked the sleeping John. *Bam* John was sent flying to the wall behind him with a resounding sound before slowly falling to the floor. Unexpectedly the target of Titus'' ire was still sleeping even after having few of his bones probably broken. Ellis quickly ran out with his sword held ready, only to relax seeing the annoyed and gobsmacked Titus. "Is he still sleeping?" Slowly the annoyance in him was replaced by curiosity and fascination. "How is he doing that?" Titus in his personal monologue failed to notice the worry in Ellis'' face as he ran towards John worried that John had either died or probably lost his consciousness as soon as he woke up, after seeing him being unresponsive to a kick. Ellis knelt down to take John''s pulse and let out a relief noticing he was still alive. "Lord Bloodfist I think his highness lost consciousness and is wounded from your ..." Ellis paused to rephrase the word attack to something much more suitable. "...wake-up call." Titus woke up from his trance hearing Ellis'' worry. "Lost conscious?" Titus raised his left eyebrow while staring at Ellis. "Oh right, you don''t have much experience in the medical field do you?" Realisation suddenly dawned on Titus before he smirked. "Check his pulse again boy, he is bloody freaking sleeping. I am no medical expert, but I can differentiate between the heartbeat of a sleeping person and an unconscious person." Titus said while pointing a finger towards where the heart was. Ellis was quiet for a while, not knowing whether to be gobsmacked at the fact that Titus could hear someone''s heart beating or that John was still sleeping after being smacked onto a wall. Before Ellis could take John''s pulse again to check what Titus said, John woke up. "Can''t you guys keep it down. I have been staying awake for the past few days monitoring the exams." John rubbed his eyes while yawning. Suddenly feeling something, he looked towards Titus, who was still looking at John like some kind of glowing lab rat. "Can you not kick me like that? I like to sleep on that desk because it''s more comfortable than the floor. If you want to use a desk use the ones in the kitchen or the one in the waiting area." John instructed Titus, followed by walking to the kitchen. ''That''s your takeaway from all this?'' Ellis was unable to believe what he just heard. Titus who was about to nod towards Ellis, shook his head as he realised the reason why he came here before following after John in anger. "Do you have any idea what kind of problem we are facing because of you, and instead of helping us sort it out, you are here sleeping!?" Titus started shouting towards John who seemed to be cooking. "Probably the complaints from all the lower-ranked nobles, merchants, and other influential people, right?" John asked as he stirred the contents in the pot. "Stop doing a guessing game and start taking this seriously! You have one hell of a solid pair of balls to go and poke the hornet''s nest that even the magi association avoids!" John ignored Titus'' screaming while he carried on cooking. After calming down a bit, Titus passed the message he was here to deliver. "Dexter asked me to ask you how you wanted to deal with this situation." "Just arrange a meeting between me and all those people who raised a complaint after the award ceremony tomorrow. I will deal with them later." John casually replied. Hearing this Titus frowned before saying "Not just that, we have a major problem from the Springwood and Sprinkles family because of this brat." Titus said as he pointed a finger towards Ellis who lowered his head in fear and anxiety. "Do you know what he fed both of the heirs of the respective families with?" Titus'' voice started rising in anger. "Well from how angry you are I suspect it''s something horrible." John replied. "Horrible? He fed them a f*ck*ng ''Test of Will'' to them both!" Titus screamed. John suddenly froze as he said "Oh!" Titus nodded seeing he finally got some reaction and carried on. "But due to the complication before taking the pill on each of them they had to go through 2 days of agonising pain before someone could cast an anti-test of will spell." Titus explained in anger. "Oh damn!" John exclaimed in shock while Titus nodded. As he was about to carry on John interrupted him. "The gas ran out as well. Oh well, looks like I have to eat it half cooked." John said as he proceeded to stir the pot, casually. Titus along with Ellis suddenly realised John was giving out reaction for the wrong thing the whole time. "ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!?!" Titus bellowed in rage, to which John just covered his ears. "So, they swallowed a couple of pills and had to wait 2 days for treatment right? So what? Tell them to suck it up or something. I mean they got much bigger things to worry about in a while." John flashed a look of annoyance towards Titus, whose scream nearly made his eardrums pop. Hearing this Titus flew into a rage before something clicked in him for a moment. "Wait a minute! Brat, did you know about the side effect of taking the Birthless and Test of will together?" Titus quickly turned and looked towards the worried Ellis, who took a step back while avoiding his gaze. Seeing him and hearing his rising heartbeat, Titus knew Ellis somehow found out the severe side effects of taking those two pills together and purposely fed them in order to let them undergo severe pain. It was not due to the pills themselves but rather the cure that caused severe reaction once one intended to implement it after taking those pills. The cure to those 2 pills has opposing reactions that causes one to wait 2 days after taking one of the cure. The same can be said for the healing process of a torn limb as well. Taking the cure early can mean death itself. Luckily, the cure for the ''Test of Will'' had a duration of 3 days after first consuming it. Therefore most people would naturally choose to cure the birthless pills side effect as the cure becomes useless after 2 days of ingestion. The same can be said for healing amputation as well, as this time not only Phil had to be treated for amputation but his arms had to go through restoration from the burns Ellis had inflicted on it. Due to the immense concentration of magi particles being present on his arms(due to the healing), it will cause the anti-test of will to not work properly and similarly have to wait 2 days for the magi particles to balance out and disperse from the arm. Therefore, the lives of both Ava and Phil were not endangered in any way or form, other than having to endure 2 days of insane torture. However, to those pampered kids, even getting a paper cut is too much of pain let alone the agonising pain from the ''Test of Will''. ''It is as if he wanted them to go through the pain from the very begini... Oh... OHHHH!'' Slowly things started to fit in place as Titus redirected his gaze towards a certain someone. John ignored the angry look from Titus, as he slowly poured the content of whatever he was cooking into a bowl. ''No wonder Dexter asked me to ask him to deal with them as well.'' Titus mused as he carried on with his glare. "What? He asked me what was the best way to make them suffer, and I gave him many options. How was I supposed to know he liked option D over F?" Seeing the glare still on him John shrugged before he replied while carrying the bowl to a table. ''Well I did but I am not going to tell him that and screw myself over.'' Ez mused silently "Fine, I will deal with them as well. Bring them to the meeting with others as well. Better to deal with everything together." John sat in front of a table as he ate the food in front of him to heal the numerous damages sustained from Titus'' initial kick. Hearing this a smile slowly started creeping its way towards Titus'' face. While Titus relaxed his angry glare, he remembered something as he turned towards Ellis in surprise "He gave you 6 OPTIONS of torture to choose from...?" Chapter 126 - Episode 125- Closure The last time the students were here for the opening ceremony it was lively and happy. However, today many are silent and moody, due to failing or even worse-just 1 point short of passing. This time students were given a seating arrangement throughout the hall depending on their ranks. The teachers as instructed by Prince John (from the previous day), guided students to their respective seats. This time not a single nobles or big shots were found at the front- as they were all getting ready for their meeting after the graduation ceremony with Prince John. Both of the imperial princes decided to opt-out of the closing ceremony. However, Ez halted for a moment seeing someone familiar in front of him. Steven nodded towards him silently while waiting beside, Albert who for the matter was slightly tensed. John who saw this smirked in his inside. ''You guys really thought I wouldn''t notice her?'' Ez mused silently. From the information provided by Dexter about Sophia''s rank 1 award ability (which everyone was aware of due to having to awaken in front of the emperor, similar to others who awaken their awards.), along with putting in many other factors Ez had guessed few numerous ways her powers might have evolved to. From there it was easy for Ez to guess why they would deploy Sophia for the exam. ''Looks like my information leak about Sophia reached them'' It was not hard for Ez to notice and spot Sophia after predicting her arrival. Especially when the camera observing Albert and Merlin, showed Albert actively trying to distract Merlin whenever Sophia came up on the screen. From there it was all easy game to confirm it. Make Albert aware the finals was going public, if she was indeed Sophia send to control John, then Sophia will withdraw from the finals early to escape Stephen and his crew. As predicted the girl was Sophia herself, as she managed to drop out before the finals. After that, it was all easy game- leak info that Sophia might be participating to the agents of Stephens lurking around the exam hall. When those agents fail to spot Sophia then the man himself will arrive to capture her for the closing ceremony, after all the graduation ceremony might be the closest possible moment for Sophia to get close to Prince John without getting attention. This way Ez had managed to get free protection from another commandment himself. ''I have now cornered 1 faction. Now all that remains is the other mysterious infiltrators.'' Thinking as such Ez watched the 1st and 2nd place students sitting at the very front along with keeping an eye on Luke as well. Ez smirked seeing the representative of each infiltrators ''2 faction whose goals seems to be unknown and a reincarnater looking out to stop someone from getting close to me or my attention.'' Ez extended his right hand towards Steven "Welcome Mr...?" "Sean would be fine your highness." Steven shook Ez''s hands. "So, Mr Sean I presume you will be representing for my brother Jack?" Ez started small talk, as they began walking towards the stage. Sean aka Steven nodded, at the same time saying shut up towards John with his silence. As they got to stage, they greeted the already stressed off Merlin along with the sweating headteacher, before moving towards their own seat. Everyone easily noticed the awkward silence between the top 5 students who were sat at the very front. This was especially so for Law and Ellis who were sat next to each other due to being rank 4 and 5, respectively. Ellis had planned not to turn up for the closing ceremony, however, he remembered his priority of protecting his highness John and therefore came in. Ez sat and waited until it was 8 am while watching as the hall slowly filled up. The hall slowly became silent at sharp 8 am. The headteacher stood up first introducing each of us, especially Steven as Sein from the Cason commandment family, then proceeding to give a speech congratulating everyone who passed and encouraging to those who did not to try again next year. This time, however, the headteacher seemed to have learned something from John''s speech at the opening ceremony and kept it short. The same was repeated by Merlin, Steven, and Albert to the relief of all the students, who just wanted to get to the main event. Finally, it was John''s turn. "Wow, the final day huh! Bet most of you guys are excited to receive your graduation certificate than listening to me talk, right?" John asked while smiling, to the amusement of all the students. "Well, I won''t bother your guys with much. Always remember what Mr A told at the end of your written exam. You will not always be the final one standing up, so learn to work together in your future." Ez let the words sink in, before moving on "Now onto an important and surprising notice that was just approved from the magi association. Due to the extreme difficulty of the exams this year, the magi association has decided to lower the grade boundaries to pass the exam. This decision was approved due to numerous factors, the two main one being: there were numerous highly talented students participating this year and the exam being extremely hard." The students suddenly started murmuring in the excitement that many who thought they would not pass would make it. Ez waited patiently as the hall grew silent once again very quickly. "Now many of you are aware of your ranks more than your points. So, I will announce the range on ranks that have passed now." The students all held their breath hoping they had made it. "From the top number, 1 rank to rank 3829 students has passed the exam this year as opposed to rank 1 to rank 1273." A huge amount of cheering and applause soon followed as the students who passed shouted in excitement. Ez waited for the excitement to die down with a smile. "Now we will be proceeding towards the awarding ceremony. I will be calling out the name of each student depending on their rank. Please come forward to collect your certificates from the head of magi association Magi Merlin." The students became silent while getting ready to go up. "1st place- To Alister Bright." Everyone clapped as a muscular boy with green hair walked up the stage receiving a certificate and a red envelope from Merlin while keeping a close eye on Prince John. This went on for until the top 100 students, after which Merlin stopped giving out the red envelope. However, every now and then a few other students outside of the top 100 received a red envelope as well. After the final student received her certificate in pride, the award ceremony ended. "This marks the end of the award ceremony. I wish all of you the best of luck for your future endeavours." Saying so Ez left the podium and went back to the seat. The headteacher then came up guiding students outside where refreshments were offered along with the opportunity to meet with many entrepreneurs from various companies. However, dejection and loss of an opportunity were clearly written all over Steven''s face while triumph was plastered over Alberts- Sophia had not arrived. "Well looks like I have to go and deal with the hyenas now." Ez said as he stood up while stretching his arms. "See ya guys." Saying so Ez left the hall while being followed being Ellis from a distance, leaving Albert, Merlin, and Steven to look between themselves. "Well played old man." Steven muttered as he stood up. "What you talking about?" Albert asked in confusion. "You can''t hide her forever. My agents are out combing through the whole streets right now." Steven warned as he left. "I have no idea what you are on about brat." Albert grinned. Before Steven left he stopped for a second before saying "Merlin, the old man brought in an award user who is a criminal convicted by the late empress herself into the exam, disguised with his magi." Merlin who heard it widened his eyes for a moment before looking at Albert who had a look of someone who ate a fly. "John should have recorded evidence of him trying to distract you whenever she came up on the screen." Saying that Steven disappeared from the hall. Albert''s eyebrows twitched while looking at the last place Steven was at "Sore loser!" "Ahem!" Albert turned towards the smiling Merlin. "I had faith that this day will come after years of humiliation and suffering." Merlin smiled towards Albert. "Oh, sh*t!" Albert cried without tears, as Merlin soon contacted his assistant to deal with this politically, along with trying retrieving all blackmail evidence held by Albert against Merlin. --------------------------------------- "Blah blah children blah, nobles blah blah blah safety blah blah loyalty blah." Was what Ez was hearing as the nobles, magis, businessmen all brought up matters regarding the exam. After the last person finished his argument about the unfair treatment the imperial prince had shown towards the children''s of people who work hard for the empire, along with the subtle threat of ruining any business ventures related to him. "Ok, let us get rid of all the empty words and get straight to the point. What do you guys want?" Ez asked as examined his nails. ''Should I cut them? Nah too much effort. But on the negative side, they are too long now.'' One person stood up. "Your highness not only..." Before he could even start he was interrupted. "You know what, it has been a long day for everyone. How about this, a 10% discount offer for the 3 times you all come into my shop?" Seeing everyone silently staring at him in anger and displeasure Ez shrugged his shoulder as he said "Ok fine. Give me 1 months'' time to sort everything out for you guys and gals. Next month same time same place, I will have arranged everything that will definitely satisfy you along with a bonus compensation for what your children had to go through during the exam." Everyone stare finally relaxed, as they all nodded in acceptance. However all these people failed to notice one thing; usually, during situations like this, the high nobles or elites they are working under usually exerts some kind of aid to them by pressuring the people they are against(this usually being the magi association). However this time, all high nobles and elite stayed their hands, wanting nothing to do with this situation or come anywhere close to Prince John, for they had no clue what the maniac will do once they got involved. As everyone left the meeting room 2 people stayed behind. "Lord Springwood, what do we do?" Adam Sprinkles enquired Pablo Springwood. "Don''t worry. Let us just wait and see what he brings out next month. Whatever he brings out I will make sure it will not be enough until that son of a whore is given up." Pablo clenched his fist. 127 Episode 126-Weather Repor {Law PoV-After the award ceremony} Law sat in a corner, away from the crowd. Law looked at the graduation certificate and frowned. Somehow he felt he did not deserve the 4th rank position. He knew for a fact if Ellis had chosen to carry on in the finals then it would have been him being in the 5th place, not Ellis. His system, which was gifted by the goddess to him only had 1 simple function. Any skill he picks up is given a growth boost allowing him to train the said skill to perfection which lets him be a master at the said skill if he has spent enough time practising the said skill. Along with that any of his skill can provide auto-correction for him if he desires. Say for example lockpicking, expert lockpickers still have to concentrate to pick locks no matter how easy or hard it is. But for him depending on his skill level and the difficulty of the lock he can allow the system to do it for him easily. This feature is especially useful when casting spells. Spells require one to concentrate, especially when one is a high capacity magi. However, if he were to level up any spells by practising them constantly, then he can let the system do auto-correction for him when casting the spell, so he has no need to concentrate on that spell. Using the systems help he had mastered almost all the spells he had learned to the point of wielding it like a small capacity user despite being a high capacity user. However, after witnessing the fight between the top 5 he realised it was not enough. He was missing something that others had, that filled in for their inability to dual wield capacity like him. After he had displayed his trump card against Ellis, every single of his opponent were prepared for him despite him using some of his other spells as well. They countered his every move and defeated him easily, without giving him a chance. That is how he realised he lacked combat experience, despite having the advantage of a cheat. Law sighed, before looking at the red envelope he was handed with the certificate. He opened the red envelope and read the contents written in gold, on a white paper with a purple border. ''Dear Mr Lawson Fowler, You are hereby kindly invited to the graduation banquet held by his highness Prince John. The function will be held at ''The Velvet Banquet Hall'' tomorrow starting at 4 pm. The schedule is as follows. 16:00 to 17:00- Registration followed by refreshments. 16:00 to 17:55-Make your way towards the reward booths where you can specify the details on the equipment you want, depending on your rank. 18:00 - Welcome Speech by his highness John Emberson 18:10 to 18:30- Opportunity to interact with each other and his highness Prince John Emberson. 18:30 to 20:00 ¨C A 5-course meal prepared using beast ingredients by ''Luxury Meals'' restaurant. 20:00 till 00:00- Music along with dance will be provided for everyone, joined by Prince John. (Reward booths will be open outside the hall for anyone still not made their specified orders.) Please dress appropriately for the function. You are allowed to bring 1 other person with you. To note- Drinks will be provided so please do not come drunk. Kind Regards Prince John Emberson'' Folding the envelope, he kept it inside his pocket. "So, I presume you are going for it as well?" Law looked up to see Rondell standing in front of him with others. "Yeah. What about you?" Law asked as he stood up. Rondell nodded "I was planning to bring my sister along as my plus one. What about you?" "No one. I doubt my family can handle the pressure of meeting high profile people of the empire." Law shook his head. "What about others?" Law asked Rondell. "Ian is bringing his older brother, Lewies his childhood friend, Ruby is apparently bringing her teacher, Maisy is bringing her Mom and Natas..." Rondell paused before he remembered something. "Sorry." Rondell apologised. "We all, still can''t get over it man. Don''t worry." Law comforted Rondell and patted his shoulders as they walked towards their group of friends. ------------------------------------- {Natasha house after the award ceremony} "So, are you going for it?" Natasha grandmother asked her after reading the contents of the letter. Natasha shook her head silently while fiddling with the white ring on her left finger. "Hmm, why? I was told your friends made it to the top 100 as well." Her grandmother''s eyes shone. "Please don''t do this now nana. I know you are aware of everything that happened between me and them." Saying so Natasha turned around and walked out, without caring for the manners she ought to be showing. Before she left the doorway she asked her grandmother a question she has been wanting to ask for a long time. "Nana, do you think I could have been free if I wasn''t born to him?" Before her grandmother could even reply she left the room. Her grandmother looked at where her granddaughter last stood in pity. "It wouldn''t have mattered. You are a caged bird whether you are born to him or not. It''s just that you are aware of your bindings as his daughter, unlike the ignorant masses." Natasha grandmother replied to no one in particular. --------------------------------- {Drum and Flute Pub} A person wearing a hood walked into a bar. The people inside the bar ignored the emo lord after giving that person a quick glance. The person walked up to the barkeeper who was currently serving a mercenary with scars all over his face. Seeing the person walking towards them both the barkeeper and the mercenary froze, their eyes glowing in reverence. The mercenary not wanting to put the hooded person in spotlight tried to act casual. The hooded person sat in the chair and made an order. "A glass of your best." The barkeeper nodded and started preparing the drink. At the same time, both the barkeeper and the mercenary started preparing all the relevant information about the task they have been assigned on their mind. Soon both of them felt a gentle force invading their consciousness. They presented no resistance and let the person to their mind, allowing the person access to all the information pertaining to their task. The hooded person nodded as the barkeeper passed the person a glass of orange drink. "Thank you." Soon both the barkeeper and the mercenary felt the force invading their minds vanish. The mercenary remembering about something quickly asked: "What about you brother..." Then he lowered his voice so that only the 3 of them could hear "... your holiness?" "It won''t make a difference even if the whole commandments are there." Saying so the hooded person took a sip from the glass. After finishing the glass of drink, the hooded person carried on. "However, it seems Lord Fake is planning to, as per his words ''Spice up the mission''." --------------------------- {Ellis PoV-Night before the banquet} After washing up, Ellis prepared to call it a day, as he had a feeling tomorrow is going to be a stressful and busy day. Ellis sat on his bed and finally looked at the certificate and the red envelope he was given, properly. This was something he had desired so long ago, but holding it now, it seemed so worthless to him. After holding onto the certificate for a few more minutes he placed it on the desk next to his bed. Then he looked at the red envelope. Although he had not opened it, he knew what it was about, since he had to be aware of almost all the schedule of his highness. After a moment of deliberation, he opened the envelope and read the letter. ''Dear Mr Ellis Wright, You are hereby kindly invited to the graduation banquet held by his highness Prince John. The function ...'' Ellis proceeded to fold the letter and place it back into the envelope after he had read the letter. Placing the letter on the desk Ellis got ready to sleep. As he slowly entered into his sleep, a familiar set of whispers assaulted his ears. Panicked, Ellis quickly stood up and observed his surroundings. He was back in the game realm. ''Why am I here? What is going on?'' Ellis watched his surroundings in dread. This was something that had never happened before to him. ''I have already completed this month''s mandatory mission, so why am I here?'' Suddenly a screen came in front of him. [Regional Event Mission- The Wacky Fake and the Cuckoo Sloth] [Mission- A mortal has piqued the eyes of the Fake One after a long time. Witness the beginning of a great relationship between them.] [Description- The Fake One will deliver his declaration of war against who he thinks is someone worthy to entertain him. An invitation is sent out for all regional players to be present as a witness or participant during this great moment, as the apostle of the Fake One strikes Prince John Emberson down at ''The Velvet Banquet Hall''.] [Reward- 10 Points] [Failure- None] --------------------------------- {Natasha PoV-Night before the award ceremony} Natasha closed the book and placed it on the pile of books near her. ''Still no clue about Lord Fake.'' Natasha sighed. She had ordered all books related to religion and history from the imperial library delivered to her room. Even after scouring through every book, there was not a single mention of the Lord Fake. ''Why? Why is there not even a single mention or clue of him?'' Natasha mused in frustration. Although she was excited about the opportunity Lord Fake had given her, she was still wary of Lord Fake. She wanted to know why it was her? What made Lord Fake choose her? Were there any future implications? How to find more people like her? As she got up to go to bed, she saw a book titled ''The One and Only Almighty One.'' It was a book dedicated to the Almighty One by the church worshipping the Almighty One. It introduced the nature of the Almighty One and what the Almighty One sought out of each of their follower. As Natasha saw the book she suddenly remembered the scene that the Lord Fake had shown her. She had seen how Lord Fake destroyed all the deities and replaced those with new deities for annoying him/her. ''New Deities?! That is it, new deities!'' Realising that she was looking at everything in the wrong angles she made an order to one of her attendants standing outside. "Get the earliest slot of appointment with the historian Sir Marc first thing tomorrow morning!" Natasha instructed her attendant. She was taught from a young age that the deities created the world and all in it out of their benevolence. The deities did not care if their creations worshipped them or not. Since it did not matter to them whether someone chose to accept the truth or not. But what they cared was that their creations should know about them and not be ignorant of them. However, the deities found it too bothersome to make their creations aware of them, personally each time. Hence for this purpose, they chose someone whose sole reason for existence will be to make the populace aware of their deity aka an Apostle. How they did it was not the concern of the deities themselves, as long as everyone was aware of them. The apostles of the deities found that instead of personally going around preaching and making people aware they would instead let people come to them. To do this the apostles of the deities started building a glorious paradise for their followers. So due to this everyone was aware of the deities inside the empire, but no one really bothered to worship them, because it did not matter whether they did it or not. This is because at the end of the day the deity that they worship was not the one feeding them, instead it was their own hard work and effort that made bread appear on the table. That was not the point. What caused her to arrange the meeting with the historian scholar Sir Marc was the fact that she realised something. ''What if the New deities simply made all the creation story up?'' After not seeing their creator around and being the immortal and powerful beings they are, they must have thought that it must have been them that made everything. ''I mean what was stopping them from thinking otherwise.'' They must have convinced the new generations of people that they were the true creators simply for their own satisfaction and hope that the mastermind(Lord Fake) might come out and right them. But to their disappointment, no one must have come out and they simply must have forgotten everything. So, if she wanted to find anything about Lord Fake, then she had to dig up the records before those deities came to existence. A time when all deities and people were aware of Lord Fake. And who better to start with other than the historian Sir Marc. Only that there was a slight problem, she will be heavily monitored during her meeting with Sir Marc and he will not necessarily answer all her questions due to his oath with her father. Sir Marc is aware of the truest story of every war and feud in the past that was covered up with lies by the victors. Due to this, in order to not lose the morale of people Sir Marc was ordered by her father to not reveal any crucial piece of history without his permission in exchange for letting him safely and freely conduct his study into the true history. Sir Marc being the curious person he is about history naturally agreed. ''I should naturally prepare my question properly before I ask him. I cannot naturally just go up to him and ask about Lord Fake.'' Natasha thought as she walked to her bed and laid down, slowly drifting to her sleep. After a few minutes, Natasha suddenly woke up. Her clothes were slowly getting drenched in her sweat as she remembered what she just saw in the game realm. ''Why is Lord Fake picking on John? Was her half-brother also a player of the game realm? When did an apostle arrive at the Empire? Did Lord Fake realise her investigating him? How many players are there in the capital itself?...'' Questions of all sorts were being fired of rapidly through her mind. Suddenly a certain conversation came upon her mind. A conversation she had, for what seemed like a few days ago, between her and Lord Fake: ''Ah yes, the royalty, always assuming things and wanting to use everything to their advantage. Did you know I am currently preparing a surprise gift for a special one amongst you lot?'' How had she not noticed what Lord Fake had said back then? She felt like an idiot for forgetting something so crucial. Shaking her head Natasha got her priorities right. She had to be at the banquet tomorrow no matter what, not only for the points but to understand more about Lord Fake and her brothers'' involvement with Lord Fake. Because from what she knew about the game realm it was that it offered anything for its players as long as they had enough points. If John who was supposed to die in a few years were a player, then everyone can burn his soulless condition as a figment of their imagination. From what she knew, everyone is only relaxed because they know he will not live long. But what if he survives and becomes the next emperor? She suddenly remembered her grandfathers'' eyes as he came back from the meeting a few months ago, during the plague. It was the first time she had seen her grandfather so afraid. Shaking her head Natasha cleared her head. ''First thing first, how am I going to convince nana that I want to go for the banquet without stimulating suspicion after I said I don''t want to go?'' ---------------- {Ellis PoV- Outside Banquet hall} Ellis observed his surrounding carefully. "All units, heads-up, there will be a natural heavy rain incoming soon." An alert arrived through the device in his ears. It was crucial they were alerted to the current weather, as high ranking magi''s are people who can manipulate the weather itself, let alone an award user with that specific ability. So if they see, any out of the ordinary weather then they can prepare themselves for an attack soon. Suddenly an alleyway came to his sight. "Alleyway South-East to the hall." Ellis whispered as he walked forward while waiting in line. "Deploying units... Location secure." A sweet voice came through the device. Hearing this Ellis sighed before moving forward in the queue, to the registration booth. The person sat behind the booth smiled towards him while extending her hands. Ellis handed her the red invitation letter. The women read it before ticking his name on the register. "Sir do you have a plus one?" The women asked as she handed him the letter back. "No, I am on my own." Ellis replied as he folded and placed the letter back into the pocket of his suit. The women nodded before saying "Please keep the invitation letter with you at all times while in the venue as it will be your access to go in or out of here." Her sweet voice was very distinct enough for anyone to realise it was the same person talking through the device in his ears just a moment ago. Ellis nodded before walking through the entrance into the decorated welcome room, slowly filling with people. Men dressed in suits while women showcased their flashy and beautiful evening gowns. Ellis closely observed everyone and mentally counted each person inside the room. "How many people students arrived so far?" Ellis quietly enquired without drawing attention. "22 students who were given the invitation has arrived with their plus ones." Hearing a different voice this time Ellis nodded as the number of people inside the room matched the ones registered. 44 people, excluding the staff as each and every single staff in here, were agents of Lord Dexter, Titus, and Maximus. "Ellis, relax. The security is already tight enough. If anyone could come through all our defence then it means there was no hope for me from the beginning." Prince John''s voice came through the device. Ellis wanted to retort but he had nothing to say, along with the fact that talking to air in front of the public was not the least thing to do when he is in undercover. Ellis had been visibly stressed after seeing the message from the game realm last night. He wanted to rush and stop his highness from attending the banquet today, but he could not necessarily explain how he had came to know about the information. --------------------------- {Ellis PoV- Time 23:55(The night before)} Ellis woke up Prince John very quickly. "Ellis? What is it?" John opened his eyes reluctantly. "Your highness we need to cancel your attendance tomorrow!" Ellis exclaimed in worry. John sat up and looked at Ellis calmly. "You think something might happen?" John asked Ellis in confusion. Ellis nodded as he replied. "Your highness, remember you said there were infiltrators during the exam." John nodded. "Did you find who they were, your highness?" Ellis inquired. "We have picked a few candidates, who we think might have been those infiltrators. They are currently being monitored by our agents." John answered. "Did we find their motives?" Ellis carried on. "Only one of them, and I kind of took care of. What is it, Ellis?" John asked. "Just one more question, your highness before I will explain. Did any of the other infiltrated candidates make it to the top 100 or get into your special ranking?" Ellis asked. Suddenly John''s eyes widened "You mean they are planning to strike during the banquet?" Ellis nodded "Yes, otherwise why would they stay low without acting up." "You might be right about this. Archer and I had come to a similar conclusion after the assistant of the banquet hall''s owner went missing for a few hours before returning." The worry in Ellis'' face grew. Seeing his worry John dismissed it as he carried on "After enquiring her we found out that her disappearance was nothing special. She had been out to see meet with her secret lover, who she has been seeing behind her husband''s back for the past few years. But still, we had taken precautions for my safety for the banquet tomorrow." "But your highness why take the risk? They might be well prepared." Ellis tried to warn Prince John. "You are right Ellis; they might be prepared. But if I back out of every meeting due to my security then it will affect my standing amongst the public." Seeing that Ellis was about to argue back Prince John held up his hands "How about this? I will bring in the monitoring equipment''s used in the exam, to be installed around and inside the banquet hall. Along with that, we will assign all the hired Mercenary for outer protections will ask Dexter and co to lend some of their agents to be our men inside the hall protecting me." ------------------------------ {Present moment- Ellis} After some back and forth Prince John had convinced and made it clear to Ellis that he will be attending the banquet. Not being satisfied, Ellis had decided to partake in the security measures as well. The only relief to Ellis was the huge number of award users inside the hall. Ellis walked close by and listened to each students introducing their plus one to their friends. He made a clear note to remember any suspicious individuals and kept his eyes trained on them. "Ellis, you are creeping out all the students. We can see and hear everyone from here perfectly fine. There is no need for you to do it yourself and stress out. We will let you know of any suspicious individuals. Just walk towards the reward booth and just casually relax." Prince John ordered through the device in his ears. Ellis sighed as he walked towards one of the less busy reward booths. ''His highness is right. I cannot be everywhere, while they can. I should just be ready to act at any given moment.'' The person at the booth similarly extended his hand to which he handed the red envelope. "Ellis Wright." The person looked through the list before finding his name and rank. "Ellis Wright, rank 5. You reward includes: 10 low ranked magi stones. 1 medium ranked magi stones. A weapon forged out of level 4 beast materials. 2 pieces of equipment forget out of level 4 beast materials. Would you like them delivered to you or to be collected?" The agent inquired. "Delivered at my registered address." The person wrote this down. After that, he looked up as he asked his next question "What equipment and weapon would you like to be made out of the level 4 beast materials?" Without taking long Ellis replied, "A longsword and a pair of boots." "Longsword for the weapon is ok. But for the equipment what you have said is just 1 piece of equipment, please name another one as well." The owner of the booth advised. Ellis blanked out for a moment. He had thought 2 boots will count as two pieces of equipment. "Gauntlets, do they come in pair as well?" "Yes, they do." The man replied as he wrote his orders down. After a few seconds of waiting the man looked up "As you live inside the capital, you will be given lesser priority than those that live outside the capital, due to them having to travel back to their own kingdoms." Ellis nodded in understanding. "We will post a letter letting you know when your item will be delivered to you in 2 weeks'' time. Please make sure to be home when the actual pieces of equipment arrive. If you are not there to personally receive them, then you will be required to collect them from the ''Luxury Meals'' shop." Ellis'' along with the agent in front of him tried to hide the smile that made attempt to appear on their face hearing at what was just said. Both he and the agent in front of him knows very well that ''Luxury Meals'' is his home. "Thank you." Ellis said as the person stamped on his letter before passing it back to him. "Good now, just get some drinks and relax." Prince John ordered him as he left the booth. ------------------------------ {POV of Ez few minutes after Ellis left Ez- Time 00:15 (The night before) } He is absolutely sure something is going to happen tomorrow but won''t reveal why. That means he got the information from a place he can''t reveal for some reason but is absolutely sure is right. Time to prepare for the worst. I stood up and moved towards the storage area. Looking through the assorted ingredients I found one that said Level 10. Let me see what a level 10 ingredient is going to do to my body. After 1 hour of cooking and preparing the ingredients, I took the meat pie towards the storage room. The one place no one has placed a recording device in the whole building, due to the devices not working in the extremely low temperature, especially after the upgrade I have added to the place. I took a remote stuck on the wall and closed the door to the storage room from the inside and vaulted myself in. Walking towards the middle, I closed my eyes before pressing a button on the remote. Even with my eyes closed, I could feel how intense the light shining in the storage room now was. This should stop them from seeing what is about to happen now, even if they attempt to use magi or award. I smiled with my eyes shut, as I quickly sat down in the freezing cold as I rapidly started to eat. With the first bite, I felt a wave of heat radiating from my glowing body. Each bite I took sent forth a wave of heat from my body. After I finished the last bite the wave stopped. Then for a few seconds, the outside was quiet while my inside was going through a massive change as the influx of massive energy entered every cell. With the assistance of my soul, I easily guided the energy correctly to each cell, causing it to mutate in the way I intended them to. What should be happening over generations and through the process of elimination was happening to me in a few seconds- Evolution. In 20 minutes, the changes happening throughout my body ended. I could feel that my control over my body and senses have reached a new point. I can now control in the range of nano- units. Easily able to cut things at nano-level or measure out ingredients at the nano-level. Increased efficiency of my body as well as my brain performance. Rapid healing, but not even close to what a rank 1 award user might have. However, my bodies energy intake requirement increased dramatically as well. Now I need a stable amount of energy of level 10 beast ingredients or something of equal value in quantity. I hope this decision was worth it. Not that it matters for what I have planned for my next step. ------------------------------ {Luke POV-2 days prior to the banquet} I held my breath as I finally got a good look at the person in front of me. I could not quite look at him the last time because I was told to hurry by Prince John during the graduation exams. His name did sound familiar to that person, but I cannot just confirm his identity just based on his name, as there are many with the same first name. It is a pity that I can''t remember his surname. But there is no doubt. It is him! I will never forget those empty eyes, and face that killed those that I trusted, even though his face is much younger now. The infamous serial killer... no, it should be the Noble killer, The Doll Killer. No one ever saw him and lived to tell the tale except for me. Even for me, it was by pure luck I found his identity, which cost me the death of most of my trusted subordinates. But I only found out about his identity 2 weeks prior to my own death. The last I heard he completely disappeared after his image was released to the public. He was a person that caused all nobles including the commandments and the emperor himself to hold their breath and pray it was not them or anyone close to them when his sign appeared showing he will strike again-a children''s doll drawn in blood. But why is he here? "Ellis, I believe you have met Luke after the 2nd stage of the exam." Prince John smiled as he introduced The Doll Killer to me. "Luke as per contract your service is required tomorrow, and the banquet prepared for the top 100 and those in the special ranking. You are free until your services are required. Thank you." Prince John dismissed me. I turned around without revealing much on my face, but my heart, it was beating wildly. I tried to remember as much as I could, of what I saw on the file of the Doll Killer. Everything given on the report was based on the extensive investigation done by the empires finest agents along with the account of one man related to him. His name was Ellis something. He was the only child of a woman from the slums. Father abandoned both the mother and child for another woman when he was quite young. His mother took care of him, since then. However, their fate changed for the better or the worse I do not know- when one day a person accidentally dropped a book he was carrying. Ellis found the said book, and as he was looking over it, the owner of the book came back to retrieve the book. Seeing Ellis deeply immersed, the old man waited for him to finish looking through. As Ellis had finished reading the old man asked Ellis if he understood anything. To his surprise, Ellis replied ''No'' as he couldn''t read. When asked why had then Ellis kept on looking at the book Ellis simply replied in his innocence, ''Words and pictures in the books are amazing, and being able to read was awesome.'' Feeling pity for the young boy who was thirsty for knowledge the man taught the boy how to read and write, over the course of a few days to the surprise of the man. However, as the boy learned more about how to read, the boy slowly started asking unexpecting questions such as ''What are magi particles?'' Upon further asking Ellis about where he heard about magi particles, the man realised the boy was reading the book he had first seen from his memory after he had finally learned to read. The man was shocked at the Ellis'' capability, so the old man taught the boy about magi. To his surprise, the boy absorbed everything like a sponge. His understanding and comprehensive ability to study magi spells was unrivalled and shocked even the headteacher of the magi academy. Not wanting to lose a talent like him, the man (the previous vice-head of the magi academy at that time), took the boy and admitted him inside the academy despite his extremely low talent at accumulation or his lack of a unique capacity. The boy''s mother on hearing this news was beyond joyous and doubled her efforts so that he would not lack resources when studying, despite her ailing bodies condition. As time passed, the boy despite not even being a rank 1 magi showed a clear understanding of even rank 3 spells, which astounded everyone. However, not everyone was happy with such a talent being on someone who could not even use it properly. Soon an heir of a lower noble family started picking on Ellis, although at that time everyone thought it was over his talents, later found it was over a girl, they both liked. The boy not wanting to bother anyone did not report his suffering to his guardian in the academy. One day the heir had enough and had some people finish the boy off in an alley. As Ellis went missing for a few days the boys'' mother sought the help of the now-retired vice-head teacher of the magi academy. The vice-head teacher used all his efforts to find the Ellis but soon found it pointless. One day the vice-head teacher received a letter along with a package. The letter warned him to stay in his place or he will share the same fate as the package. Upon, opening the package it was revealed to be the dried head of Ellis'' mother. The retired vice-head teacher traumatised and fearing for his life decided to not investigate anymore and buried the women. As the years passed everyone forgot about the talented boy, except for the now old retired vice-head teacher. One day the isolated retired vice-head teacher received a guest, who he revealed as Ellis. The boy against everyone''s expectations had grown into an adult man, with a glimmer of hope, had come back for his mother. The vice-head teacher said Ellis didn''t say where he had been all this time. However, the moment Ellis was told his mother was killed, the man saw something dying in Ellis'' eyes before Ellis left never to be seen or heard from again. Until the vice-head teacher was called in for the investigation after Ellis was identified by me as The Doll Killer. Upon asking the vice-head of his estimation on Ellis'' rank he had said he did not know as he could not grasp Ellis'' power. This shocked everyone as the vice-head himself is a rank 4 magi. How a talentless boy reached rank 5 magi in a matter of few years was not the baffling or terrifying matter, instead, it was that the Ellis could fight or run away from rank 4, 5 or even rank 6 award users without any problems despite being a magi. After the account from the vice-head teacher had been received, soon a piece of news was received: everyone in a lower noble family had been massacred. The preparator was easily identified as the Doll Killer, due to him leaving a mutilated doll next to his victims, who would have been mutilated in the same way the doll was. This time however there was no need to look for his dolls, due to there being already a 5 meters tall Doll sitting in front of the gate with a sword through its face. After investigating it was found to be the same family of the lower noble who had tried to kill Ellis a long time ago along with the murder of Ellis'' mother. Then few of the victims of the Doll Killer soon showed a clear pattern as to those who bullied him in the magi academy, all of them being in a noble or in a high position. Upon further investigation, it was later revealed that the rest of them were people(some even in the ranks of high nobles or related to commandments) who assisted or aided in killing and covering up the crime done upon Ellis and his mother. However, till his last moments, there was no news about the Doll Killer, he had simply vanished like he had when everyone thought he died. But what is a serial killer like him working for the 3rd imperial prince? Nothing makes sense anymore. I cannot use the past to judge my present and future. According to what those followers of Fake said, me being here is the work of a deity. There was already past inconsistency even before my consciousness arrived back in time. So that means there is someone else that arrived here way before I did, that caused to change the flow of history so much. I have to keep that in mind from now on, and not rely much on my past memories for everything. For now, I have to prepare myself for the banquet. I have a gut feeling Linda, is going to strike Prince John there. ---------------------------- {Luke POV-Present time (Outside banquet hall)} I observed every person going through the entrance closely, both male and female. I hope that she really will not strike Prince John here. The level of security given to him here is insane. Every staff inside that banquet hall is an award user of at least rank 2, not to mention the mercenaries and magi posted outside the hall. ''There he is.'' My eyes were drawn to the Doll Killer, who stood patiently in queue observing everywhere worriedly. "Alleyway South-East to the fall." The serial killers'' voice hadn''t matured to the much darker and heavy tone he spoke in back then, through the device in his ears. "Deploying units... Location secure." A sweet voice came in response to his query soon enough. I am sure, once Linda arrives here, then I will be labelled as a wanted man not long after from what I might do. I found my situation quite laughable. The most wanted criminal of the empire working to protect someone in that same empire that wanted his blood. While the greatest Lieutenant general of the empire is now trying to protect/prevent a soon to be criminal(my sister) from trying to harm a prince. Mine and his roles in life changed quite quickly. 128 Episode 127- The Red Banque Seeing these 10 people together garnered the attention of many of the mercenaries. However, they did not move against them because they knew those were students that were given an invitation to the banquet. At 16:45 two people emerged walking towards the group of 10 people. "Law you finally arrived. What took you so long?" Rondell shouted excitedly while standing next to him was a younger girl of about 11 years old. "Sorry, my cousin decided to join me in the last minute." Law introduced his extremely beautiful cousin to them, nervously. "Hi, I am Law''s cousin Silph." The gorgeous women introduced herself. "Guys lets postpone introductions later. We need to enter the hall before registration closes in 15 minutes." Ian informed everyone while dragging an older boy who was next to him, towards the registration booth. Everyone finished their registration and was slowly queuing up in line for the reward booth while talking amongst themselves and introducing the people they bought with them to each other. The registration booths were closed and the people standing behind the booths gradually disappeared. Then at 17:05 an extremely luxurious white carriage dragged by 4 white horses arrived. "Lord Albert, I am afraid we are late." Natasha quickly got out of the carriage worriedly while waiting for the man in the carriage to come out. "Hahaha, as one of the imperial princess you have to make a grand entrance dear. Before we enter, make sure to address me as Uncle Al inside there." An old man with red hair carrying a walking stick jumped out of the carriage energetically. Seeing the 2 people were walking towards the banquet hall the mercenaries were about to intercept them. Before they could move all of them received an order. "Do not engage! They are allowed to come in." The mercenaries looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders and standing by. As the people were talking to each other inside the hall, suddenly the entrance doors were quickly flung forward with a loud resounding sound. *Bam* The hall became quiet while everyone turned to see what was going on. "Hahaha, I the awesome legend is here." A boisterous laughter was followed soon by Natasha emerging from the entrance with a bright red face. Followed by an old man. "See I told you being late will make you the centre of attention. Go get them girl! Hahaha." The familiar sound everyone heard at the beginning was heard again from the old man. The old man started laughing seeing the red-faced Natasha. "*Sigh* Ellis he has changed his appearance, but it''s still that wacky old man that comes to my store." Prince John informed Ellis through the device. Natasha walked embarrassedly forward. She halted as she saw her ex-group of friends gathered together. She then decided to move towards another reward booth, while being followed by Lord Albert. Natasha had been wondering how to convince her nana about wanting to go to the banquet after telling her she did not want to go. ----------------- *Knock**Knock* "Come in." I instructed while braiding my hair. Expecting it to be one of the maids that wanted to inform me concerning Sir Marc''s appointment I turned around. "So, did Sir Marc agre..." Before I could finish I realised the person standing in front of me wasn''t part of my retainers. "You have grown a lot, little magi." A woman that was as beautiful and similar to Natasha stood opposite her. "Natalie..." My eyes quickly examined the route she used to come in, in order to see if she has already, placed any of the recording devices on my room yet. "Is this concerning the appointment I asked for with Sir Marc?" I gathered myself while forcing a smile on my face as I asked her. "Partly." Natalie nodded while placing her trained eyes on me. "I believe it is not treason asking for an appointment." I tried not to gulp or show any sign that I was panicking, especially not in front of her half-sister, who is working for Lord Albert as one of his agents. Natalie was silent for a while before she spoke again. "We can allow the appointment, only under two conditions." I motioned for her to continue. "1-You have to go to the banquet today. 2-You, bring someone we choose as your plus one." Natalie gave me the conditions while watching me. I was confused but slowly understood the reasons, why they might need me to go. But why today? Why during the banquet? I know for a fact that John is equally accessible to everyone in his restaurant. So it doesn''t necessarily have to be about capturing him. Or is it possible that the empire is already aware of Lord Fake and his apostle? Could it be they are aware of what is going to happen to him today? I mentally rejected that idea. Not because it was impossible, but if Lord Albert found out the information, then John would soon find out due to Lord Dexter and the others. Then, could it be that someone under Lord Albert is a player as well? Do they want to be there to witness and earn free 10 points? "Who is coming?" I asked Natalie. "Lord Albert." Natalie replied to my shock. -------------------- Alister Bright (Alpha), was talking enthusiastically to Dan Stands who could not make it any clear to him to shut up and leave him alone. While Emma Redwood was meeting and talking with other people while being followed by another man, who like her eyes had the same kind of desire and longing as they occasionally laid there eyes upon the women standing next to Law. Time slowly passed for everyone, while it slowly started to rain outside. As soon as the time reached 17:55 all booths were closed, while all the participants were directed towards to their tables. At 18:00 Prince John had walked in through the entrance as everyone finally quieted down. Everyone stood up to show their respect before they could bow down in respect. "Please do sit everyone. Besides, we are all of similar age, so for the rest of the day treat me not as an imperial prince but as another one of you. So, therefore, no need for the flashy respect stuff." Prince John quickly addressed everyone before they could shout out to him in greeting. John slowly walked toward the front of the hall. "Well, we are all here to meet each other and enjoy ourselves before you all go in different ways of your life. You are all invited here because I wanted to meet and know the elite of this year''s magi academies. Also, there was one thing I didn''t properly mention in the invitation letter that I want to make it clear for everyone here today..." John paused while looking at everyone who was watching him. "This is an informal event not a formal event like many of you expect. So just chill and enjoy." Prince John finally kickstarted the event for the night. Slowly events started to proceed as per normal and at 18:30 the first part of the meal started coming in carried in by a trolley. While the intensity of the rain slowly increased, with blowing wind. Everyone was served their food, but everyone waited for the prince to start as a show of respect. "Seriously guys, just eat the food. I cooked everything here today. By eating you show your respect to the food and the chef that made it." Prince John urged everyone, including the people at his table, who for the fact was very surprised and beyond joyous that, the imperial prince decided to dine with them. Soon a very distinctive event took place as the murmuring of people disappeared to be replaced by the sound of cutlery clanging and people crying while eating. The trolleys with food just came in while the students just ate without stopping, fearing that if they stopped they would lose the food in front of them. However, what none of them, other than John, Ellis, Albert and the other agents(who were drooling), noticed was that they were all glowing slightly while the magi particles accumulation inside them increased. This was because the students and the people with them were more focused on eating than anything else. As the deserts were finally finished everyone started to exclaim in surprise. "I can''t eat anymore." "I want to eat some more but I can''t breathe from eating too much." As everyone was wailing at not being able to eat anymore, a single old man by Natasha''s side was just gorging on the food, while asking for the 4th serving to her embarrassment. "Natasha, dear order some more." The old man asked Natasha. "Uncle Al, please at least consider our or at least your position." Natasha pleaded while the people at her table stared at Albert in amazement. "You brats seriously have no idea how lucky your guys are. Just eat till you die, especially when he is giving all this for free." Albert grumbled with some ice cream in his mouth while ordering another serving of the full course meal. Natasha was flabbergasted at Lord Alberts reply while thinking. ''You are a bloody commandment, act like one.'' Soon people slowly started coming back to their senses and realised something was off with their selves. "My accumulation increased." "I am a rank 2 magi now." "How?" As everyone was slowly lost in their surprise of sudden findings as prince John just smiled. *Clap* John clapped loudly to get everyone''s attention. "As contradictory to the rumours spread around inside the empire, my restaurant is open to anyone. It is just that not many can afford the dishes in my store, hence the reason why most of my customers are the rich or influential people. You should all have understood the reason by now why everything in my store is expensive. You have all experienced the effect of my cooking. If you want to experience more of this then you should all know where to find me." Prince John revealed to everyone with a smile. Everyone just looked at the imperial prince in bewilderment. This was the first time that they realised eating can make them powerful. If they had realised this earlier they would have gone to his restaurant to eat and grow powerful instead of practising and training slowly. "What you have all eaten here is made of level 1 beast ingredient, so therefore what you have all just experienced is just the foot of the mountain. I am not going to explain the effects of higher-level beast ingredients as you should just experience it personally." Another wave of shock just ran through everyone inside the hall. "Since everyone is almost done, let us move onto the next main event." Prince John announced, while the waiters slowly walked in to collect the empty plates and glasses. "As you might have all noticed, there are few other people invited here that did not make it to the top 100. These are people who made it to my special ranking. Out of thousands of you, only 17 people made it to my special ranking. Those 17 people might be very confused as to what your reward is for reaching my special ranking." The 17 people who the prince just announced looked at the imperial prince in excitement. "Your reward is a pretty simple reward, to understand. Starting from tomorrow for 2 times a week, for the next 3 months, those that made it to the special ranking will be given free 3-course meal. These meals will be made out of at least level 5 beast ingredients for those in top 20. Those in the top 10 will have their meals made out of level 6 beast ingredients. The rank 2nd student will have his meal made out of level 7 while the 1st rank student will have her meal made out of rank 8 beast ingredients." The 17 students had their jaws wide open, along with the rest of the students. Many of them had only heard about level 4 beast ingredients, let alone eat a level 5 and higher beast ingredient every week, especially when the said food can increase accumulation when cooked by his highness. "Please bring your appropriate identity with you during your first visit to my restaurant and I will explain more about the details then. Now, let us move onto the final event of tonight." Saying so John looked towards the group of musicians gathered in the corner. "Let''s Enjoy!" Without for them to get over their shock, John waved, and the front of the hall slowly started dimming as the music started to play. Slowly after a while, people slowly started to join in for the dance, while some of the more reluctant once stayed behind. To their surprise, the prince occasionally joined in as well. While this was happening the little girl, who came with Rondell watched the rain pouring outside through the window. "What is a brat like you doing here?" A voice distracted the little girl. She turned around to see a red-haired old man behind her holding onto a bowl of soup. "..." The girl not knowing how to answer just stared at the old man. "Relax, I am here to watch the rain as well." Albert replied while sitting behind the girl while watching the rain. The girl nodded as she turned around to watch the rain slowly falling. "Do you like the rain so much?" The old man asked the girl. "Umm" The girl nodded without turning around. "What about the wind?" "Mhm" The girl shook her head. "Lightning?" "Umm" The girl nodded her head. "Hmm..." Albert was silent for a while. "Do you want to see lightning?" Albert asked The girl froze for a moment before turning to look at Albert expectantly. "Fine. Don''t tell anyone about this then." Albert replied while slowly lightning crackled between his fingers. The girl''s eyes widened in surprise. "Shh!" Albert put his finger up to her lips before motioning her to turn around and watch the rain. They both watched the rain in silence, while music played in the background as people danced to it. Suddenly the little girl''s jaw dropped in shock seeing the scene outside along with Albert''s widened eyes. The rain stopped as far as they could see. The rain stood still as if frozen in time. Albert who was sat down stood up with a serious face. He quickly opened the window and tried to grab a droplet of frozen rain, however despite his effort the droplet stood still in the air without moving an inch. The students who were ignorant about this danced without a care. Albert quickly sealed the window while instructing the girl "Brat stay here. Don''t move." Albert quickly ran towards Ellis who was sat away from the crowd. "Oi brat, this is an emergency." Saying so the old man caught the device that flew from Ellis'' ears while ignoring his shock. Seeing this Ellis took a combat stance "Give it back!" Ellis ordered. "Hang on brat not now! This is serious. If you don''t believe me look outside." Albert ordered as he tried to contact the mercenary stationed outside while pointing towards the window. Ellis warily looked outside, only to be shocked to see numerous droplets of water frozen in the air. "Darn! None of them is responding." Albert shouted angrily. "Brat catch!" Saying so Albert threw the earpiece towards Ellis who caught it and put it back in his ear, to try and contact the mercenaries posted outside. "Who is posted in the control room?" Albert asked. "One of our agents." Ellis replied as he suddenly had a feeling of who was behind this event. "Where is it?" Albert asked as he looked around the room to spot any irregularity. Seeing Ellis silent Albert became annoyed. "We can''t risk going outside to the unknown. You guys have monitoring device located outside. So, whatever happened to the people guarding outside we can see from the control room easily. Take me there. Now!" Albert ordered worriedly, as he knew whatever or whoever was behind this event was not someone from the empire. Ellis nodded before saying "Follow me!" while looking at the direction prince John was having fun dancing with others. Both quickly ran towards the control room only to see that the agent stationed there was missing, while the communication channel was shut down. While Albert tried to get the communication channel fixed Ellis looked through the monitor to see the situation outside, only to see something even more terrifying. It was not just the rain that was frozen in the air but rather everything and everyone. A man running through the rain was frozen in his running position, while mercenaries who were talking to each other was fixed in the same position. Suddenly the monitoring screen showing the inside of the building started having static disruption. Seeing this Ellis knew what was going to happen. As he was about to run out, he froze, along with Albert who was right beside him. Both used all their strength to move, while Albert occasionally tried some high ranking spells. However, it was all futile. The only console to the frozen and concerned Ellis was the monitor screen was working perfectly now without any static disruption. While back at the dance, Alpha who was talking with an unfortunate soul who managed to get his attention, was torturing the other person with his non-stop talking. Suddenly the communication device in Alpha''s ears activated. "Al..a g.t ..t .f th.r.!" The device in his ear started to lose connection while the instruction coming from his superior started to distort. But he understood the message. ''Alpha get out of there!'' It was a warning. But what can threaten him here? There should be nothing that can leave a scratch on him in this empire. ------------------------------------ "What the hell is going on?" The commander who was just woken up from his sleep due to the red alert walked in, only to see his subordinates frantically trying to establish contact with Alpha. "I am not sure sir, but we lost all communication with Alpha and lost all surveillance of the area he was in suddenly." The commanders assistant replied as she stood up from her seat. "Have you found the reason why we lost communication suddenly?" The commander asked his assistant as he furrowed his eyebrows. "No sir, but we got something that might point to the reason why we lost contact." She replied as she passed a small rectangle device to the commander. The device showed videos of the surrounding area just before they lost contact. "Is this real Iris?" The commander asked his assistant, seeing everything frozen in the video that was playing. "I am afraid so sir. This was the last thing we captured before we lost contact." Iris replied. "What in Almighties name is happening down there?" The commander frowned. --------------------------- John talked and occasionally danced with the students freely. Suddenly the song changed to that of romantic and everyone started to find a pair to dance with. All the girls were reluctant to approach John and ask him for dance. It would be humiliating as it was usually the boys who asked the girls. Suddenly, one gorgeous girl amongst the group slowly made her way across the group. She approached John. John whose communication line was always open spoke through it, seeing her approach him. "Unidentified target approaching." However, no response or action was made as the women got closer to John. "Your highness, shall we?" The women extended her right hand towards John. Seeing her hand John raised his eyebrows before smiling towards her calmly. "Sure." Both of them started dancing(Waltz) while John waited for some kind of reply from the communication line. He looked around the hall while moving around to dance to find that both Ellis and Albert were missing. "You seem awfully calm for a person who found that something is wrong." The women replied. "What is meant to go wrong will go wrong." John smiled while twirling the girl. "That is true. Tell me your highness did you anticipate something like this tonight?" The women asked John. "Isn''t that an obvious question? I mean it was plain obvious since no one attempted anything during the exam." John replied. "But there was one thing I got wrong though." John said, while his long silky tied up hair danced with his motion. "What was that?" The women inquired. "I expected you to be earlier in order to attempt to intrude during the registration process or when everyone was eating, not during the dance." John replied as they stared at each other''s eyes while dancing around. The girl smiled while holding her gaze towards John. "Did anyone tell you how fascinating your mind is your Highness?" "There are people who knows how dangerous my mind is but never how fascinating it is. Why do you say so?" "Simply because your mind is empty of everything other than the trap you have laid for those who are foolish or curious enough to intrude into your mind. Not that they would find anything I presume." She smiled towards John. "Ho, you are quite the cautious one aren''t you? What stopped you from examining the trap as well fair lady? You might find that everything you want, or need is behind the trap." John replied without any worry, despite the women having found out about his trap set in his mind. "For 2 reasons your highness. 1- I know what happened to Jerry the reader." The lady paused "The second reason?" John asked curiously seeing her pause. "I have no reason to know what is in that wonderful mind of yours." As they danced both their tempo was slowly rising, despite the serene romantic music. "Then why are you here?" "To give you something, your highness." The women replied as they rapidly sped up their dancing while everything in the background seemed to slow down for them. "You could have just posted it? I don''t live in the palace or places with extreme difficulty that normal people can''t reach, you know?" John pointed out. "But this is something that must be delivered to in person, that is how important it is." "Oh, now I am excited." The smile on John''s face grew. Suddenly John halted along with the women. "Your name?" John asked. "Linda." She replied with the smile still on her face. "Well Linda, looks like you are going to have to give me the thing as soon as possible because you are not going to like what is going to happen now." As soon as John finished, the agents who had already infiltrated with the dancing students quickly moved towards them, along with the other agents throughout the hall. "No need to rush your highness." Linda whispered. Suddenly the agents all stopped moving, almost as if they were frozen in motion. "Afterall the night is ours." Along with them, the students froze in their steps as well. John widened his eyes in awe. "I see that your confidence was not for nothing." John uttered. As John turned his eyes back towards Linda he felt something stabbing through his chest. Looking down he saw that it was a needle-like hairpin, slowly being bathed in his red blood, from his heart. --------------------------- Why isn''t she here yet? Something is wrong and I can sense it, but what? There is no one at or anywhere near the entrance, where the reward booths are currently open despite the heavy rain. Quickly I could feel my hair on my back rising. Something is wrong! I moved very quickly to the entrance in order to go inside the hall. She is definitely going to meet him. But as he entered the hall he felt something wrong. It was too quiet outside. Turning around he saw that everything was frozen as far as his eyes could see. Crap she is definitely coming. I quickly ran towards the area where everyone should be. But as I was about to pass through the door I felt that I could not move. My body was not responding to me despite both my legs being in the air. *Tap* *Pat**Tap* *Pat**Tap* *Pat* I could hear someone walking behind me. Within a few seconds, I saw her again after a long time. Her eyes lingered on me for a second before moving back to her target, without stopping for a second. All I could see from now was how she was dancing with the very person I had hoped she wouldn''t meet, Prince John. I could see them talking while dancing. Then strangely both of them started to increase their speed, while everyone moved out of their way. Then I saw agents slowly infiltrating amongst the students and getting close to them both. As all of them were in a position to strike Prince John stopped, while all the agents converged towards them. However, within a second all of the agents along with everyone else in the room froze to the surprise of Prince John who was looking around in shock. Then as he turned towards my sister I saw a strange long needle appear on her hand before it started to float and fly towards Prince John. I wanted to scream for her to stop but I could not move even my tongue. Then to my dread it was stabbed through his heart. -------------------------------- John held his hand over his bleeding chest. "Enjoy trying to survive your highness." Saying so the smiling apostle proceeded to turn around. She faced her back to the prince and took her first step away from him. Before she could take the second step she froze in shock. "How?!" She exclaimed while moving her hand towards her chest. "I wouldn''t do that if I were you." John warned while standing despite the amount of blood pouring out of his wound. Linda halted her hand movements before turning towards John. "How?" This time the question did not seem like a rhetorical question or an exclamation of surprise. John shrugged his shoulders while smiling and looking around at the frozen people. Understanding what he was implying Linda waved her hands. "No one should hear anything we say outside of our range." John furrowed his brows while looking around. He could see the very dust itself frozen outside 30 cm range of him. "Interesting. Where did you learn about sound and vibrations?" John asked as he finally realised Linda stopped the very vibration of particles around them to stop any sort of sound escaping from a 30 cm range outside of their area. "I will tell you if you answer my question. How are you able to control your hair like that, despite being a soulless?" Linda motioned towards the thin strands of numerous hairs invisible to the naked eyes. Each strand of hair had entered through her chest and wrapped around the artery and veins closest to the heart. Suddenly John smiled eerily at having found something. "If you move or take any sort of suspicious actions I will just cut out your artery and veins and push your heart forward. If you use your power to stop my hair from moving it will just push forward the stretched veins and arteries that I am pushing back, along with your heart which I am pushing back. That is enough pressure to rupture and break off your veins and arteries linked throughout your heart. Even the potent healing factor of award user cannot connect missing vein and arteries if they are out of reach. After all its rapid healing not rapid regeneration that award users earn with each rank up." John smirked seeing the tensed Linda. "From your surprise and sudden obedience after finding out I hold your heart, I presume you do not own a regenerative award ability as well. Even if you do, it will not matter as your brain connected to the veins, that is cut off from the isolated heart, will be ordered to just slowly create entire new heart behind the already existing heart, when they cannot reattach to your old heart. If it did somehow create a new heart, I would like to see how it is going to start beating?" John threatened while a dark shade covered Linda''s face. John carefully observed Linda, while deducting everything he could from the weakness she was displaying for the moment. "You are an award user, but strangely you have 2 awards- telekinetic and telepathic- despite logic dictating otherwise. From your application of award- freezing people in mid-air- and knowledge of sound and vibrations it also seems like that you were taught in areas of physics, biology, and chemistry in order to apply your power efficiently to the point of controlling the muscles of everyone present here, holding them up mid-air, freezing the very particles around you along with diverting any chemical reaction occurring due to localised freezing of particles in an area. That means the person behind you is extremely powerful due to raising a powerhouse like you, along with extremely knowledgeable to the point where it will put to shame every scientist in the empire. Then, there is the fact that you brought along a hairpin to stab me. Which shows the person clearly knows me or has been watching me, as I have long hair which I do not often tie up and have kept it this way for a long time. This means the person behind you should know almost everything about me. You stabbing me despite knowing the power of the healing properties contained within my food towards my soulless condition shows that you did not want to kill me rather make me go after you in return chase the person behind you. That also means you are not allowed to kill me under any circumstance. In short, he/she wants to play with me! From the constants change of micro-expression on your face along with the instinct movement of your heart which I can feel with my hair, I know what I said is right. That means I do not have to answer you anymore and you have already answered most of my questions." After finishing his analysis John took out a paper bag from his pocket, in front of the disturbed Linda. From it, he took out a burger and ate it in front of Linda, with one hand. While eating he slowly took out the hairpin stabbed through his heart and put it in one of his pockets. Linda who stood opposite him desperately tried to keep her calm but failed. The blood pouring out like a fountain never reached Linda, while Ez who stood opposite her was drenched in his own blood. She then saw as the hole created by the hairpin slowly closing up before her eyes. As Ez finished eating the burger he blew into the empty bag before smashing the bloated bag. *Boom* Despite the sudden loud noise, Linda stood there unfazed. "Well trained to control your instinct and emotions, despite the young age, shown from the quick and well control over the rapid inflation and movement of particles over a frozen area." John approximated. "However, unfortunately for I am a lazy person." John stretched himself while yawning. "I guess game over!" John shrugged. "Despite how long it lasted it was a boring game, Ms Linda. So, let us see how loyal you are to this person, shall we? " John smiled as he suddenly controlled one hair wrapped around the left pulmonary veins to a crushing motion. Seeing Linda''s unresponsiveness despite knowing what he was doing, Ez proceeded to the right pulmonary veins. "Seems like you will die for that person. Oh well, what a waste talking to you. Goodbye." Saying so Ez tore through all her veins and arteries while pushing her heart forward and isolating her heart from the rest of her inner organs. While at the same time he crushed all nerves and veins leading towards the brain, effectively stopping any sort of quick action she might take. Linda''s body fell towards the floor limply. However, Ez still held up his guard because the frozen guards were still frozen in mid-air that meant she had not died completely yet. "Oh well, just a few more seconds I guess." Ez mused quietly while waiting for the effect of her power to fade. Yet, despite even after 30 seconds the effect still held on. Ez looked around to see what was wrong. *Clap**Clap* "You are truly a genius and worthy foe for him your highness. It is a good thing I took a precaution against you." Hearing the clap and voice behind him Ez turned around to see a perfectly alive Linda standing there. Ez quickly glanced behind him to see the limp body of Linda still there, before turning back to face the alive and well Linda. "Oh her? She is dead, just like you said she will be. I mean the poor thing was all alone so I thought she might like talking to you." Linda said while pointing towards her dead body. Ez turned around to see particles of light slowly fading in order to reveal a little girl of 12 years of age. Seeing the little girl, prince Johns'' eyes widened as he quickly looked towards the frozen Rondell, whose eyes were slowly turning red, where tears streamed. Then amongst the frozen students, one of them walked out, from what Ez could remember he is the rank 79th student. Similar to the little girl particles of light started to fade from that person''s body to reveal a man wearing a pure white mask, who bowed towards him and the frozen students, as if it was the end of a performance, before silently walking off towards the exit. Without waiting for anything else Prince John quickly ran towards the little girl, who he knew was Rondell''s only alive close family. "Quite the ability right, your highness?" Linda spoke in the background. He knew what he had done, but he had to at least try and undo what he had done. Using his hair, he arranged the placing of the torn vein, nerves, and arteries and held them together. "I had him transform the little girl into me while I controlled her movement from a distance you see, including her heartbeat and expression using my powers." Then he quickly took out another paper bag from his suit''s inner pocket. Taking a bite out of the sandwich, he chewed the food as much as possible before spitting it back into the child''s mouth, followed by holding her upper body upright. "Who knew you had an unforeseen trump card with you despite being a soulless?" With the help of his thin and almost invisible hair, he pushed the food towards her stomach, where the concentration of magi particles slowly dispersed into her body, slowly mending the broken veins, nerves, and artery, including the ones in her heart. "But you were right about all your deductions though. I didn''t fake those heartbeat and facial expressions. After all, it would be a boring game if I were to crush you so quickly." Prince John tuned out Linda''s chattering and concentrated on the work in front of him However, it could not jump-start her dead heart. So Ez proceeded to pound her chest with his fist as the energy of the level 8 beast ingredients infused in her body. "Your highness, why try so hard for a commoner? In the grand scheme of things does it matter whether she dies or not to people like you and him?" Within the 4th attempt of trying to jumpstart the heart using CPR her heart finally started beating. Ez relaxed seeing that he managed to kickstart the heart but Ez had a feeling it would only last until the energy of level 8 beast ingredients stayed in the little girl''s body. He removed all of his unseen hair from the little girl''s veins, nerves and arteries after making sure they were healed. Turning towards Linda who was still blabbering nonsense Ez spoke calmly. "Good one. Looks like I am going to have to get slightly serious with you lot." "You weren''t serious the whole time? Excellent, you are proving to be more and more outstanding as I get to know you personally." Linda replied excitedly. "Can you please get lost now? I just want to go back to sleep now, because of you." Ez replied annoyed. "Only if you tell me why you saved her? He would want to know why you did it after all!" Seeing the sound barrier was still in place Ez shrugged his shoulders "Fine, just because I felt like it at that time, not cuz I felt I lost that round to you. If it was another time where I was not feeling lazy or tired, I wouldn''t have bothered to save her." Linda was silent for a while before laughing out loud "Hahaha I honestly can''t tell whether you are lying or not but knowing you that should be the truth. Truly an eccentric oddball just like how he wants it." "You know, there is no point planting seed of curiosity in me. I am not going to come after you or track your members to ask who you are working for or what your plan is." John said annoyingly seeing that Linda was trying to make him ask who they were working for. "Huh? Then what are you going to do now?" Linda asked with clear surprise drawn in her face. "I don''t know. Maybe just ignore you, attention seekers..." Ez paused to see if there was any reaction, seeing that there was none Ez carried on. "...Or get your brother to tell me everything." Now there was a reaction of shock, on the poker-faced Linda. "How? Please, that is one of the first things I noticed when you told me your name after seeing him frozen while trying to run through the door." Ez pointed to the frozen Luke. "Parents in the empire often had a bad/ lazy habit, naming their children with the same initial letter. Luke and Linda. This extends to even my father the emperor who named all his sons with ''J'': Jack, James and then me, John while all his daughters'' names with ''N'': Natasha, Natalie etc. After all, as an emperor, he wanted to seem different from you commoners, so it is worthy that he named his daughters and sons with differently right?" Ez smiled towards Linda, whose face was going through different shades of worry. "Looks like I am right again. You and him are citizens of the empire and that to commoners. For an extremely prepared person, you are giving off more than you have planned it seems." John mocked Linda, with a smile. "Now for the confusing part. Why would a powerful and extremely knowledgable guy like your leader pick a commoner like you and ..." Suddenly Ez felt a force pushing him back and before he knew it Ez was slammed against the wall. "Man, that''s twice this week I am getting my ribs broken." Ez grumbled annoyingly as he saw Linda disappearing off while carrying her frozen brother behind her, while he slid off the wall. *Pat**Pat**Pat**Pat**Pat* After a few seconds everyone regained motion while the familiar sound of rain hitting the windows resumed. Suddenly the frozen agents surrounded Ez, while a screaming Rondell ran toward his sister. "RACHEL!!!" The door towards leading towards the control room busted open as Albert and Ellis rushed in, who for the matter of fact was frozen as well after coming out of the control room. Ellis quickly ran towards the guards making a circle around someone. The agents seeing Ellis let him through while stopping Albert. "Oi, old man go and check on the kid. Her heart is going to stop soon." Ez shouted out towards Albert standing frustratingly outside the encirclement of agents. Grumbling something about overworking Albert walked toward Rondell and his sister. While beside Ez, Ellis knelt. "Your highness..." Before he could carry on he was interrupted. "Listen to me Ellis I am going to be fine. I don''t know if you saw anything through the screens, but I want you to follow Luke, who was just carried out of here by a woman." Saying so Ez passed a device he took from his pocket to Ellis. "Maintain a safe distance and observe where Luke is being taken to. This device will show you the general direction they are moving in, but not for long because Luke is soon going to notice the tracker I placed on him. I will get someone to follow the tracker I have on you. Now go!" Saying some instruction Ez ordered Ellis to move, while slipping something in Ellis'' pocket, to which Ellis reluctantly agreed. Coming out of the encirclement, Ellis did not stop to see how the old man was dealing with healing situation as he just ran out. As Albert reached the crowded area he pushed past the annoyingly tight group of students watching over the crying Rondell holding his sister''s body, while his friends held onto him. Seeing that the injured person was the little girl kind of ticked Albert off, as he just blasted everyone surrounding Rondell and his sister backwards, including the disguised Sophia standing next to Law, with a wind spell, before kicking Rondell away from his sister with a flying kick to his chest. "Darn annoying brats. Who the hell brings kids to eat unhealthy foods these days? I knew coming here wasn''t worth the food I was gonna get." Grumbling Albert proceeded to heal the little girl with his magi while raising a barrier around a certain area around him so the kids he thew off earlier would not disrupt him. 129 Episode 128- Why doesnt anyone talk anymore? I did not bother to raise my head to see who had slammed the door shut. "Your highness." I moved my left arm away from my face as I looked upon the face of an angry Archer. "They did not approve?" I asked. "What about Steven? What did he say?" I inquired knowing full well the reply. "Roughly the same as well, except he just wants full custody and transference of Miss Sophia. Which practically means her execution." Archer replied with much less anger. Procrastination is heavenly! "Usually threats outside of the empire means unification of the whole faction against the common threat. This meant everyone pools all their resource to uncover the truth against a spy from outside the empire without any prejudice. But now, all the forces outside of the empire is so focused on you, and only you and nothing else. So this is not a threat against the empire but rather against you. "*Ahem*Your highness?" Archer tried to wake me as politely as possible with an annoyed face. I could easily read what he was thinking ''You are the bloody person in danger. Stop, slacking and get to work before you die!'' "Fine. You guys are so annoying. Proceed to feed them all with truth pills." I ordered as I stood up lazily. "Your highness..." Archer started "Yeah, yeah I know, they don''t speak our language." I said as I looked at several of the people sitting inside the separated interrogation room. I could see them, but they could not see me, through the one-way glass. Alister Bright, Dan Stands, Lawson Fowler, Sophia and her puppets were all captured and stopped from leaving the building as soon as the agents had rounded up the building after my ''attempted assassination''. After capturing and leading them to the interrogation room, each of them was questioned separately by an agent with me monitoring each interrogation. Lawson easily confessed that Sophia had forced him to take her along after she had threatened his friends and family. Sophia seeing, she had no escape easily agreed to force Lawson and wanting to manipulate me using her award. Seeing her arrogance, I was pretty sure Albert and the emperor will soon use a variety of way to free her. The problem was Alister Bright and Dan Stand. They refused to tell the truth as they did not expect to be recognised and captured so quickly. Both were soon fed truth pills. However, soon an even bigger problem cropped up as they both started talking nonsense. I kind of figured out that whoever sent both of them there must have been behind this countermeasure. Their respective backer must have been prepared for this kind of situation. What was the best way to evade saying the truth? It was to either make sure not be capable of speaking the truth or to say the truth without anyone recognising. That is exactly what was happening to these two. I had figured these two were speaking an unrecognisable language after noticing certain words in their babble crop up more than twice. Along with that when they were asked the same question twice the way they answered with the weird sounds was extremely similar when asked the first time. This was not an easy feat to notice without an extremely fabulous memory and recall ability. Both of these two must have some kind of trigger spell mechanism in them so that when forced to say the truth they would forget the common language of the empire and revert to their first language. This is going to be very annoying. Motioning to Archer I walked to the first person on my list Dan Stands. ------------------------ Ez walked into the room of Dan Stands with Archer next to him. As soon as both sat down Archer placed a pill in front of the smirking Dan. Dan without a hint of worry took the truth pill and swallowed it. "Start asking him the usual." Ez told him while leaning back in the chair while closing his eyes. Seeing Ez, Archer furrowed his brows, before he shrugged his shoulders. "Name?" Archer asked. "Ve niop ypi kva jera; bre pu mu fritnam?" Dan smirked while answering. "Where are you from?" Archer used to hearing the same nonsense just carried on asking. "Ve niop ypi kva jera; bre pu mu fritnam?" Dan answered with a glow of reverence in his eyes. "Why were you sent here?" The strange language was slowly getting on the nerves of Archer. "Ve niop ypi kva jera; bre pu mu fritnam?" Dan said while shifting his glance toward Ez who was still in his sleeping motion. For the next 10 minutes questions of such were asked by Archer and in return was answered by a sneering Dan, who was confident in his ability to cover the truth. As soon as the last question was answered Ez opened his eyes and looked at confident Dan. "Took me a while but I am ready." Ez said while grinning towards Dan. "I am sorry if I took so long, but shall we go again?" Ez spoke to the confused Dan. "First question- what is your name?" Hearing the words coming out of Ez mouth confused Archer. "I can''t understand you; can you speak in my language please?" Dan answered while still smiling, but this time Ez understood what he was saying. "Lop di urmak?" Suddenly Ez started speaking in an unknown language to Archer. "Urmak frit ul ni Dan Stands." As if an automatic response Dan started answering to Ez. "Looks like I was right." Ez smiled towards Dan while speaking in the common language of the empire. "How?! You didn''t know the language just a moment ago!" Dan cried in his language. "There are still books on the topic of Almighty one and his church inside the imperial library. Along with that, is your country''s language as well. Took me a while to recognise the language and learn it from the memory of reading the book." Ez answered back in his language to the astonishment of Dan. After a while, Dan sagged his shoulders in defeat. "Our holy land is not a country, so please don''t mention the sacred land as a country." "Very well, now let us get this over with so that I can go back to sleep. Who sent you here?" Ez asked while shrugging his shoulder and talked in the unfamiliar language to Dan, while Archer looked between the two. "The most Holy One of the Almighty send me here." Dan replied. "Why did the holy one of the Almighty send you here?" Ez asked. Ez could see Dan trying to struggle against the truth pill, but his overconfidence in no one recognising the language was his downfall. "Father hear me and grant me salvation." Dan started to pray but that could not stop the answer spewing from his mouth. "To look for the chosen one." Dan answered without any control after a while. "Hmm." Ez became silent for a few seconds hearing his answer, while Dan kept on murmuring his prayers. "Why did your teammates separate with you, while you stayed back for the exam?" Ez spoke after his silence. "Father hear me and grant me salvation." Dan kept murmuring, but after a while, he was forced to answer. "To look for any other clues pointing towards the chosen one." "That means there is already a candidate for you in the exam. Who is it?" "Father hear me and grant me salvation." Dan desperately tried to stop talking. "You, your highness." Dan replied. Suddenly Dan started to glow faintly in white light. Guessing what was about to happen Ez quickly asked, while moving back with Archer. "What is the role of the chosen one?" "Father you have heard my prayer... and have granted me salvation ...for this ..." Both Ez and Archer could see Dan was struggling to not answer. "To save and ..." Dan quickly lost control of his tongue. "...for this I thank you." The glow expanding from his body which intensified very quickly, while he took control of his tongue. Ez quickly dived to the floor while Archer laid on top of Ez covering him from any possible harm. After a few seconds, the light died down, Archer stood up followed by Ez. The first thing Ez looked was at the back of Archer, whose skin looked as if it was melted and was very quickly healing and replacing the lost/molten skin. Ez looked back at where Dan sat only to see some ashes. "Looks like I don''t have to give him the full set of rewards for the 2nd rank." Ez started speaking in the language understood by Archer, whose eyebrows were slowly twitching, while thinking ''That is what you are concerned about?''. "Let us move to the next one Archer?" Ez walked towards the door, while Archer was looking at him strangely. "Not now man, I will explain it with everyone together, I don''t want to repeat what I am going to say." Ez said as he walked out of the door followed by Archer. They both walked to the next room and sat down in front of Alister Bright who was smiling towards both of them. "Zih stu crant kil om ti." Alister spoke before we even sat down. Archer sighed as he passed the truth pill forward. Seeing this Alister smiled while shrugging his shoulders before swallowing the pill, just like the overconfident Dan. And just like before Archer started asking questions, while Ez was sat back relaxed with his eyes closed. After the 10 questions, Ez opened his eyes in confusion. "His language isn''t a recorded one, found in the books or notes of the imperial library. That means he is from a place, that the empire hasn''t been or seen before." Ez explained to Archer. "That is impossible. We have records and annals of every kingdom and countries that have risen and fallen since the beginning of the empire, even the ''holy land'' of the deities. Maybe you missed a book or forgot about it, your highness." Archer tried to convince him. "This thing of mine won''t forget Archer. Something is wrong here." Ez pointed to his temple. ------------------- Either this guy is from a secret and long lineage of organisation/family, or he is from a well-hidden/ inaccessible site if the empire cannot acquire any language book retaining to his language. *Bzzz* Suddenly I could hear something change in the frequency of air around the boy in front of me. Tuning in to that particular frequency, with my ability to control and adjust hearing different frequencies, I started listening. "...hwat stoz rawe lir pi! Sti! Fri! Tish!" There is some kind of communication device in his ears. "Archer, did you guys or gals check for any communication device on him when we took him in?" I quickly asked while the smile on the Alister grew as he rested his face on his right palm was supporting on the table. It seems what I heard was some kind of countdown. "We did. There was nothing on him. Why?" Archer replied. Quickly I stood up and ran towards the right side of the boy from where I heard the particular change in frequency. Alister turned his head to me wondering what I was up to, before being forced by my hand to turn to the side. Coming closer to his ear I noticed there was nothing there. "Krif! Qen! Tup!" The voice was much clearer this time also what seemed to be the countdown seemed to be getting closer to its end. Very quickly I ran out while motioning for the same to Archer. Slamming the door shit after we both came out, I looked through the one-way window- I could see some kind of surprise and shock registering on Alister''s face. Suddenly a blue beam of light shrouded Alister for a second before he to disappeared. However, unlike Dan Stands, there were no ashes. There was nothing left behind, not even the fabric of his clothes. "What the hell is up with all the spies starting to prefer disintegration!?" Archer howled in annoyance while looking at the spot where Alister last was. I slowly opened the door and walked in. Very quickly I could feel something in the air was different. I could feel something inside the air going through me. I could feel some of it occasionally meeting some cells in me and rapidly altering it. It was almost like I was developing cancer... Shit radiation! And that too extremely active radiation. So, what just happened before was no magi or award ability, but rather the wonder of technology. That beam just then must have been some kind of disintegration beam then. Thinking so I looked up to the ceiling expecting to see the sky only to be met with the intact ceiling. "You have got to be kidding me!" I spoke out loud. Fucking teleportation! Are you kidding me, God!? What kind of world did you send me to? Archer said they checked for any sort of communication device on him and did not see anything, that means the communication device inside his ears was extremely tiny to the point of being invisible to the naked eye. Along with that the teleportation as well. This all leads to one conclusion, not only is this world reliant on magi and award but there is a group out there that are advanced enough with technology to fu*king teleport people around while producing communication device smaller than the size of nanometres. This all meant one thing for me. I am going to go all out from now on! No more relaxing and taking everything easy. At least not until I am on equal standing with all these big and hidden jacka*ses! 130 Episode 129- Fragrance Confirming that Alister was really not there he grunted before smacking his hand onto the table in fury. "Archer lets go and see Ms Sophia for the last time." I kept up my stoic face and walked out. I felt Archers gaze lingering on me before he sighed and followed me. Opening the door I walked in followed by Archer who soon overtook me and stood between me and Sophia. "Well hello there, sexy!" Sophia winked towards me. "Wassup bitch!" I greeted back while pulling the empty chair next to the table back and sat down. "Feisty... Feisty ones taste hot, smoking hot. I like you." She licked her lips. "So how long are you going to hold me in here for my babe." Sophia asked as she leaned forward slightly exposing her cleavage. "You do realise it won''t be long before I get out, right?" She smirked towards me. I knew that; on one side was Steven trying to get to her and the other side was Albert. With both teams aiming for her it won''t be long before one team succeeds in breaking in to capture her or let her escape. I bet within the next 24 hours one of them is going to take the initiative. *Yawn* "Archer what is the time?" Turning towards the worried tall man I asked. He looked at me puzzledly before announcing the time "4 am, your highness." Looking back to Sophia I asked "So do you know what time it is? Both Archer and Sophia were confused at what I was playing at. Smirking, I stood up pushing the chair behind me. "It is time for me to sleep." Walking toward the exit I ordered. "Archer release her and escort her out through the main entrance." Archer was confused. "Your highness, she is a danger to ..." I interrupted him. "She won''t be a danger for a while. Not with what is about to happen." I turned around, facing them with my usual smiling face. Both were confused, but Archer trusting me nodded his head. I walked out and chose an empty room to crash in. Archer soon walked in with a communication crystal; towards the sofa, I was lying on. "Why did you release her?" Dexter asked me as soon as I took hold of the crystal. "Did Archer inform you of the other two?" Instead of answering Dexters'' question I asked another. "He did." Dexter looked at me in visible discomfort. "Soon, both Albert and Steven will learn about it as well. Then it won''t be long before both of them walks out of the diplomatic path and goes for the fun path. Now, what do you think will happen when I place her in the direct sight of both the agents of Albert and Steven- who for the matter is probably looking into new ways torture and kill a certain someone called Sophia?" "And while this happens, those idiots will completely deviate their resources and agents from interfering with me, when I am focusing on my other plans. Along with that, this should mean Sophia should be a barely any threat to me starting from now for roughly about 2 weeks." Archer who stood next to me, finally understood why I had released Sophia right in front of everyone after hearing my reply. "Now onto the second important thing on my list of priorities: How is tracking Ellis going?" I asked. "So far terrible, with the obstruction of several agents from Steven and Albert''s side. We are trying to maintain a distance, while trying to evade them, before establishing contact with Ellis. But I guess this should be much easier with what you have done just now." Hearing Dexters answer I nodded. "So, what is the first priority in your ''list''?" Dexter asked, seemingly relaxed a lot after having a huge burden taken off him. "My beauty sleep." I responded before throwing the crystal towards the dumbfounded Archer. Closing my eyes and ignoring Archer and Dexter, who seemed to not even have started his barrage of questions, as I entered my sleep. ------------------------- I could feel someone calling Johns'' name out trying to wake me up; just when I was about to take the first bite of the juicy and sizzling piece of meat from the ouroboros dragon. Opening my eyes in annoyance, I saw Ellis standing right behind Archer. Seeing the excitement in both their eyes I stood up. "One of you lead." I declared, before following Ellis who led the way. Opening the door to one of the interrogation room I saw a tired and worn out Luke sat in front of 2 empty chairs. I sat in front of Luke, whose eyes showed a tiny hint of confidence to survive whatever methods Archer and co, usually did to extract information. "I won''t say anything about her, your highness!" He declared before I even spoke, while Archer sat next to me with Ellis standing behind me. "You are mistaken, Luke. I don''t need to know anything about her from you, Luke, because I already have in my grasp almost everything about her and you. It will take roughly 3 days before they bring to me the list of all recently destroyed villages in the empire; and when it arrives, I will soon know about both of you siblings'' background." Hearing my reply confused Luke a bit. "Why do you think we come from a village, your highness?" Luke tried to manipulate me into thinking he wasn''t from a village. "Ellis, have you ever heard of the famous song called the ''The rotten Tanner''?" I asked, looking towards a confused Ellis. "If I am right it a song about how a tanner refused to use the ''Rose Milk'' to get rid of the rotten smell surrounding his workplace." Ellis replied. I nodded as I looked back towards Luke while talking to Ellis. "You see Ellis, rose milk is not only famous for its ability to cover up the decaying smell of several hides in a tannery, with one tank lasting 2 weeks, but also for their extreme flammability. This is one of the reasons why other than an official tanner no one else from a village is allowed to stock up on ''Rose Milk'' when buying it from merchants. This has caused most tannery to often be not located right next to a blacksmith or any place that has risk of fire." "So? What has this got to do with me from a village?" Luke asked back. "You see Luke, there is a fact about rose milk that most people aren''t aware of, or won''t usually notice. Once they catch fire they release a special type of rotten fume that sticks to the skin of anyone nearby. However, the good thing is that the smell is hardly discernible for any ordinary person, as it gets covered up by the smell of your body odour, and it only lasts on your skin for only about a month. But the problem is I am not an ordinary person." Suddenly Luke''s eyes changed to that of concern. "You see the very first day that you met me I could distinguish that rotten smell on you." I could feel both the minds of Ellis and Archer racing to catch up with what I was saying "Of course, this would mean nothing, as you can easily claim you were next to a burning rose milk. However, when you connect the fact that you aren''t from Green Field Village- which we checked- and there is no existing record of you in any of the surrounding villages it only proves you are from a village that was recently destroyed in the last 1 month- due to the smell of fumes from rose milk lasting for 1 month. Given the sheer scale of the empire, and the number of bandits usually lurking around villages, that we aren''t able to protect, and the bandits occasionally loving razing some of them to the ground, I would say roughly 80 villages should come up on my list. Further narrowing the villages down that were burned using ''Rose milk'' that should shorten the numbers in the single digits." I smiled towards the visibly sweating Luke. "Then all I need to look to pinpoint your village is see out of those villages, which of those don''t have a recording crystal updating it about the attack on the village." At the mention of recording crystal, Luke froze up, along with Archer who was visibly shaken now. "The moment you recognised our communication device, during your initial meeting with Archer, I had a suspicion you somehow knew most of the empires communication strategies including about the recording device placed in each village secretly. Then when your sister arrived last night for whatever shenanigans she was there for I confirmed it. If she has access to network and contact regarding my meeting places and so on, then getting this information for her isn''t so hard as well. So, Luke, like I said I don''t need to know anything about you or her, as I will soon know everything I need to in my own ways." Luke looking defeated leaned back and was silent for a while. "What do you want?" Luke spoke up after a while. Hearing the right question, I smiled. "You, Luke." Luke frowned hearing my answer. "Your highness, I wouldn''t advice going after her, using me. As limited I am in my knowledge about her dealings and works, I know one thing for sure." We all remained silent, waiting for him to finish. "You will die if you go after her!" Luke stated as a matter of fact. "Hahaha!" Ellis who was riled up hearing that was about to act in anger, before being stopped by my boisterous laughter. Calming down I explained. "You are clearly mistaken, Luke. I have no intention of using you to get to your sister." "Then?" Luke asked in confusion along with the other two people. "Like I said I want you. Maybe I should make this clear before some romantic misunderstanding occurs. I want your service as my personal agent for the next 5 years, working alongside Ellis." I said with my usual smile. "What!?!" All 3 people in the room looked at me in shock. "Stop screaming into my ear." I poked my right pinkie into my right ear. 131 Episode 130- Potatoes are... Seeing the glare from all 3 I relented to answer them despite my laziness. "Ok let me explain. You see your sister and her group of friends have only one goal so far, I think; that is me. Whoever your sister is working for, wants my complete and undivided attention. They want to see my struggle, and my planning to capture your sister and her group of friends. In short whoever is the mastermind wants me to go on a wild goose chase. Can both of you guess why?" I turned towards Ellis and Archer as I asked them Both of them thought for a while before Archer went first. "Trying to distract you, while they do something behind your eyes, that you would easily notice if you weren''t occupied, your highness." "Nope!" I crossed my hands to form an ''X'' before turning towards Ellis. "I was going to say the same thing but in different words your highness." Ellis replied in confusion. "Still guess something else, Ellis." I motioned for him. Ellis though for a few seconds before he opened his mouth. "Could it be they are planning to use you for something, while you go after them?" "Wrong! But close. Do you want another turn, Archer, seeing that I gave Ellis another turn?" I asked. "Could it be they are after your body due to that?" Archer implied not wanting to reveal much information about soulless condition and award to Luke "Again, close like Ellis, but not right. Also, he already knows about my condition, probably from his sister''s mouth." I pointed towards the stoic Luke, while Archer raised his eyebrows in question. "So, what do they want your highness?" Ellis asked me as worry slowly crept onto his face. "It is a really simple answer, once you put everything together really. The person behind Linda simply wants entertainment, right Luke?" To my question, Luke finally lost his calm, as an unbelievable expression came upon his face. Tuning out the exclamations from both Archer and Ellis I kept my focus on Luke, who desperately wanted to ask how I knew that. "From the report, we received last night, we know that Linda is high ranking award user; so powerful to the point that everything and everyone, around 2 km radius around the banquet hall, last night was frozen still, including the rain itself in mid-air. Now an award user like her could easily kill me from outside the capital, and escape before any sort of attention falls on her. Instead what does she do? She barges into a high-security event, as if wanting everyone to see her, and stabs me through my heart like she could not just twist my head off and be done with me; followed by watching me heal right in front of her without stopping me. What does all this point towards? Now, why would an extremely powerful award user- who has been hiding for so long without gaining any attention-, who also has a backer quite powerful as well wants to do something stupid like that?" All 3 of them were silent. "Simply because they are crazy!" Archer seemed unable to believe my answer, while the defeated expression of Luke proved me right. "Now, what do crazy people want from a useless and worthless person like me? They want my attention. Why do they want my attention? Because like them I am crazy too, but unlike them, I am a unique crazy person. What do crazy people do when they are bored? They annoy other people in order to invoke some kind of reaction from them to simply get rid of their boredom. And what better candidate to provoke that a rotten, powerful crazy genius prince who is waiting to die in 5 years!" I smirked while Ellis and Luke stiffened at my exclamation, especially Ellis with concern. "I may be crazy and bored, but as I said I am a unique kind of crazy person. I am too darn lazy to do anything crazy unless I am annoyed. Now your sister did something annoying, this should naturally provoke me to get to work. However, unfortunately for her, I am an extremely busy slothful person with a limited lifespan and the brain to see through their plans. I know if I go after them then I will spend the rest of my life chasing them, and the last thing I want to do is putting in any extra work when I am trying to free my hands of any schedules that are slowly filling up due to dealing with the throne succession game. For all I care, they can try to get my attention any way possible, like last night and I will not bother to bat an eye towards them until I get enough rest." Archer sighed in distress while massaging his forehead. "Your highness, we know that you like your resting time. But these people are very dangerous to the empire and we need to stop them before they proceed to do any more dangerous things to the empire to get your attention and for that we need him." Archer pointed towards Luke. "He is precisely the reason I am going to laze around." I grinned at Archer''s response. "Why do you think his sister didn''t take him with her?" At my question, both Archer''s and Luke''s eyes widened. "Yeah, she could have easily taken him with her, but she purposely left him behind. She wanted me to use him to find her. They probably have fed him enough information and clues about their group for me to pursue them." ---------------------------------- "...They probably have fed him enough information and clues about their group for me to pursue them." Hearing these words from Prince John provoked a memory in me. A certain memory that he had in a rooftop of a building roughly about a week ago with a bartender and a mercenary. For all his experience, he had forgotten to ask an important question on that day. ''Why were they telling him all those information?'' He had naturally assumed they divulged those pieces of information due to his sister being their holy one, a case of nepotism. But now he realised that simply was not the case. They wanted him to know that information because they had planned this exact situation. They knew Prince John will notice his relationship with Linda and will capture him, and they wanted to use that situation to their goal. He did not know what to feel at this moment in time. On one side he had gotten close to Prince John''s side to stop her getting his attention. However, she knew he was going to do that had used him for her needs. In all honesty, he should feel betrayed, but he had realised something before he was drowned in the feeling of betrayal. This was a sort of warning from Linda. She made it clear to him to not interfere with her, and if I do, she will not hesitate to do worse than using me like now. ---------------------------------- "See our every step will be guided by them if we use him. Besides who knows the information he was told was true or not?" I asked them seeing the look of betrayal and understanding passing through Luke''s eyes. "Not to mention by hiring him, his sister and group of friends are going to think that we are indeed using the bait that they laid for us and wait for us patiently for a while before they realise I am not making any progress. Which will frustrate them and want to make them hurry me up. To do this they will strike again, and this time they will lay out more clues for me. After all, why go after them, when you can make them come to you? Why waste energy and resource chasing after an impossible and invisible enemy when they will spend the energy and resource to come to you?" I asked. The room was silent before it was broken by the voice of Archer. "So, by being passive, we get more time to before they make their move along with that the next time they strike we will be more prepared. Right?" I nodded at his question. "So, boy what''s your decision?" Suddenly a grin was plastered on the ever-serious Archers face as he asked Luke the question. "Would you like to serve him or not?" --------------------------- I tried not to show anything on my face throughout the interrogation/recruitment process of Luke. This was dangerous. Very dangerous. Not only was his highness so close to figuring out the identity and capability of the Fake one and his entourage with just one visit from them, but he had accurately identified their goals and plans along with the perfect way to go after them. But what his highness did not know was the backer of Ms Linda was not just a mortal that is extremely powerful, but a deity. No, he was not just a common deity but someone above the deities themselves, who plays with the deities when he is bored. And for why a deity wanted to go after someone was still incomprehensible for me. The only relief for me was that his highness had no intentions to go after them. But if what his highness said was the truth then they will come after him, when they realise he isn''t making any progress. By then I have to be strong enough to stop them. And to be strong I have to use every opportunity in the game realm to the fullest. ------------------------------------ ''Darn that bastard. He purposely let go of me, in order to let others, do the dirty work for him.'' Sophia thought as she dodged another extremely sharp blade thrown towards her. ''They know they can''t risk coming close to me, so they are using their strength of an award user to throw extremely dangerous projectiles to incapacitate me.'' Sophia mused as she saw another projectile missing her and without any resistance piercing through the ground and disappearing as it made its way to the ground. If any of those projectiles even as much as hit her, then she will be down for few seconds even with her physical strength and defence; and all those agents needed were those few seconds. ''Damn it, Albert, where are you?'' Sophia cursed as she turned a corner where one of her puppets were hiding. The puppet jumped onto the agent following her and trying to stall him as long as possible, which she knew only amounted to was only a second. Suddenly a hand came from the shadows and grabbed her to the shadows. Before she could even react the shadows made sure she was immobile and could not even move a bit. ''This...'' Sophia''s eyes widened in the darkness as she futilely struggled against the strength of the shadows retaining her. ''When did rank 5 agents become so free?'' She cursed for the fift... actually she lost count how many times she had cursed today. After what felt like a few minutes she felt the shadows holding her releasing its grip onto her and pushing her to the light. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the sudden change in brightness and saw Albert standing in front of her, smiling. "Thank you, Tom." Albert nodded to the person behind her. Sophia turned around to see a being moulded in shadows nodding towards Albert. "Lord Albert, I prefer it if you don''t separate me from his highness for such a simple task again." Tom growled. "Hahaha, well what to say? Apparently Smith had thought you were too attached to James and needed to be out more. Go and beat him up for bringing you away from your prince." Albert replied with his usual cheeky smile. Tom grunted before disappearing as he moulded back into the shadows of the buildings. "So that''s the rumoured loyal hound raised by the empress huh. Did not know he had turned into a bodyguard for that useless playboy. But that is to be expected after all, right?" Sophia smirked. "You are a lot more problematical than I thought. That snotty brat had caused several of mine and Steven''s agents to be out of work for a few days just because of you." Albert replied in an annoyed tone. "So what? Are you going to kill me? Don''t think you can kill me that easily. After all, if Steven finds out you killed me before I woke up his bitch, he will go on a killing spree." Sophia mocked Albert. "As much as I don''t want to do that and get rid of you somehow, I have other plans for you. I want you to lay low for a while." Albert said as he took a folder out of his suit. "These scorpions had been up and running for a while now, close to 2 years. We had turned a blind eye towards them due to their targets not affecting us much. But recently they just managed to piss off a high ranking noble. The said noble wants them culled. We had initially planned to pit these assassin organisation against John. But that brat had simply seen through our plan and had not chosen this mission and chose something else which he succeeded to everyone''s annoyance. So instead you end up with these buffoons. Deal with them however you like, and I will call you back once Steven has managed to calm down here." Saying that he threw the file towards Sophia. Sophia glanced through the report before sneering. "You don''t mind if I tame a few dogs do you?" Albert shrugged his shoulders before walking out of the alleyway. 132 Episode 131- ... slow! "Also, don''t ever interfere in my works again like you did today." Before Luke could attempt to say anything Linda disappeared. As soon as she disappeared Luke regained his movement and his ability to speak. "Darn!" Gritting his teeth Luke quickly started on his movement. If anything, Luke new the efficiency and workings of tracking units inside the empire better than anyone, especially award users specialised in the field of tracking and scouting. He hadn''t even been moving for even 2 minutes before he sensed someone was following him. ''Seems like whoever is following me is waiting for back-up. That means he/she is not confident in fighting me on their own.'' Luke thought as he quickly turned around and dashed to where the stalker was. Luke was only confident for 2 main reasons in engaging his stalker; one as stated above his tracker didn''t engage with him, and 2 he had sensed them following him in 2 minutes. Every adept tracker in the empire was extremely skilled, to the point where even Luke who was living his life for the seconds time could not easily notice spot trackers this quickly. In conclusion, this meant whoever following him was a beginner at best. As he grew ever closer to his pursuer, the light of the surroundings started to reflect off the face hiding in the dark... ''The Doll killer.'' ''Why is he here?'' Luke thought in confusion, but he did not hesitate in his attack at all after quickly casting a speed boost. He quickly swung his right arm to Ellis'' face, only to his surprise he saw Ellis calmly stepping back slightly to evade his right arm, before grabbing his left arm that was using the feint of his right arm to move closer to him, sneakily. Luke was surprised Ellis even had enough combat experience to tell block his feint. Ellis quickly took a big step back this time, while still holding onto his left fist, and swung his left leg boosted by what he was assuming a strength boost spell. With no limbs left to properly guard or even capable to move out of the way, Luke casted a Rank 2 defence spell. Unfortunately, he wasn''t a low capacity user; if he was he could have a directed the whole spell to be protecting just the area where Ellis was about to strike, thus in return increasing the amount of defence provided by the spell. Ellis'' leg met his defence spell before Luke''s eyes widened in wonder not shock. ''The flip is with the strength of this maniac. Even with a rank 1 strength boost, it should not damage the rank 2 defence spell this much.'' Seeing that his attack had not done enough damage, Ellis quickly released Luke before moving back into a safe distance. ''Looks like I have to get serious!'' ''He is more dangerous than I thought!'' Both Luke and Ellis thought as they calculated. Luke suddenly drew his sword while Ellis conjured an ice spike. Without any hesitation, both swung, but unexpectedly both weapons didn''t clash. Instead what happened to Ellis'' surprise was the wave from both their weapons clashing before both nullified each other. "Seems like I just awakened as a sword whisperer." Law smiled in relief. He had a feeling inside him whenever he had been using his sword for the past few times, especially in his final moments at his last life. It was like the sword was telling/ guiding him on how to move it. He had been ignoring this feeling for a while now. But after seeing Ellis draw his sword, which provoked his memory of Ellis'' match and his enthronement as a sword whisperer, he had decided to take a gamble, even though he knew it was a reckless move (what to say bad habits take a long time to get rid of, especially those carried over from his past life- the ones that put his life in danger). ''It seems my past experience with swords carried over in this life as well.'' Luke thought in relief. "Indeed, you did. But I am afraid it''s not the time for congratulations." The doll killer finally spoke after their encounter. "I presume it is pointless to say, come quietly with me, right?" Ellis asked. As for his answer was another wave launched towards him by Luke. Ellis launched his own wave before moving out of the way. ''Now how did that sword lover do it? Something to do with covering the sword with your magi particles in order to increase the strength and speed of waves. The more magi particles that are shrouded in the sword the greater the increase in strength and speed of the waves.'' Luke quickly remembered what one of his colleagues who was a sword whisperer in his last life told him. Control which was gained from practice was important for this certain application, but he could currently afford to ignore that with his overwhelming large magi particles. As a high capacity user of rank 3 facing a rank 2 capacity user who Luke knew didn''t have any sort of capacity, this was all he needed. Quickly Luke covered the sword in his magi particles crudely, before sending another wave to intercept Ellis'' waves. To Ellis'' shock, his wave was destroyed and he quickly dodged the much faster and stronger wave. Now Luke who was getting high on the feeling of awakening as a sword whisperer stared to continuously throw waves at Ellis without stopping. Ellis, seeing the powerful waves launched by a rank 3 mage, quickly casted a rank 2-speed boost in annoyance before focusing on dodging the waves, instead of pointlessly countering. As time went on the surroundings were slowly getting shredded by the continuous barrage of sword waves released by Luke. After a few minutes of continuous dodging suddenly Luke stopped his assault. It wasn''t because he ran out of magi or was about to do deliver the finishing blow, but rather he was forced to stop by a hand on his sword arm. "Now that is a good boy, or was it goodbye?" Was the last thing Luke heard before Archer knocked Luke out. Archer caught the teenager as he fell back, before turning towards a panting Ellis. "Good work, we are free from eyes for quite a while, due to his highness." Archer informed to which Ellis nodded in thanks before he slumped down on the floor for a few mins to regain his lost energy. "When did awakening as sword whisperer become so easy these days?" Archer muttered in annoyance before he motioned his arms in the air. Suddenly few people in the shadows moved in as they started repairing the surrounding damage. --------------------------- "When did you learn the holy language?" Maximus asked after I finished detailing what Dan had told me and the reasoning behind hiring Luke. "Few hours ago." I replied as I got comfortable on the sofa before laying down on it. "Impossible! How can you learn a language in a few hours time?" Titus shouted. "Yeah, that is right, it''s impossible." Hearing my answer surprised Titus, who seemed as if he was ready for whatever counter I had to his question. "Impossible for me to take hours to learn a language when I only need a few minutes, especially when I was really tired." I smirked seeing Titus'' annoyed face. Before Titus could carry on arguing Maximus interrupted. "Titus calm down." Titus turned towards Maximus awaiting his explanation. "After what he did with the grey zone with his head a few weeks ago, we shouldn''t be as surprised at the fact that he learned a new language in minutes using that same head." Maximus smiled. "Looks like, I don''t need to convince you guys. That''s good." I yawned before stretching. "So, what now?" Dexter asked as he sat in a corner with his usual poker face. "Now it is time to bring forth some preparations before I start to lose my sleeping time due to senseless attacks and espionage on the empire." I answered. ''Seriously people, just leave me alone. You will find that I am harmless as a kitten when left alone.'' I thought in annoyance. "Before that, don''t you think you need to take care of the groups of people you pissed off a few days ago?" Dexter asked as he sipped whatever beverage was on that white porcelain cup. "You kidding me?" I asked clearly irritated by the question. Dexter along with the other two remained silent, as Archer poured some kind of drink to Dexter''s cup. "Aww, man... Do I have to? Can''t I just claim mental trauma/ PTSD from an assassination attempt and get an extension for the meeting by another few weeks?" I asked in annoyance remembering the promise I made to those annoying nobles/ merchants/ magis. Receiving the silent treatment from them I knew my answer. ''Man, sometimes I wonder if I should have taken the harder and pacifist path. But that meant more work which equals less sleep... probably not'' I thought as I drifted off to sleep. --------------------------- "See you tomorrow." The man left the embrace of the naked women as they both stood up and dressed properly inside the abandoned building inside the alleyway before separating off in the opposite direction. *Tick* The women knew what she was doing was wrong, cheating on her husbands and being unfair towards her kids. *Tick* But the pleasure and happiness she gained from it somehow offset the guilt she had felt at the start. *Tick* As she reached the end of the alley, she suddenly remembered that she had left her bracelet her husband had got for their wedding anniversary. *Tick" She knew her husband would nag her on the whereabouts of the bracelet until she found it. So, to avoid that she turned around and walked back inside the abandoned building. *Tick* ----------------------- Amidst the busy shuffling of feet and bodies, one particular person moved out of rhythm as he barged into the building in anger, quickly followed by a tall dark woman. Despite the aggressive way the man had entered not many of the officers inside the building minded him as they carried on with their own works in a hurried manner, unlike the other days when they would love to stare and watch the show that was about to happen. A woman tried to stop the man, but seeing his furious expression the women avoided the man before she stopped the women following the man. "Alyssa, there is som..." The woman was interrupted by Alyssa. "Not now, Mary. Later!" Alyssa replied before running off following the man, who like Alyssa still didn''t notice the unusual activities around their office. Mary sighed in defeat not knowing how she was going to inform this to her boss. She slowly turned around and quickly jogged the way to her boss. The man slammed open the door to a room- that had a label saying ''Det. Connor''- before throwing his outer suit onto the table in anger. "AGAIN! THAT FUCKING ASSHOLE DID IT AGAIN!" He screamed in rage, as he started kicking the wall in front of him, which was already partially dented. *Bang* His assistant quickly followed in trying to calm him down, after making sure to close the door with clear experience. "Connor you need to calm down. We are not even sure if it''s him. For all, we know she could have been involved in an accident or is staying with someone or simply might have run off with her secret lover. You know cases like this happen a lot." "Alyssa! It''s him! It IS him! The signs are all there." *Bang* *Bang* Connor continued to increase the frequency of his kicks. "Conn..." "Wife with kids goes out as always saying she is going to visit someone, when their husbands go out drinking and do not come back until 1 or 2 hours later, all too tired to do anything that day. Then one day the mother fails to come back and a few days later we find her tortured remains." Connor didn''t bother to listen to what Alyssa had to say. *Bang**Bang**Bang* "Connor..." Alyssa called out worriedly before she was interrupted. "I mean, how are the fucking husbands so dumb to notice their wives cheating on them!? All the clues are right in front of them. Tell me Alyssa how could he not notice it?" *Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang* "Connor, you have..." Again, Alyssa called out only to be interrupted by Detective Connors ramblings. "In fact, why in the name of all deities do these bimbos even continue going out for more fucking when we clearly revealed the M.O. of that psycho." *Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang* "Connor! Listen!" Alyssa tried to shout above the sound of kicking and ramblings of Connor to no avail. "Sometimes I can''t believe how stupid people are even when we publicly announced the M.O. of that fucking psycho." "CONNOR!" Unable to handle anymore Alyssa grabbed hold of Connor''s shoulder and pulled him back. "WHAT!?" Connor lashed back to her. Alyssa unaffected by his lashing out, just calmly pointed towards the side warily. Connor turned around to notice, 3 people in the corner by his sofa. Connor''s eye widened seeing that one of the 3 people, sat at the edge of his sofa was reading one of his case files, which was an offence in itself, not to mention the guy (sleeping?) with a case file resting on his face, while using his other case files and papers as a makeshift pillow. The last person was just standing on the other side of the sofa, calmly observing them. And the worrying thing about them was that 2 of them were armed when even the cleaners coming in here were subjected to an extreme (in Connors opinion) security checks. *Slam* Before Connor could draw his sword out of his sheath, the door to his office slammed open, revealing a short, pissed off man with messy hair. Seeing the short man''s rage-fuelled eyes, managed to send a shiver down Connor''s spine. The short man lifted his index finger to his lips followed by motioning his index finger across his neck. Connor gulped before he nodded, as he watched his boss walking out, before closing the door quietly this time. Before his boss completely closed his door, Connor managed to see his colleagues, who were usually busy loudly watching/ listening to his furious ramblings in amusement were today quietly moving about busily. Connecting everything together Connor quickly realised that the person in his office must be someone from a high position. *Yawn* Hearing the yawn, Connor was broken from his thoughts as he turned around to see the person sleeping on his sofa getting up, only for the file that was resting on his face to fall off. Before Connor even saw the face of the man, he recognised him by his famous signature, the long hair. "Shit!" "Yeah, sleeping using papers as a pillow is shit." Came the reply of the Imperial Prince. 133 Episode 132- Slice of Life of a Imperial Prince As I reached the door I picked up my new custom-made whizz board. Walking out of my store, both teenagers (one of them way older mentally) followed me, albeit both of them being on guard against each other for any unusual actions from each other. "Keep up." Saying so I kickstarted the new whizz board and flew off, closely followed by the two magis using rank 2 speed boost casted by Luke. I steered /parkoured with the board through the crowds using the board while many amongst the crowd started cheering and pointing towards me as I occasionally used the momentum to jump above stalls and small groups of people. In 5 minutes, we reached our destination, while my two guards arrived a few seconds late, most likely talking down patrol officers into arresting an unknown figure using whizz board in a crowded area. ''Imperial Policing HQ'' The board stood out from the 5-floor building. Slowing down to a halt, I got off my board before picking it up as I entered the security check. Seeing the whizz board and the two people accompanying me the security understood, I was not someone to be messed around with. Sweating nervously the security asked "I.d please sir?" Smiling under the shade of my hood I looked towards the two people behind me. "Any of you got your I.d? I am too lazy to take mine out." Hearing me, Ellis sighed before taking out his id while Luke was still too slow reacting to my strange antics. Ellis passed me his id which I passed onto the confused and worried guard. However, just as he was thinking how to politely explain to us that all of us needed an id, he saw Ellis'' id before looking at Ellis in shock- something about the id being equal to the rank of high ranking agents or something. "Can we enter?" I broke him of his moment. "..Ye...Yes Sir!" The man quickly straightened himself while saluting towards us- but I could feel it was directed mainly towards Ellis- obviously, for the guard Ellis was his bosses superior in terms of rank, while I was just a hooded person he just guarded, with Luke being an unknown factor. Walking past him I entered the police HQ of the empire for the first time. Seeing the behaviour of the guard towards us attracted few eyes, which soon garnered more eyes. Walking towards the desk which I assumed was the reception I asked: "Hi, where is the director''s office?" The receptionist who just recently got proposed by her boyfriend this week, looked past me towards the guard, who must be nodding towards her right about now. "5th floor, ask anyone there and they will guide you to his office." The girl nervously replied, while pointing me towards the stairs. Activating the whizz board, I made my way up the stairs very quickly. Reaching the 5th floor, I very quickly found the director''s office, while at the same time ignoring everyone who were talking and pointing towards me who was using a whizz board inside an enclosed space. Ignoring the two guards standing outside his door I walked in, while both Ellis and Luke held them off. *Bam* "Very good morning Director!" I loudly exclaimed. The director who was drinking his morning coffee suddenly spilt it at the sudden loud uproar. He was silent for a while before, his face boiled red in anger. "Who the hell..." He did not get to finish it before the hood covering my face was taken off. Silent for a while, he spoke up after his brain caught up to the events before his eyes "...Prince ...John?" "You are surprisingly quick for someone of your rank." I teased. "Welcome your highness!" He quickly stood up and saluted me, while shouting loudly (just enough so the guards outside his room, who were engaging Luke and Ellis could hear it). "I am joking. Sit down director, we need to talk." I could feel his well-oiled brains starting to work overtime, as I sat down in front of him. He felt a bit awkward sitting on his official chair in front of someone who was part of the family that ruled over him and everything he is working for. "Can I get you anything, your highness? Tea, coffee, snacks?" He started offering me trying to delay what he thought was a surprise inspection from high above. "Nothing for now director." I responded as Ellis and Luke walked in. "Now director Mark, I am not here for what you are thinking instead I am here with an offer." Hearing me a sudden relief descended upon him. "Offer?" Mark enquired. "Yes offer. How would you like to be treated to a level 6 breakfast for the next 1 week in return for borrowing a few of your women''s/ men''s services for a duration of time?" He was silent for a while before a small smile entered his face "Deal! As long as it''s cooked by ''Luxury Meals''." Smiling back, I answered "Awesome. Can you tell me who is in charge of homicide and missing persons?" The smile on Director Mark''s face faltered for a second before he replied. "That would be Commissioner Anthony." "And where would he be now?" I quickly fired back. Mark stood up "One moment your highness, I will fetch him right now." "It''s ok. Just lead me to him." I replied as I stood up to follow him. We both walked out of his office to notice an unusual silence and a lot of eyes on us. However as soon as they saw my face, soon an understanding passed through all their face as they all stood straight and saluted me. "Your Highness!" Smiling and nodding towards their general area I motioned Mark to lead us. Soon Mark led us towards the room of a very short man, ''Commissioner Anthony''. Unlike how I opened his door, Mark knocked on the door of Anthony before opening it. Commissioner Anthony raised his eyes from his papers to look at the person entering without his permission, only for him to stand up and salute. "Morning your highness! Morning Director!" "Morning Anthony. Your highness this is the man you asked for. Anthony anything his highness asks for please grant it." Ordered the strict director, as the short commissioner nodded while sweating. "Thank you, director." I dismissed the very busy director, as I sat in front of the worried commissioner, along with my two bodyguards. There was a moment of silence before Anthony spoke up. "What can I do for you, your highness?" "You are going to have to lend me a few of your top best detectives for a while." I replied. The commissioner not expecting such a request was quiet, before replying "I am afraid that is nearly impossible your highness." Anthony observed me, to see if I would get angry towards him for rejecting him. "Why so?" I asked in my casual voice. The commissioner, satisfied with my reaction, replied "Because of my best detectives, two of them will refuse to go along with you at the moment your highness. Other than them the rest will be willing." "Can you tell me why?" I probed. "Sure. You see your highness, two of my best detectives come as sort of a package deal. One of them is a maniac set on catching and putting every criminal behind the bar, while the other is a very competitive person, who wants to prove she is better than the other male detectives, especially her rival, the maniac, who she aims to defeat wherever he goes." "So, as long as I get your maniac detective then your competitive detective will naturally follow, if not she will not come, thinking she has to defeat him wherever he goes?" "Correct. However, it is not simple getting detective Connor to follow you, your highness. Once he has taken up a case, he will not give up until that case is closed no matter the orders, even if he is suspended." Anthony replied with a tone of defeat. "So, I just have to make sure he has no cases right?" I smiled towards Anthony. Anthony shook his head. "I am afraid what you are thinking won''t work your highness. Even if you rip the case from his hands, he will still work on it. That is the kind of person he is." "Who said anything about taking away any case?" I asked Anthony. "You mean...?" Anthony asked in surprise. "Obviously solve all the case in his hands and leave him with no case." I replied as a matter of fact. Anthony sighed in defeat. " Your highness, although that is a plausible idea the only problem is the number of cases piled up on his desk. Not to mention even if you manage to solve them Detective Amelia will still refuse as she too has a similar amount of cases and won''t leave until she solves them as well." "How many cases does he have pending on his hands?" I asked in intrigue. "He is currently working on 7 different cases at the same time, while Amelia has 8 cases with her." Anthony replied. I sighed while rubbing my head thinking about the stupid decision I was about to do. "Give me a copy of all the cases they are working on, as well as bring them to me." I requested of Anthony. I really hate putting in an effort. Anthony pulled up an awkward face as he responded "I am sorry your highness, Connor won''t be coming in until a few hours later. He has a meeting with a few family members of a victim. But I can bring Amelia up along with their case files." "No, it''s ok. I will meet Amelia after meeting Connor. Just bring the case files they are working on for now." Anthony nodded as he quickly got up and went out shouting ''Mary''. 20 minutes later he came in with 15 large folders with who I assumed was his assistant. Without speaking I grabbed a folder and quickly started flipping through it, taking only a quick glance at each page. Within an hour I had finished all the folder and took only 15 files with the updated briefs about each case for both, Ellis, and Luke to read. Walking towards Connors office I ordered the 2 of them to start reading the case files, while I laid back on the sofa, only for the darn light on the ceiling to hit my eyes. Taking one of the case files out of the heap I used it as a sleep mask, blocking the lights. Soon another problem crept up, one of the springs on the place I rested my head on was out poking me. Annoyed I took another stack of papers and used them as a makeshift pillow. Quickly I started reviewing all the case files properly as I had only taken a glance at them earlier, using my soul as my body slept. As I finished reading through all the files I slowly entered my dream and dreamt of the day I would beat the crap out of a certain pigeon winged angel. Soon I was awoken by shouting and slamming of things. Opening my eyes, I saw who most likely was my target for today, Connor. "Shit!" He blurted out. "Yeah, sleeping using papers as a pillow is shit." I replied in amusement. 134 Episode 133- Face Moles "Even if I were to tell you who the murderer is in all your case files?" Hearing the question both Connor and Alyssa who was standing up, froze for a moment. "Your highness, I am aware of the fact that there are agents under you who can dig up all the necessary details they want about those case files and catch those criminals within hours with their skills. However, isn''t it considered a waste of resource and abuse of authority if you are to use them to solve cases just so you can get me on your team? Besides don''t you already have the perfect agents under you who can do a much better job than any detective in this office?" Connor asked sincerely. "Tell me Connor do you know the difference between an agent and a detective such as yourself?" I asked back. Connor raised his eyebrows at my question "I believe it is that agents are much more skilled/ talented officers than us, who works directly for the high nobles, commandments and the imperial family." Smiling while crossing both my arms to form an ''X'' I shouted, "Wrong answer!" Furrowing his brows, he waited for me to correct him. "They are not officers who are more skilled or talented than you, but rather people who are either talented, skilled that are trained to be better and efficient than any officer could ever be." "What is the difference?" Alyssa asked in confusion. "Agents are people who are trained for combat, information gathering and scouting. They are trained to the point that they are required to gather all key details inside a scene within seconds of being there, prioritising efficiency, before anything is altered inside the scene. While detectives such as yourself are trained to just walk into a crime scene and put the missing pieces together. What detectives such as yourself have over the agents is time. You take time analysing every cm of a crime scene and making sense of a crime scene, while agents simply use the visible clues and their vast network of information to quickly make sense of a crime scene." Having been told the difference both nodded. "Now, for the task, I have in mind I need detectives who take their time and examine even a speck of dust, unlike the agents who only look for the visible clues." Along with that is the fact that I want to bore any agents who will be observing them to death. Agents are known for the quickness. Seeing people like detectives who work so slow through a crime scene will be akin to mental torture for them. That will be enough to put off those agents from calculating their true motive. Ellis, Luke and I stared at Connor in silence for a while before we started chuckling. "Who said anything about using agents to solve cases?" I asked. "Then..." Connor started off. "I will." I stated. "..." Connor and Alyssa stared at me. "Your highness, forgive my insolence and I am not doubting your intelligence, but have you had any previous experience in homicide?" Alyssa asked "You could say so." Hearing my answer, I could see both had some confusions. Picking up a case file that was on the floor. "For example, this case of the local clothes store owner found strangled by his own inner wears..." I started off while walking off towards the crime scene, while Ellis and Luke motioned them to follow me. ---------------------------- "Now for the last one." I took the last case, that of an annoying serial killer in my hands. At the same time, both Connor and Alyssa now had expecting look on their face seeing as how I had solved 6 cases of his, that had given him a headache, in the past few hours. "This person here is a slippery one. Even if we found who the killer really was, they are bound to go under our radars as soon as they realise we are onto them and commit few more killings before being captured or simply stay low for a while." "Why? Can''t we just sent a tracking team after the killer before he does any of that?" Connor asked in confusion. Shaking my head while smiling, as I walked towards a certain alleyway "I am afraid not. Why do you think you have received fewer clues as the ''Embracer'' claimed more trophies?" "Isn''t it simply the embracer''s way of taunting me?" Connor asked. "No. The killer embracer is a complete beginner at the serial killing business when he started a few months ago." Before Connor could refute it I pointed out a fact. "In his first 2 killings, you have failed to mention in your report anything about the weapon in detail he used to gouge out the victim''s womb, why is that?" "I didn''t pay attention to it." Connor replied in shame. I nodded "Then what made you notice it and made you write that in the report after the 3rd killing. It was to the point that you started noticing that the killer used the same weapon to gouge out the victim''s womb in the previous 2 victims as well." "A friend of mine is a blacksmith. He told me that as long as I am able to give him the dimensions of the wounds inflicted by a weapon then he is able to tell me exactly what kind of weapon it is and provide me more insights on who crafts those kinds of weapons in the capital." Connor answered. "Using these clues, you were able to narrow down your search radius. But this changed with his 4th victim right?" I said as we reached a door of a building inside the dark alley. Connor nodded. "He/she started using a different tool to gouge out the womb after claiming every 3 life." I remained silent for Connor to catch up. Connor stared at me in confusion for a few minutes before realisation hit him. "That absolute MotherF*cker!" Connor started spewing a barrage of foul words and pounding at the wall beside him while Alyssa tried to calm him down in confusion. "Connor, what happened?" Alyssa tried to ask raging Connor. "Alyssa, does Detective Connor have a habit of shouting out or raging on his findings or feelings like he did today morning for every clue he finds?" I asked. Alyssa nodded "It''s one of his habit that he can''t manage to retain. Due to this most civilians are not permitted around a certain hearing range of his office." Again, I remained silent, before Alyssa to caught up as she gasped "But that''s not possible. We all made sure to keep a certain area of his office always clear of civilians." "I never said it was the civilians." I replied. I could see anger rushing to Alyssa''s eyes. "Your highness, are you suggesting that someone inside the HQ is a mole for a serial killer?" "I am not suggesting it. I am stating it. Whether knowingly or unknowingly someone in your office somehow has been passing information that Detective Connor here has a habit of spewing to the embracer." Before Alyssa could start a chorus to defend her co-worker, I explained. "Think about it. The killer is a complete greenhorn when he first began to the point where he left plenty of evidence for you to work with. However, each time you find something striking out as a vital piece of clue or pattern, he changes that with his next killing. This is to the point that even though the killer has only been active for a very short while, he has already perfected his ''art'' of killing. It was as if someone has been pointing out his fault after each kills for him to correct. Ergo someone is feeding him information only people in the HQ should know about." Connor having calmed down stood silently next to Alyssa. "I know it is hard for you to believe, hence I will show you something to make you believe that there indeed is a mole inside your office." I told Alyssa as I opened the door to the building. Suddenly a wave of stench hit us with the hot air. Luke was quick to cast a barrier shrouding me, as I motioned all 4 of them to follow me. I could feel the trepidation in both of them as we neared the source of the stench. Opening the door to a room, the strength of stench increased while at the same time all 4 of us saw the latest work of the ''Embracer'' laid before us. A woman tied to a chair was leaning forward on the table having to stare at her own womb, as flies and larva feasted on both rotting fleshes. Alyssa covered her mouth to stop from screaming out loud while, Connor stood in front of her to block her sight, looking slightly pale. "Luke please help Ms Alyssa calm down; Detective Connor please follow me." I ordered as I walked into the now crime scene as Ellis walked beside me, unusually calm. ''Hmm, Ellis is strangely very adaptive to situations like this. Interesting.'' I mused as we walked forward. "As you can see, this is the latest victim of ''Embracer''. Care to guess how I knew it was here?" "You found a pattern that I didn''t notice for the ''Embracer'' to change." Connor replied in a very serious manner. I nodded "There was one thing always interesting about where the killer had always disposed of his victims that you had never noticed." Connor nodded for me to go ahead with my explanations. "The victims were always disposed of in the same place where they had last been willingly with their lover. The killer never bothered, to find a new spot to torture and kill his victims, as the victims themselves found the perfect sport for the killer. I mean what better place to slowly carve out your womb while keeping you alive, than the very place that could hide the moans and screaming''s of the sexual pleasure you had few moments before being captured by the killer. Since you never noticed this, the killer never bothered to change their location as well. Besides this way the killer achieved another objective of keeping the lover of the victim from speaking up." I explained as I started to put on gloves I had borrowed from the station along with Connor and Ellis. "Obviously because they though we will suspect them since they were the last people to be with the victim before they were killed. But how did you find this area, your highness?" Connor asked. Having put the gloves on I started examining the arms of the women. "Your detailed report of the missing women, you suspected of being marked by the embracer. In that file, I had read her address. People, especially horny people, that have a lot to lose when caught in the act are very careful subconsciously in choosing the right place to commit the wrong. And from it, I thought ''If I were a women with kids and husbands, who was cheating on my family with another man, I wanted to be far away while doing the act while at the same time not so far as to quickly get back home if the need arises. But at the same time, I have to be at a place that has to have no one else nearby seeing me entering and leaving.'' Along with these and few other questions I thought of in the shoes of a cheating women, I narrowed it down to this alley; close yet not so close to the women''s house, while at the same time fulfilling most of the other criteria''s." After finally examining all of the dead woman''s body carefully and quickly, I turned towards Connor. "Also here is the next piece of clue vital to catching the killer along with proving there was a mole in the office." I smiled as I pointed towards the bruise imprint of the killers'' fingers on the victim''s thighs. Frowning slightly Connor examined the bruises. Seeing nothing peculiar about the bruises from the other previous bruises Connor shook his head. Sighing I knelt down and pointed to the peculiar shape of the bruise on the right thigh. "Notice the indentation of a thin ring on the ring finger?" I asked to which Connor nodded. "I had noticed that, in the 1st victim as well. Probably someone married." Connor told me his reasoning. Shaking my head. "This was the only thing the killer never bothered to correct when he changed all the evidence pertaining to him when you found out. Care to guess why?" "I am wrong about him being married/ engaged. So he was happy for me to go chasing in the wrong direction." Connor answered. "You were wrong not ''I am wrong''." I corrected him. Connor raised his head up with a visible frown. "Take a look." Saying so I took out the photos I had taken from the case file and passed it to Connor, who took it after removing his gloves. Looking through the photos of the thighs of each victim with bruises, he did not spot it at first, but after a few minutes he noticed it. "The rings are different. The ring he has been using so far except for the last victim and the current victim here is different. The ring indentations on the last 2 victims of the ''embracer'' are thin while all the other victims have an indentation of a wide ring..." Pausing for a while Connor looked towards me. "You said I ''was'' wrong about him being married. How did you know that your highness?" I removed my gloves and took out something from my pocket and held it in front of Connor. "Do you know what this is detective?" "Isn''t this a purity ring?" Connor asked. I nodded "A peculiar thing about purity rings inside the capital is that they are much thicker and wider to make it more noticeable. While ..." I paused as I took another ring from my pocket. "... an engagement ring is much thinner." Connor finished the sentence. Clapping I asked, "So how many people inside the office do you know has attended a marriage, or know of someone who has got engaged in the past 1 or 2 weeks?" Connor remained silent before something shone in his eyes "The receptionist..." Suddenly the grin on my face widened just as the coroners and other crime scene officers arrived. 135 Episode 134- Reverse Psyduck A head popped out of the kitchen hearing the name. "Hey. Get ready, I am making something special today." Jay announced to Reeve. "Oh! Is it Truffle Chicken and potato gratin?" Reeve guessed what her fianc¨¦ might be cooking for her. "Stop guessing and just get changed." After instructing her so, Jay went back into the kitchen to finish his cooking. A few minutes later Reeve came into the kitchen changed from her work clothes. "You won''t believe what happened today, Jay?" Reeve started as she took a bottle of wine from the fridge. "Since you tried to guess what I cooked for you, it''s my turn to take a guess. One of the detectives finally got a clue on a criminal for a case?" Jay guessed as he gave the oven a quick check while Reeve sat on the tabletop. Reeve shook her head as she took a sip from the glass. "Not really." Raising his eyebrows, Jay turned towards her "Something that has got you more excited than capturing another criminal?" Reeve smiled "His highness Prince John Emberson came into the office today." Reeve who was sharpening the knife to cut the cooked meat froze for a second before his actions resumed back to the norm. "The prince? As in the hero?" Reeve double-checked. "Yeah. At first, none of us noticed or recognised him, especially when he came up to me asking where the director''s office was. But after 1-hour Mary was seen running around like her tail was on fire as she ordered everyone to tidy and look presentable. It was then we were informed that Prince John had entered the office 1 hour ago. I hardly could believe her, when both me and Rick, the security worker, were called forward by Mary to question us about our treatment to his highness. Luckily, Rick was smart enough to notice something was off about the group his highness came with and signalled me to answer their questions. If he hadn''t I would have lost my job today." Reeve rambled on as Jay set the knives on the table as he went forward to open the oven while paying close attention to the words of Reeve. Seeing Jay was about to get the food from the oven, Reeve decided to get the plates. "Unfortunately I couldn''t meet him again..." *Knock* *Knock* before she could complete her job and words someone started knocking on her door continuously. "Stop, knocking I am coming already!" Stated a very annoyed Reeve. Opening the door, all the annoyance left her face. "Detective Connor? Alyssa? And...?" Seeing the 2 guards that were with prince John this morning were with Connor and Alyssa confused Reeve. What confused her, even more, was seeing them here at this time? Hearing the news released the worried frown of Reeve before excitement started brewing in her. Looking behind the 4 people she noticed it was the empty night street out there. "His highness went to get something. He said he will join us momentarily. These two gentlemen are Luke and Ellis." Seeing her looking forward to the visit and not seeing the person of the hour; Alyssa explained the situation, while pointing to Luke and Ellis. "I can''t believe this. This is a dream come true." Reeve squeaked in excitement with a big grin plastered on her face. "Jay! Come here! You won''t believe who is here!" Reeve ran off to the kitchen in excitement. Seeing her running figure, Alyssa looked towards Connor, who was silently looking towards the kitchen. Ellis proceeded to close the door quietly while he could hear the excited Reeve squealing from the kitchen flaunting the good news to Jay. As they moved towards the kitchen, suddenly the house quieted down. Without hurry the 4 of them walked towards the kitchen. "Reeve don''t get too excited. Just stay and act calm. After all his highness wouldn''t want to see you fangirling like this when he arrives." Alyssa advised out loudly. However, in return, all they received was silence as their reply. As the 4 finally entered the kitchen they saw a very frightened Reeve held captive by Jay who was clutching her mouth shut with a knife on her neck. "What are you doing? Drop the knife!" Alyssa ordered. "Don''t try to fool me. Do you think I am not aware of what is going on here?" Jay smirked while Reeve had a pleading expression on her face. "Jay, please drop the knife. I assure you nothing is going on here." Alyssa tried to negotiate. However, hearing what she said raised a frown on everyone'' s face except for her and Reeve. "Really? Then how is it that you know the name of a no-name receptionists'' fianc¨¦?" Jay asked back. Seeing that their cover was blown both Luke and Ellis drew their swords, just as Connor stepped in to mediate. "Jay, we can talk this through. You don''t need to do this. In fact, I can see that you don''t want to do this. I can clearly see you are troubled. We can get you the help that you need. Just let us help you." Connor tried to mediate but failed. "Stay back and stay still. If I see as much as anyone move a finger then she is dead." Jay warned as he dragged Reeve while walking towards the door to their back garden, slowly. "Jay, we have you surro..." "Detective Connor allow me." Interrupting, Luke walked forward. "Don''t move! Stay there! If you move anymore closer I will kill her!" Jay warned as the knife drew a drop of Reeve''s blood. "Jay let me make something clear to you." Luke said calmly. Hearing him Jay halted to listen to what Luke had to say. "To be frank, I don''t care what you do to that woman. She is merely a receptionist. If you kill her, then her colleagues will attend her memorial service and in a few days'' time another receptionist will fill her post. Then in a few weeks'' time her parents will get enough money from her workplace protection insurance scheme along with her accumulated salary in her bank. However, the same is not true for you. You are a dangerous criminal, who if we allowed to let go, will reap the lives of many more." Saying so Luke pointed his sword towards Jay. Alyssa tried to speak up but was silence by Connor who held her hands. "Are you crazy? Aren''t you working to protect the innocents? Shouldn''t you be more concerned about her life than mine? Why are you in the first place bothered about the lives of those cheating whores?" Jay started to get a very bad feeling as he began to move towards the door. "No, we don''t work to protect the innocents, we work to maintain the order and law. To us losing one life to capture a serial killer like you is a fair deal. In other words, your life simply outweighs that of hers." Saying so Luke ran forward after quickly casting a speed boost. Having no choice Jay quickly slashed the neck of his fianc¨¦ and pushed her in the way of Luke, while he made for the door, while desperately casting a rank 1 speed boost, out of his pitiful rank 1 accumulation. Luke quickly got hold of the bleeding girl, just as a loud blood-curdling scream resounded from the garden. "Ahhhhh! YOU FUCKER! MY LEG!" Luke gently laid the girl down. "Ms Alyssa please apply pressure on her wound." Luke ordered to the stunned Alyssa who just saw the leg of Jay being sliced off very evenly from their natural location. Shaking her, Connor woke Alyssa up from her shock as he pointed towards the urgent Luke. "He said apply pressure on the wound. He is going to heal her." Connor summarised what she had missed before he walked off towards where a constant set of scream and swearing was coming from. Just as he was about to step out he saw Ellis coming in dragging a screaming and bloody Jay by his hair. "We need him alive." Connor instructed Ellis, who in return nodded as he looked at the blood pouring from the stump on his left leg. ------------------------------ *Knock**Knock* Amelia looked up from her case files. "Come in." She ordered while wondering which idiot is bothering her even at this time of the day. "That idiot would be me, Ms Amelia." A man with long hair walked in with an umbrella. Prince John surprised her, not because of the reply which seemed as if her mind was read, but because he was here when he was supposed to be with Detective Connor. "Your highness." Amelia stood up to salute the imperial prince as he came forward to sit down. "Please." John motioned for her to sit as he sat in front of her smiling. "May I enquire the nature of your visit, your highness?" Amelia asked. However, John remained silent as he stared at Amelia. Amelia remained silent as well. However, as the seconds ticked by, Amelia started to feel the silence was awkward when it was accompanied by the imperial princes'' smile. "Isn''t it beautiful?" John finally spoke. "...?" Amelia returned a confused face in response. "One moment you are an intern who wanted to prove her worth as a woman, the next moment you are spiralling in an uncontrolled manner as you become the very lifeblood of every murder in the capital." Amelia returned an even more confused face. "Let me tell you a story. There once was a woman who wanted to overcome her rival. At first both she and her rival played small pranks at each other on their cases. But slowly she saw the truth; no matter what she did, she could never close the chasm between them. This frustrated her. Then slowly, unknowingly, the woman started escalating her pranks without realising how dangerous those pranks were getting. At first, it was the small disruptions on the investigation paths. Then it slowly evolved to feeding her rivals opponents with the information they should not even be hearing. In the beginning, she wanted to stop it as she felt guilty, but as time went on she started living off the elation she got from doing the wrong while acting as the enforcer of the right. Unfortunately for her, then came along a very smart prince who figured her secret out. The woman then wanted to silence the prince. So, she asked the prince what does he want?" John finished his monologue. "What do you want?" The confused expression slowly morphed into that of a calm and calculative person. "Connor is going to work for me." John answered. Suddenly the calm visage of Amelia started to fracture. "Unknown to the woman was that the longer she played this game, the more she enjoyed playing with her rival behind the shadows, to the point she couldn''t live a moment without playing and involving herself in all of his cases secretly as the criminal. Thus, each case he received became more and more difficult, because there were always a puppeteer in the shadows unknown to the rival." John started his monologue once again. Amelia regained her calm as she observed John while her mind tried to peel and dissect into what John wanted from her. "What if I don''t want to work for you as well? I am very busy with my cases." The women stated. "You see the prince, unlike what people thought, was a very lazy person. He hated doing work, thus he wished everything went according to his wishes." John stated. Her brain which was running overtime suddenly figured the answer. Slowly the grin from the prince became contagious as it started spreading to the woman. 136 Episode 135-Im Radioactive Baby "Did you get her confession?" I asked. "Yes, she admitted to delving office secrets to her fianc¨¦ as casual talks and had no other ill intentions. Frankly, that should be a punishable offence but seeing as how my outburst from the 2nd floor reached the ground floor via the mouth of other staffs in the HQ, everyone in the office should be punished. Hence we have decided not to hold her accountable as long as that is alright with you, your highness." Connor replied. I shrugged my shoulder telling him it''s his business. Although Connor was very perceptive he missed a tiny detail in this case, that is vital to show that there is another party at play here, namely Amelia. It was the fact that messages passed along over quite a lot of people are not reliable. This was one of the reason, the party game Chinese whispers became very fun to play in large groups. The ''rumours'' spread by other staff about each cases update (that Connor shouts out) will always be distorted and contorted by the time it reaches the ground floors'' last ear. Hence that meant there was another party at play here that passed the information directly without any corruption to the information. I noticed similar patterns like this throughout all his active cases. After discovering the final body, I had come back to the police HQ and looked through all of Connors file and noticed subtle clues that someone was messing with his cases. The person who has been messing was someone who knew the intricacies of the case much better than someone who heard it from the mouth of someone. Someone was passing the details of the case to the involved criminals directly. At that moment I knew the involved person was either Connors'' superior or someone on the same rank as him, who had the right to access these case files'' storerooms. Looking through the case files of other detectives of the same rank I noticed this pattern was only occurring in Connors'' files. That meant whoever was doing this was targeting him on purpose. I excluded most of his superiors right away. There were some patterns sometimes that showed that whoever was reading his case files were in a hurry and often missed some key points. His superior will never be in a hurry, especially when they can access his case files legally and take their time without arousing suspicion. That meant it was one of his co-workers. For the next few minutes after getting out of the case files room I had spent observing each and every one of his co-workers, fitting my criteria. All it took was 10 minutes sitting on the sofa and watching each of them going on their business albeit with slight tension at seeing me. It took 10 minutes because it took Amelia 10 minutes to enter my sight. Along with a few other things, I confirmed it was her. Despite being one of the dealers of the underworld she still liked solving her cases and took her job in all seriousness. Of course, me being me, I had offered to keep her secret in return for not working on her cases and she will work for similar to Connor. At the same time, I wondered how many of Albert''s agents were monitoring her right now. There was no way for Albert to not be aware of a detective posing as a successful broker of the night world of the empire, especially when the said dealer was in the capital, right under his nose. If she had kept up her appearance successfully without my interference then she would have soon received a visit from Alberts unit, offering her an invitation to part of their unit. But now with my involvement, they will think twice before recruiting her. Coming back to reality from my flashback I nodded towards Ellis. Ellis proceeded to take a folder out of his jacket and passed it to Connor. "These are the files containing details about your assignment. I don''t care how you do it, neither the expenses but I want results in 3 weeks'' time." I explained as Connor furrowed his brows. Without waiting for him to reply I turned around to leave. Shortly joined by Luke who just walked out of Amelia''s office, having just given her the same folder. Having both of them working on this case together will speed it up. Amelia will use her underground network, while Connor will use his pure investigation skills. Combined I will receive my results soon. Walking out I stood and absorbed the cold air lingering with the blue moon. "Let''s move!" I ordered. --------------------------------- Dexter took the file from my hand and proceeded to read it. After finishing with the last page his expression hardened. "How sure are you?" "95%. From Alister''s expression, I know for a fact that he was listening to someone''s instructions. It''s not easy to hide things from my eyes." I replied. "But we thoroughly checked him. I had to even double-check personally just because you wanted to be inside that building." Archer quipped beside Dexter as the other two commandments tried to figure out where this was leading to. "I know. Which proves my point, and another reason why we should go ahead with my new project." I pointed out. "Elaborate for those in the dark please." Titus moaned in irritation. "If Archer couldn''t find any communication device on Alister when it was very clear that he was receiving orders, how do you think he was receiving his instructions?" I asked Titus. "Magi?" Titus asked. "Not possible, Lord Titus. The building was secured against any possible means of magi or award, due to Ms Sophia being there." Archer answered while shaking his head. Before he could take another guess I proceeded to explain. "If Archer couldn''t find it, then it means the communication device was extremely small to his eyes." "That''s not possibl..." "Yes, it is, if they are sufficiently well advanced in technology." I interrupted Maximus. "In fact, after looking at our current model, I can see several ways to improve it in several aspects." I answered. "Still, you being able to read his expression isn''t enough reason to convince the court of your plan. We need more solid evidence." Dexter reasoned. "I know. Which is why someone is bringing us a piece of more solid evidence." I said. There was a moment of silence as everyone, including Archer looked outside the window and waited for the said someone to come through the gates. Seeing no one coming after a few seconds of awkwardness, everyone turned towards me. "I never said he is coming right now." Seeing the glare of everyone on me, I proceeded to drink the juice in silence. "Archer." After a few more seconds, Dexter called out, who in turn suddenly nodded before disappearing. Looking outside the window I could see the man of the hour finally here, being greeted and welcomed by Archer outside. All of us waited in silence, while I felt the burning curiosity in all of them how Whizz could possibly have any evidence. *Knock**Knock* "Come in!" Dexter ordered. Archer walked in followed by inviting Dr Whizz in, who was carrying a briefcase. "It is an honour to see you again, your highness." Whizz greeted me. "Same to you Whizz. These are a few partners of mine, to whom I am introducing a new project. Before they invest in the project they need to see some papers. Do you have the documents?" I asked. "Yes surely. It wasn''t hard to conduct the test you asked me for, but these results suggest something very dangerous, your highness." Whizz started talking as he knelt down to open the briefcase and took out a folder lying on top of stacks of papers. Archer took the folder and passed it to Dexter, who started reading. As he started reading I could see the comprehending side of his brain running on full power. Closing the folder, he looked at me in disbelief as he passed the folder to Maximus. One by one everyone in the room finished reading the file. "Whizz just how sure are you about the tests?" Titus asked in disbelief. "100% my lord. I am not sure what exactly happened in that room, but as you all know radiation is usually strangely absent or not present much in magi spells. I think it might be due to..." Whizz started wandering off. "Whizz please get to the point please." I interrupted before Whizz lost himself in his world. Whizz paused before he nodded to me. "Right, sorry. So, as you all know radiation is most commonly found in our technology devices. But due to most of the technology being incorporated with magi particles the amount of radiation it leeks is negligible. However, the amount of radiation we found inside that room is enough to kill any normal person within hours." After he said that he turned to look at me in concern. "Don''t worry about me, my food should patch me up." "But your highness..." "Even if it does have long-lasting effects, I don''t think it will be quick enough to catch up with my condition." I waved my hand. Whizz suddenly had a look of extreme sadness and loss. *Ahem* Turning towards Maximus who coughed. "How does this relate with this Alister and the ''radiation'' found in that room?" Before Whizz could start I interrupted again. "Remember Whizz keep it simple and brutally blunt." "The amount of radiation I found in that room, means; someone was capable of making a device that leaked a huge amount of radiation, which is usually only found in weapons of high destruction." "So? That device was only able to kill one person. I could do the same thing, but much better. In fact, I could wipe out 100''s this instant if I felt like it. What difference does it make" Dexter asked, however this time I could feel he wasn''t asking this question to mock, but rather to confirm something from my own mouth. "The difference is that to be you it takes time, training, while others monitor you and keep you in check to stop you from doing that but whoever wields this device can achieve the same results without having any of those cons. An untrained normal child could wield and activate that device to kill a rank 2 magi. Not to mention the said user of this device neither the device was not found anywhere near the spot of the crime." For a moment there was silence. "If the court agrees to your project, how long will it take before we can be prepared for something like this again?" Maximus asked in all seriousness "Well as long as I have full control of the research facility and all personals inside the building then I can assure that within 1 year I can get something to detect and alert us of these devices in every corner of the empire." I smiled, while Whizz had a doubtful look. Dexter nodded, but this time with relief on everyone''s face. 137 Episode 136- Maintenance in progress! Once it was noon the queue finally dissipated leaving John sat in front of his desk with his eyes closed. "Ok, I have decided. Luke start writing these names down." Ez ordered to Luke who got ready with a pen and paper. Soon a list of names spewed from John''s mouth, while Luke was furiously writing the names down. Luke very quickly moved onto another paper and pen provided by Ellis from the side as soon as space or ink ran out. "... and that is it." John instructed, while both Luke and Ellis started to relax after constantly writing for the past 1 hour. As soon as that had happened, the door to the restaurant was slammed open revealing an old man standing there. "Hahaha who missed me?" "No one." John was very quick to reply, while both Luke and Ellis visibly tensed for a moment seeing the old man. ''Bastard'' Ellis thought with flaring rage and anger. ''Old Man'' Luke thought with the reminiscence of his time spent with the general in his past life; most of those memories he had with the old man was of warmth. "Why are you here? And don''t use the excuse you weren''t aware that the restaurant was closed?" John asked as his eyes slowly started drooping. "Oi at least try giving an appearance of putting some effort while talking to me." Albert chided John who seemed to be filtering out his voice. *Yawn* "Get to the point old man. I am very busy." John replied while slowly nodding off. "Busy my ass." Albert mumbled not so quietly, intending for the others to hear him. "Anyway brat, I heard you are hiring. So, I thought I will give it a go. Tell me what are your requirements?" Albert asked with an air of confidence. "None other than being interested and knowledgeable in doing some research." John replied in a hurry. "Oh, last time I checked I am in love with researching and making new things. Ask me any questions you want?" Albert replied in excitement. "No need you are hired." John replied without lifting his eyes. "What!" All 3 people inside the store chorused loudly. "Could you exclaim a bit quietly? I am trying to sleep here." John covered his ears while looking at the 3 of them in displeasure. "Screw your sleep. This is concerning my future here. I have got a family to feed. Could you take this a bit seriously?" Albert replied in fake anger. "And you are fired for not respecting your superior." John stated amusing Albert while astounding the other 2. "You know what, keep your shitty job offer I quit this job. You are the worst boss anyone has ever had." Albert shouted in rage before storming out of the building. While both Luke and Ellis wondered what the hell just happened. -------------------------- Seeing me walk forward the people gathered in front of my store and the crowd standing around watching the spectacle went silent. "Those that were invited please step forward inside the restaurant and follow me, while wearing the badge provided to you in a visible location." I ordered, following which I walked inside the restaurant, while the guards standing outside my restaurant kept an eye out for those infiltrators without the badge. The group of 50 people stepped inside in an orderly manner, following me to the side where the garden is located. Outside the garden there was a hatch, opening it I climbed down the ladder, while the rest followed me nervously. Reaching the brightly lit and newly built underground area, I walked towards the opaque glass door where 5 guards stood in waiting. I waited for a while before the last person was inside the room. "The poster that you all saw a few days ago was the invitation to all scholars and those who genuinely seek knowledge beyond that of just magi. Amongst the thousands that had applied only 500 of you have been selected. Of the 500 you are the 1st batch that is here for your induction. Your job while working here is simple. Explore, build, research, experiment and investigate to the task you have been assigned. Once you are inside this underground facility consider this as a different world. In here everything will be different from the outside world, including the currency, which will be denoted in contribution points. More about it will be explained later. For accommodation, you are each given your own private rooms, inside the facility which you will be given a short tour of. Meals will be provided in the cafeteria 24/7 free of charge for all staffs here, except for the premium meals, which will require contribution points to buy. This underground facility is pretty self-sufficient. If you require anything more you can inform your superior who will guide you to the correct area to place an order. If you manage to make enough contribution or any of your superior finds that any of your ideas are feasible, you will be appointed the head of a research unit or part of a unit depending on how well worthy your idea or contribution has been. You are free to enter and leave the facility, as long as you adhere to the proper security protocol placed in here. Now you will be given a brief tour and more information about this facility by your new superiors." Just as I finished the glass door behind the guards slide open, revealing a group of 10 people. Amongst the 10 scientists were Dr Whizz. They nodded towards me in greeting. I walked through the glass door and entered one of the elevators and chose the number 19. The lift started moving down while I contemplated my future plans. It had taken a combined work of several tens of magi, 3 days, under my employment to construct this facility according to my plans. Although in the beginning, they were very reluctant to be used as builders, flashing a few gold notes in their direction was enough to get them on board. This new facility and its people are going to be my shield and cover for what I am going to prepare for the world. The 10 chief scientist I have chosen, including Dr Whizz, each have an area of field where they are interested in working. For example, Dr Whizz is interested in researching new form of travelling methods in different terrains, such as air, water, soil and ground. During my interview when picking the new staffs, I chose 500 staffs who would be interested in working for one of these 10 chief scientists. The new 500 staffs has already been assigned to one of the 10 chief scientists, who will then establish and make it clear to them the hierarchy and all necessary information of this facility. After that, they will bequeath adequate position and jobs to each of the staffs in their group. As soon as the current batch of 50 is finished with their inductions, they will be allowed to wander and explore the facility, till tomorrow. Then soon Ellis will bring in the next batch, after which Luke will bring in the next. Along with the researchers and scientist I had also hired about 280 guards who rotate in 4 shifts, each shift lasting 6 hours along with some other miscellaneous staffs such as cooks, accountants etc. All in all, this was a massive facility lying under the belly of the empire, after getting the approval from the emperor and the imperial court. This facility has 19 massive floors which can further be expanded if the need ever arises. The first 5 floors were dedicated for accommodation, cafeteria, admin building, library etc for the common staffs and researchers. Floor 6 to 15 was dedicated to each of the chief scientist and their research unit, for their lab and amongst other things. Floor 16 to 18 was designed for private research units for those who had enough contribution to creating a new research unit ever came about. Then Floor 19 was designated as the private area of the superiors or those that had enough contribution to afford to live in this area. As the lift arrived in floor 19, I walked out ignoring the luxurious decorations and gold-plated lights hanging around the hall. Reaching a door, I scanned my card to gain access to my room. Opening the door, I walked in to see quite the spacious and luxurious studio apartment. The room also had quite the garden and a small pond set up outside under the fake sunlight and clouds. Not bothering with anything I walked towards my comfy bed and laid down. It will take all of the new employees several days to get used to this new area, but once they are used to this place and their work I can slowly integrate myself amongst them while working on my projects from the shadows. After all countless years in heaven, where seeing universes that have reached the apex of science has taught me, along with enabling me to memorise many things that I can easily replicate here; viruses like Rioxin D being one of the simplest and basic of things. 138 Episode 137- A Game for Life My plan today was to train as well, but his highness had persuaded both me and Luke into taking a break for today. Walking through the marketplace I kept an eye open for anyone following me. Training ... or better known as surviving in the game realm has advanced many of my skills to impossible heights. I could have never reached where I am today without the game realm. This whole situation is messed up. I am grateful for two people in this life: His highness and Lord Fake. It was only them who offered me a hand when I was in the abyss; even though Lord Fake had made it clear what he did was simply a trade, but even if it was a trade, he offered it to me at the right time. I couldn''t help how to feel about the fact that Lord Fake is going after one of the only few people I am indebted for in this life. On one side was Lord Fake, who could give me as much strength as I needed. On the other side was a person, who gave me everything without asking for anything in return. Right now, Lord Fake had made it clear to me along with other players, that he doesn''t mind which side we chose to play in, in his war against his highness. But what would I do if the day comes I have to choose between the two. Who will I choose? One is the most powerful God in existence who has decided to stay in dark, for his amusement. Or the prince who even the most powerful God considers a rival. And that brings my attention to Luke. That guy was a mess. His sister being an apostle of the Fake one, while he had some hidden motives himself. Being a close relative of an apostle, I doubt that he might even be a player himself given his experience in tackling situations. Even with the reasoning, his highness gave upon hiring Luke, sometimes I had the feeling that something was wrong with him on a deeper level. When I first saw him, he always looked at me strangely and kept giving me the wary eye, especially during the investigation of that serial killer, when we found the body of that woman. It''s stran... My mind froze, my body froze and in return, my body stood still seeing the person in front of me. ''Tall man with a muscular build, carrying a very large sword.'' That was the description the old man gave me. The description of the person who send the messenger to Phil''s house and caused me to be in this state. --------------------------------- A man walked into ''Drum and Flute'' pub. As he walked past the bartender who was sweeping the floor he quietly whispered. "Hound." The bartender, carried on sweeping the broken fragments of glass as if he never heard the code word, while the man took a chair next to a group of drunken and loud mercenaries. He opened the door of his pub and walked outside to throw the shards inside the bin stationed by the side of the pub. As he made his way to the bin he spotted a rather special someone, walking quietly amidst the large flow of people. ''A player of the Lord? Interesting! And that to the bodyguard of the 3rd prince. Could prince John have sent him to observe us? But how did they know about Gary?'' The barkeeper thought as he casually walked towards the bin. Suddenly something seems to have clicked in the barkeepers, as he emptied the dustpan. ''Of course, a tall man with a large sword in his back. That was the description they received and passed to him. So, this is just pure coincidence.'' Thinking in the right path the barkeeper went inside his store. As Gary looked towards him, he winked at him, confusing him before he shrugged his shoulders and carried on betting his money on the two drunkards who were having a drinking competition in the middle of the day. ------------------------------------ The past 1 week have been quiet for the most part, for me. The workers of the facility have finally started to understand their job and got used to it. In fact, all of them were enthusiastic to know at first they didn''t have fixed working schedule unless told so by their supervisor, but later deflated a bit when they found they only earned their pay by working. Boy were they now working like ants, tirelessly, racking up those contribution points. Anyone would think they were working for the money when first witnessed, but no. I had carefully chosen the applicants after personally interviewing them and later assigned them to their superiors after making sure they would love working in that area. After all the saying went ''Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.'' Those researchers weren''t working anymore but doing something they love. And the contribution points and the things they could buy with it was just a bonus they were slowly forgetting. The facility was a dragons treasure den for those seeking knowledge and almost like a lotus tree, for scholars, researchers, and scientists (once in rarely out). Now onto the matters of the surface above. Ellis has been going out without any pressure from me for the past couple of days. Reports from Dexter indicates he is frequenting a pub named ''Drum and Flute'' and have associated with many of its regulars. While Luke, just carried on abusing the hell out of the training resources he is now provided with, similar to Ellis. I would have worried about his mental health if I wasn''t aware of his status as a reincarnater/ time traveller. In one weeks'' time, I will be asked to give an update and summary of the events in the facility, and I need to show the court results, or they will have this project headed by someone else, which they will gladly do so now that it''s up and running smoothly. I am pretty sure Dr Whizz is doing as much as he can to slow things down till next week, for Albert and the emperor, but is proving futile in the face of other 9 heads, who are working tirelessly for those promised extra contribution point. I walked into my own research lab. It has been a long time since I have last entered one. ----------------------- "Quin, you are back. How was the trip?" An angel asked me. "It was good till the point I abused the hell out of my powers. In the end, I had to reset the universe back to the period before I arrived to stop it from not existing anymore. What about you? On your way to holiday?" I asked her/him. That was the problem with angels. They don''t have a gender. We usually bestow them a gender depending on their name, for the convenience sake of conversation. After all, referring to an angel as he or she is much better than ''it''. A male name like Chris will assign the gender title male upon that angel, likewise for female names. "Yeah, been pretty busy for the past few millennia. I can finally go on vacation and that too with God." The angel replied happily. *Whistles* "Wow, so I guess you have finally given up on Ez, then. I told you from the beginning to give up on him and just take it easy with your new job." I congratulated the angel, remembering how the newly appointed assistant of God, always wanted to perfectly complete her job. Her only problem was Ez, who always gave a lame excuse in meeting with God, and therefore extending his appointment. It was because of him she could never have 100% competition rate for the task assigned to her. Always having 99.9999999% completion rate, thus the reason Ez remaining as a black stain in her books. "I think you are mistaken." Juliet smiled happily. ''Uh oh, something feels wrong.'' "He is finally out of here..." Crap, I tuned out as my mind raced to the massive problem that was about to emerge. "When?" I asked interrupting the blabbering Juliet. "Uh... Just a few moments ago. I kicked him out personally and I just think Father, is having a personal conversation with him right now. In all honesty, I don''t think we will ever see him back again. He is going to die in that world in the worst way possible, I know it." Juliet cheered herself up. ''Fuck! F*ck! It''s all messed up! This can''t be real.'' "Anyway, gotta go! Have to phone and make some appointments for some restaurants and hotels around the universe we are visiting." Juliet hurriedly left, leaving me there in shock. Quickly coming out of the shock I ran towards Ez''s room. ''Please be there! Please be there!'' I prayed to the person, who was currently on a beach somewhere enjoying himself, leaving me in this fucked up situation. Opening the door to Ez''s room I quickly scanned the area. Finding a small black orb was sitting above his keyboard, I sighed in relief, seeing the green light on top of it. ''Crisis averted'' ''Fantasy World 3- Deluxe Edition'' was named on the black orb. "Thanks, man for finishing the game. I will pray that you survive wherever you are." Although he was a shut-in, he was a darn good plot developer for games. Hence the reason, I tasked him to make a sequel to his previous 2 games, which I think he thankfully finished 2 centuries ago. However, the problem was that because I had rushed him into making it at that time, the game had quite a lot of bugs and errors, which caused me to return it to back to him for him to properly finish it. "Now to play this beast. Momma is gonna spend a lot of time with you baby." I said as I cuddled the black orb containing the game files while activating the game by pressing the square buttons on the side. Opening my eyes in expectancy, I looked at the scenery in front of me in shock. "The fuck is this?!" 139 Episode 138- A life spent in Game And in that frozen battlefield 2 people before me. One of them, most likely dead, was lying in her own pool of blood, while the other was leaning besides crumbled pieces of walls and floors. In front of me was a screen with some choices left before me. [You have returned. Please choose one of the following options:] [Resume] [Restart] [Return] I know that return means awakening from the game, while restart enables me to start all over. But would it have killed Ez not to have spoiled one of the alternate endings for me by hitting restart before he woke from the console? But that is not the thing that grabbed my attention. The problem is the bunch of icons and the two words I can see in the corner of my vision. There were two sets of icons: one for buffs, the other for debuffs. Each buff also had a timer beside it. However, one of the problems was that the icons for debuffs outnumbered the icons for buffs by 52. Along with that 99% of the numerous debuffs had the infinity sign on it. About 50 debuffs with the infinity sign. The next problem was the 2 words in the corner, ''Insane mode''. Pulling up the recent conversation log (I suddenly took notice of my unusual appearance and skin color, which soon led me to realise I don''t recongnise this specific race Ez was playing.) I understood the numerous debuffs were the result of the endgame battle that just happened, between the hero ''Arthur'' and the Main playable character. Sighing I chose the option restart, which took me to an empty and white but familiar background. [Choose Difficulty] [Easy] [Normal] [Hard] [Nightmare] [Terror] [Insane] I was already bored living the past few decades of my real life in easy mode, this time I want some challenge at least in the game world. Although calling it a game world is a bit of a lie, as there is nothing pretty much separating this game world form the reality, including the flow of time, other than the reality is in a different realm compared to the game world. [Insane difficulty is chosen] [Choose your desired race] [Human- The basic of all races. Innate Talent- Jack of all trades. Gives a boost when picking up a new skill, till you are considered an average in that skill. Innate Skill- Breed like rabbits. Due to this innate skill, you will find human almost everywhere you go, hence the reason you are treated as a neutral party in all settlements, until your actions dicate otherwise, either positively or negatively. Note due to this skill, you have a high fertility rate.] [Elf- You know the tree huggers who always gets captured. Innate Skill- Hold your head high in pride. You are able to easily charm, persuade, and intimidate anyone and anything, without even talking.] An innate talent was available for everyone, while innate skill was only something available to the players aka the main character to use. I scrolled through the other races along with an option to create my own race. But suddenly my eyes was drawn to a black-skinned race. [Demon- Trope wise the race of an endgame boss. Innate Talent- Long live the Demon Lord. Lifespan is counted in thousands; hence all their skills, physical strength and magic develops extremely slowly until they are at least 1500 years old. On the bright side you can just outlive your enemies by hiding in a cave. Innate Skill- Run! All beings cower at your sight making it much easier to terrify everyone. Note due to this skill everyone and everything hates and fears you, causing them to attack you at sight. This rule also applies to your own race as well, except they dislike you instead of outright hating you, and won''t attack you unless provoked (which is easily done).] This is a new race, along with that it is the one that Ez had chosen to play. Interesting. The talent and skills provides more of a disadvantage than an advantage. The skill essentially locks me out of trading or interacting with any other races. If I remember correctly there are only 599 demons left by the time the main storyline starts. The main character along with the hero partners up to defeat these 598 demons and their leader. And all of those demons are at least 9000 years old, thus being adept in transformation magic to make it easier to trade with others. If I remember right all main playable characters are born at the same time as the hero and given only 15 years to train, before the main storyline starts. This means by 15 years I have to be at least on equal footing with the hero''s sidekicks at least. The innate talent basically negates any amount of training I do, during those 15 years, basically leaving me more useless than a peasant. Unless I just sit and wait 1500 years, after which my training speed will pick up, which will be boring in itself. As I was about to leave the race behind and choose another race, I remembered the frozen battlefield I saw when I entered the game a few moments ago. Along with that, I remembered the conversation Ez had with Arthur the hero from the conversation log. ''You eradicated the majority of your race and destroyed everything we BUILT TOGETHER!!!'' That meant, he had somehow managed to convince both the hero and the demons to stop fighting and come towards an alliance, and somehow built something together for the rest of the world, with that innate skill and talent. A grin wriggled its way towards my face. This was what I wanted. A challenge. Yep let''s do this. [Demon Race is chosen] [Game start] It was dark. I opened my eyes to see the dark abandoned village in front of me. Demons, also known as the true children of the world. They are given birth by the combination of negative lingering emotion, high mana rich environment along with an absurd amount of luck and miracle. Hence the reason why there are only 599 demons in this world for the past 1100 years. Excitedly, I stood up. I wobbled a bit with my black baby legs. ''Here we go. Time for some challenge!'' I stretched my baby legs as I prepared to start my grand journey. Suddenly the world paused as a bunch of notification appeared in front of me. [Insane mode penalty activated] [No save and load.] [No inventory] [No map] [Learning skills is purely dependant on your personal talent along with whatever boost or reduction given by your race skill or talent.] [Every time you are hit by an attack, you will permanently lose 1% of your current stats. This is the case inconsiderate of how weak or strong the attack is.] [Every loss you suffer(whether in a fight or a game), will result in a permanent application of one debuff.] [Fainting, being unconscious, losing control of the body and sleeping will result in rapid degradation of a random skill followed by a debuff of ''skill training effectiveness reduced by 25% for 3 hours''.] After reading the information on the screen I only had two words rolling over my head constantly. ''The fuck! The fuck! The fuck! The fuck! The fuck! The fuck!'' Especially the 5th penalty. Even attacked by flies or mosquitoes meant losing 1% of all current stats permanently, not to mention the other penalties stacking on top. And to say that Ez actually reached the endgame and defeated Arthur with all this penalty. And that too only with 50 permanent debuffs, meaning only about 50 losses. Now I was pretty sure Juliet won''t be happy for too long. Forgetting all that I carried on. I wanted to see how long I can go on. ----------------------------- I walked out of the underground facility whistling, towards Ellis and Luke who were standing inside the store. "Let''s go." I said while throwing one of the successful product- not prototype- towards Luke, for him to carry. Catching it he turned it around before looking at me in confusion. ???Your highness, may I ask what this is?" Luke asked while twirling- the small sphere the same size of a seed- around . "That there is one of our successful products, an improved live transmission device, with a range of more than 100 meters." Hearing my answer Ellis furrowed his brows. "Your highness, what do you mean by ''range of more than 100 meters''?" Ellis asked in an obvious state of confusion along with a rising level of worry and concern. It was obvious that he slowly started to connect the dots that Albert had fooled him that time when he told Ellis that he was the reason I got hurt when we came back from the grey zone. "Live transmission device that we have currently are only able to transfer the transmission within a 100-meter range. Anyone outside of that range will not be able to see that transmission. Hence the reason why I was always inside the academy during the graduation exam, in order to monitor for any cheaters. However, with this device, range won''t be a problem anymore." I stated while walking towards the court, while obviously sensing the controlled anger and rage radiating from Ellis. "Your highness is it possible to send transmission more than the 100-meter radius, without your device?" Ellis asked just to clarify that Albert had indeed tricked him. "It is possible to extend the radius to 10 kilometres." I answered him, as his rage cooled off. "However, to do that you will need the transmission device to be stationary along with having 5 immobile 10 meter tall booster equipment''s set up within the 100-meter initial range. It kinds of defeat the purpose of using the transmission device for field missions, where agents are on the constant move with the transmission device. Hence the reason we only use these transmission devices only for monitoring, like during the graduation exams." I shattered his barrier holding off his rage. Even Luke could sense something was wrong with Ellis now. I could sense that Ellis was struggling with the choice of telling me the truth or not. However, time waits for no one... (except for those able to control time perfectly). And currently, I don''t have access to that sort of power, which I used to, hence the reason I increased my pace towards the court. 140 Episode 139- Not a Hero Cuz I Dont want to Challenge Myself *Splat* Bits and pieces of blood and brain matter laced his leg. Zel sighed as he looked at the dozens of mutilated people lying amidst countless bodies. "Lord Zel we are going to once again ask you calmly to come with us, without any resistance." An old man who stood away from the fighting and bloodshed calmly instructed Zel, without any anger or resentment at seeing the state of his fellow companions. "Like I told you from the very start: I do not know this Prince John, I don''t know anything about this soul shells you are on about and I am currently very busy to follow you. So, stop pestering me and get lost, or I will be even more ruthless." Zel lied casually hoping they would buy it. The old man smirked hearing his answer. "Lord Zel, there is no point lying to us about who you are and your origin. We also know of your relationship with Prince John. So, you will have to come with us to answer some of our questions, willingly or not." Zel cursed in his mind the umpteenth time. ''This is the 3rd time I am getting in trouble because of you Ez. Screw you and whatever bullshit you are up to. Besides how the hell are they even capable of seeing and finding me in the first place?'' "I guess you like to suffer before you move on don''t you, old man." Zel smirked as a serious aura surrounded him, while his blood-covered clothes started to turn white and shine. Unaffected by Zel''s seriousness the old man calmly looked at Zel. "To us, death and suffering mean only one thing, Lord Zel." "Oh, and what is that?" Zel asked as white gentle feathers soon started falling from the sky around Zel. "Progress." The old man answered. Suddenly the old man''s jumped up high before, throwing out dozens of daggers from his blue and yellow robe. Zel, calmly watched as each dagger pierced the heart of any and all survivors from his battle, who accepted the dagger without any resistance. "Progress? What kind of progress did their deaths earn you?" Zel asked in confusion, just as the old man landed on the ground. "I earn no progress in their death, Lord Zel." The old man answered with a gentle smile, as the daggers flew back into his robes. This confused Zel even more before he suddenly saw the headless body of the woman he just killed, growing her head back and healing. Looking around he saw similar scenes as the wounded who were just killed by the dagger suddenly were having all their wound healed including the ones he inflicted. "I see, so you make progress as a whole." Zel understood their plan was to tire him out endlessly, with them somehow able to revive themselves. "It looks like we need not shed any more needless blood." The old man along with everyone else sighed in relief before he looked towards Zel in pity. "Lord Zel, I am asking this one more time. Will you come with us willingly or not?" Zel stood there in silence. "Very well. Everyone retreat!" The old man ordered, and just as quickly everyone disappeared. "What the..." Zel replied in utter stupefaction, as he saw them running like all hell was about to rain down, raising a cloud of smoke in the desert. Zel too looked up to see if a meteor was heading his way or not, only to see the clear blue sky. "Do they have a screw loose in their heads?" Zel asked to no one in particular, before turning around and walking away. 15 minutes later, Zel understood that although it was not a meteor nor all hell raining down, this was somewhere in the middle. A person was accelerating from the sky at a very high speed. He couldn''t make out their face due to the fire surrounding them, but he knew to see that the fiery person was heading towards him. "Just my rotten luck to meet that jackass and have such a shitty holiday." Zel said as the person clad in fire soon appeared before him and crashed onto him. *Boom* The loud sound was preceded by the shockwave throwing the desert sand in the air, raising a cloud of sand and dust, making it impossible for anyone to see properly in a range of 25 km. "I am going to apply for an extension on my holiday, with the reason mental trauma due to that crazy bastard no matter what anyone says." Zel wheezed with difficulty as parts of his mangled limbs were laying around him. Amidst the cloud of dust around him, he could see the silhouette of the person who crashed into him and got him in this state. A woman dressed in black leather armour with white rim stood in front of him. "Time for us to go." The woman said, stoically as if she just didn''t crash land on a person. As Linda walked towards Zel, bright white light started pouring from his wounds, healing him. Just as wings made of pure white feather spread open behind the now standing Zel, Linda got ready for combat in her new suit of armour. "Looks like now I have to silence you." Zel sneered towards Linda. "He has prepared me enough to capture you." Linda replied reverently when she addressed the Fake One, just as darkness erupted from her armour shrouding the surrounding 10 km in it. ---------------------------------------- I walked outside of the soon to be the noisy court with the transmission device in my hand. Ellis and Luke were waiting outside, in the hot sun with a worried look. Seeing me, Ellis came up to me to receive the device, before asking "How did it go your highness?" "Boring but as expected. They were floored with it." I replied boringly, as I threw the device towards Ellis. The emperor wasn''t present for the court meetings today, instead, it was headed by Albert. Guess he still did not like/want to see me. "Is anything special happening today?" I asked, seeing the unusually busy marketplace. "Well, today many of the travelling merchants arrive at the capital from all over the empire in order to make their annual report, this week to the merchant association. Other than that, I don''t think anything else is going on." Luke replied. "Is that so?" I replied, not expecting an answer. I quickly made my way towards the underground facility to reward all those participated in the making of this device. After rewarding them, along with giving everyone else a bonus for the past 1 week I departed from the facility to my store above. Seeing the leftover fruits and milk from level 4 ingredients I decided to make some fruit ice cream. After an hour I had 2 normal cups and an extra-large cup filled with ice cream. Calling both Ellis and Luke, I gave them the normal cup while hoarding the large cup of fragrant ice cream all to myself, much to both their hidden annoyance. "Let''s go out for a stroll." I said as I walked out. I only spent walking 10 minutes before I took a seat outside a busy park with my hood up, in order to not stand out and gain attention from the public. Both Ellis and Luke blended with their surroundings. Luke sat in a coffee shop opposite me reading a book he borrowed from one of the shelves. Ellis sat leaning on a tree, fooling anyone not quite skilled enough in observing that he is fast asleep. Few people occasionally gave me the odd and suspicious glance before moving closer towards their children. I ignored them and made sure my hood was properly covering all of my face. I let the chaotic noise of children from the park, couples talking amongst themselves, people going about their daily lives enter my ear. I embraced it. How long has it been since I have truly embraced society like this? As a powerless and helpless person? Too long I guess. I watched people of all sorts walking past me: Liars, lovers, beggars, teenagers, thieves, the elderly, murderer, happy family, cheaters, businessmen, nobles, a serial killer, travelling merchants etc. Wow, it sure feels good to do this again after a long time, but with a different set of eyes and thought process. I hummed to myself as I ate my ice cream with my small dessert spoon. Any hero in my situation would want to go after those killers and serial killer I spotted. But unfortunately for their victim, I am no hero. I have never been one for a long time. I have no intention of being one anytime soon as well, unless I am that bored and is in need of a challenge. I will stay in this zone for a while longer, before moving on. I peacefully ate my ice cream in peace. Savouring each bite of it with my small spoon, giving one the illusion that there is an infinite amount for me to scoop up and eat. Only for someone to come ruin it 10 minutes later. "What do you want kid?" I asked the 9-year-old boy, looking at my ice cream longingly, few meters away from me. 141 Episode 140-It is Rude to Stare When Someone is Eating! No, his gaze was filled with greed, not gluttony. Greed for something that can be only gained from eating my ice cream. It was as if the boy knew there was more to be gained from eating my ice cream. How did this brat know that my ice cream was special and different? There was no way anyone normal person could recognise me here. So, this kid shouldn''t be aware of who I am along with, what this ice cream is capable of doing to a magi. "You want this?" I asked the kid staring at my ice cream. The kid nodded eagerly, without even bothering to look at me. "I will give it to you if you manage to entertain me." I said. This finally managed to put his attention back to me. "What do I need to do?" The kid tried appearing cute before me. It might work on others but not on me. I am going to make you work to the bone for this ice cream punk. "Give me 10 push-ups, as your first task." I ordered. ----------------------------- "199...200" Damn it you stupid system. If it wasn''t for you, I wouldn''t be doing this. A few hours ago, I saw a strange guy eating ice cream in relish. I had meant to use my skill [Observe] on him as my natural instinct and a way to farm exp for that skill but accidentally looked at the ice cream at the wrong time. [Ice Cream- Level 4] There was nothing conspicuous about the information the observe skill brought up, other than it being a level 4 and the colour highlighting the words ice cream was in violet. I suddenly remembered the grading of items and skills the system assigned for everything was as follows: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet and Rainbow. This piece of ice cream that this weird and creepy person so casually eating was one of the highest-grade items I had ever seen in real life other than orange. The flip, since when did food started having grades, I questioned myself? However, that soon became irrelevant as a window popped up in front of me. [Quest Started] [Desert after a tedious journey] [Description- Acquire the legendary food that only Gods have the luxury of eating, from the mysterious person and consume it.] [Reward- Unlock the stat spiritual. Spiritual stats increase by 5] [Bonus Quest] [Description- Find out the origin of the food fit for gods] [Reward- Spiritual stats increase by 5] Holy crap!? What the hell was with these rewards? This stupid system had never given me stat points above 0.5 as a reward. This was the first time I am getting so much stat point, and that to a total of 10 stat points as well as unlocking the spiritual stat, which I have been trying to unlock for the past 9 years of my life. After meeting that man my life has been truly hell for the past 2 hours. He made me do all sorts of heavy and strenuous exercise, in the name of entertainment. I swear if he doesn''t give me the ice cream at the end of this, then I am going to make his life a living hell when I get the chance, no matter what. But on the bright side, my agility and physical stats seemed to have increased by a bit from the past 2 hours from doing his rubbish tasks, giving me some kind of relief. [Physical stat increases by 0.5 over the past 2 hours] [Agility stat increases by 0.3 over the past 2 hours] Finally, after doing the last task of 200 push up in 10 minutes, I looked up pleadingly at the merciless person to show some kind of mercy. "Fine, you can have it." The man departed with his ice cream unwillingly. I soon started gorging on the ice cream ignoring the pinging I heard from mission completion. Suddenly I stood still, as my brain and taste buds finally realised what it was tasting. "This... how... can it be so good?" I asked. I could feel that I was crying, but why? I could almost feel the gentle breeze of spring, the same thing I felt when I was with mum and dad, back in the village. I was in a trance for a while as I ate the ice cream. When I realised that the ice cream had finished I was devastated. I looked back at the person wearing the hood to see his right hand supporting his chin, while he watched me in amusement. "You sure can go to any lengths for an ice cream boy." The man stated. "If it is not any trouble, can I ask from where did you get that ice cream?" I asked back wanting to know where I can buy such amazing and delicious food from. "Why would you want to know? It is not like you can afford it even if you knew." The man replied back. This kind of pissed me off, how dare he underestimate the great me. Well, he was actually right; I couldn''t really afford it now. But I could in the future. "Please?" I begged. "Well fine. Just ask around for the shop of the 3rd prince." The man replied in annoyance. "3rd Prince? As in Prince John Emberson?" I asked in surprise while ignoring the alert suggesting I completed the bonus mission. "Yeah, he runs the shop. Literally from cooking to cleaning is done by him. It is open for anyone, even criminals. However, to eat one snack from there, it will not be enough even if you sell yourself as a slave." The man replied. I blinked in surprise. The flip? I have heard the 3rd prince was a great cook, I never knew he had his own restaurant, in which he cooked food for everyone. "Surely you are joking. Why would a prince cook for people, especially a commoner? He must surely have servants doing the job." I replied back. I knew nobles. They would never do anything for us commoners without expecting anything back in return. There must be something he gains from doing all this. The man shrugged his shoulders. "Believing it or not is your choice. As for why he does it? Maybe he wants to seem like a very busy prince." Yeah as if I am going to believe such lame reason. "Well, time for me to leave kid." The man said as he stood up stretching his hand for a handshake. "Well, it was nice meeting you." I lied through my teeth. It was horrible meeting you As I usually did, I casually cast [Observe] on the mysterious person. [Unknown Level 1] That was I what I received if I ignored the whole thing written in violet and the description that came under it. [Description- If as much as his hair is harmed, you and everyone related to you will definitely die painfully, while wishing you hadn''t ever met him.] [Threat description- Seriously don''t piss him off or annoy him if you want to everyone you love to live.] I froze in fear. This was the first time I had ever seen a person''s name in violet. That description was absolutely terrifying. System why the hell did you have to show me something like that? I asked in despair. "Dean! Where are you?" I was awoken from a rather familiar voice. "There you are. Who is this person? Why are you holding his hands?" My sister started bombarding me with questions. I suddenly realised I was still holding onto the man''s hand. I let go of his hands suddenly and stood there motionless, as my sister started talking towards the mysterious man. "I am sorry about him. Who are you by the way?" I wanted to scream stop but remembered the threat description. "Oh, just a passer-by who was having a casual talk with your ..." The man paused as he looked at me for a moment before looking back at my sister. "...brother, I presume?" He asked. "Yeah." My sister nodded. "We were just about to leave and were saying our goodbyes. Anyway, it seems like you guys aren''t from here." My mind screamed to run away, but I did not dare. -------------------------- Ok great, a system user. I had to jinx myself last time, didn''t I. It was obvious the kid was a system user. His rapid improvement on his physique as he exercised, along with the sudden surge of magi which both Ellis and Luke had discerned for a magi attack, which happened twice. Not to mention it happened at 2 key timings: one when I gave him the ice cream, two when I revealed to him the location of where the ice cream was made. It seemed as if he was being rewarded for completing some kind of mission. I could have ignored the first surge of magi particle, accounting it as his first time advancing as a magi apprentice from eating my food. However, the strange thing was he never took notice of it. Even when it happened a second time, while he was casually talking to me. This I couldn''t ignore. The boy seemed like he was a person coming from a far away village. Guess he came with the travelling merchants. To confirm something I stretched my hand casually, only for the boy to grab it and shake it, as if he were all too used to that act. Hmm, most likely a transmigrator from earth or other modern civilisation. There was no way a country bumpkin/ village boy knowing about the way royalty and high nobles of the same rank, of this world, occasionally used to greet each other. Then there was the nail that sealed the coffin. He looked at me for a second. I could see his eyes move around slightly as if reading something before he froze in fear and panic. Yep, that brat just read my status with his gamer ability or system ability or whatever it was. However, it was a good thing I managed to set a layer of defence in my soul and brain against this kind of measly infiltration attempt from the invasion of a parasite. The poor man(he definitely is older than he looks) must be scared shitless after reading my profile. Soon his sister arrived and started questioning me in concern. "We were just about to leave and were saying our goodbyes. Anyway, it seems like you guys aren''t from here?" I asked truly curious what a system users family was up to. 142 Episode 141- Problems? Or solutions? ...derived from staring at someone eating. "The Cridbrunt Village up north." She replied. "You mean the village that started the uprising a few months ago?" I remembered that uprising against the empire. It had started sometime on December led by some people from a village up in the north which overthrew their local lord and slaughtered his entire family. It was then quickly followed by the villagers forming a rebellion group. In fact, one of my 3 assignments was to cull the rebellion up in north last month. It was out of that option I had chosen to travel to the grey zone. If I remember right Jack, the 2nd imperial prince, succeeded in culling the rebellion up north a few weeks ago and became a military hero due to his service at doing it without costing much death and bloodshed. The girl had an unsightly look as if she didn''t want to talk about it anymore. I diverted the topic. "Anyway, what are you guys doing here so far from your village? Have you started a new business as a merchant?" I asked while talking to her. She knew that I knew that she wanted to avoid the topic of the uprising, so she just answered my question instead of diverting from it as well. "We are here to see someone." She said with a sad tone. "Why are you looking so sad when you want to meet someone? Did you not get to see them?" I asked her. She remained silent which gave me the answer. "Well do you want my help? I am known as quite the chatter in the empire. Maybe I can help you see whoever you want?" I asked her. Her face had look to say as if hope was reignited, but she quickly quelled it, in fear of expecting something from me as part of a deal. "We...accept your ...help." The little system user managed to speak while attempting to hide his fear. "Dean... what are you saying?" His sister told him off. "Trust me, sis." He spoke confidently before turning towards me. "What do you want in return for helping us?" He asked me fearfully. I thought for a while before replying. "Nothing." I shrugged my shoulder. "Uh..." "Eh..." Both of them were surprised at that statement. "Well lead on. Maybe I can convince whoever it is you want to see." I said as I motioned them to start walking. "Hold up... It''s not exactly easy to see him..." The sister started off before she went quiet. "He is in prison!" The parasite holder stated. "Can you help us see someone inside a prison?" The boy asked me. I acted as if I was thinking for a while with my hand on my chin. "I think I should be able to." I answered which surprised the girl. "Yes!" The boy shouted in excitement. Dean started leading all of us towards the prison. Ellis and Luke followed from the roof on either side of me. Confirmed system user. No way anyone can know where both of them are, especially Luke, unless they are on the same level as Luke in tracking and hiding, along with Ellis who was getting good at it too(extremely quickly might I add). We soon passed the market area and approached the industrial area where factory works, and the sorts were done. The prison was located right at the edge of the industrial area right next to the polluted river which was cleansed with magi as it left the industrial area. Anyone foolish enough to think escaping through the river might as well swallow a poison that can kill them instantly rather than suffer a slow and agonising death from the poison in the river, which was created from the accumulated waste of the industrial area. As soon as the prison guard saw the girl they started whistling. *Whistle* "Have you finally thought about our deal little girl?" The middle-aged prison guard asked her. ''Ohh wanting to taste a someone younger than you? I can''t really call you paedophile since the girl looks to be above 18 as well.'' I thought while ignoring the anger and ashamed look on the girls face. "You bastards how dare you...?" The boy started off but was held back by his sister who covered his mouth. "You what brat. I dare you to say something to me once more and I will make sure you never get to see anyone in this prison again." The guard threatened. "Mmhmm mhmm." The boy spoke incoherent words due to the hand covering his face. "Look at the punk defending his grown-up sister, when he hasn''t even learned how to shit for himself. Hahaha!" Both guards amusingly started laughing. I walked forward to them. Seeing me walk forward both of them got tense. "Oi who are you? Are you related to them? Stay back. You are not allowed within a 2-meter radius of us." One of the guards warned me. However, I carried on. "If you walk anymore closer we will have to cut you down." The guard held onto the hilt of their sword. "Sir please don''t go any closer. Come back!" The girl shouted but I ignored her. I knew the brat was holding her back, otherwise, she would have tried to stop me going forward. As I got within their range one of the guards raised his sword to strike me down with the blunt side of his sword. *Clang* His sword met Ellis'' sword and was easily pushed back. I carried on walking without stopping. The other guard looked towards his friend who was facing against a new threat. "Are you trying to break into the prison of his imperial majesty?" The guard questioned as he raised his sword to strike me. *Bang* He was kicked back onto the wall. I carried on walking forward to where the communication device was located. "Oi open the door!" I ordered lazily after pressing the communication device. *Wail* Sirens started wailing throughout the prison. In a few minutes, a battalion of guards walked out of the prison. "Drop your weapons, arms above your head and kneel down." One of the leading guards spoke after he and his group of 70 guards had surrounded us. "Do I look like someone who is carrying any weapons?" I asked the guard who ignored my question and repeated his statement once more. "Drop your weapons, arms above your head and kneel down." "I don''t want to kneel down, its too much effort." I stated to the head guard. "Last warning intruder! Drop your weapons, arms above your head and kneel down." He warned us one last time. "Meh, let''s see what you can do." I stated. As the first few guards were about to even take a step forward a wave crashed in front of them. The guards followed the wave to see Ellis sheathing his sword. "Sword Whisperer!" One of them stated in awe and fear. All of them gulped in fear. "Any of you want to engage me now?" The captain drew his sword and prepared to cast a spell. However similar to before another wave launched just above his head missing his hair by few centimetres. Everyone turned to look only to see Luke sheathing his sword. "Oh, I forgot to mention I got 2 for the price of one. Hehe!" I smiled towards them as they nervously looked at me. "State your intention intruder!" I heard a voice speaking from the comms. "Ah, you are finally here." I walked forward to speak into the comms. The guards knew it was best not to take a step forward seeing Ellis and Luke both had their hand on the hilt of their swords. "I am here for inspection under the orders of... wait a minute." I told the person on the comms before turning towards Ellis. "Hey Ellis, what''s his name?" Ellis looked at me in confusion. "Ah nevermind, I got it thanks!" I thanked him and turned back to the comms, much to his growing confusion. "Yeah, I am here under the orders of the 3rd imperial prince. The 2 guards behind me are the proof of the order as they are the bodyguards of the prince, the 2 youngest sword whisperers of the empire." I stated. "If you are who you say you are, then you should take care to announce his imperial highness'' name with a bit of respect please." The voice advised me. "Riven confirm the identity of both bodyguards before letting them in." Riven the lead guard nodded before walking up to both Ellis and Luke and bowing towards them. Ellis and Luke had higher seniority in terms of rank than him. Luke held up his ID along with Ellis, this time Riven bowed even more respectfully before he walked towards the comms. "They are indeed the guards of his imperial highness 3rd prince John Emberson." Riven announced. "Very well bring them in." The voice announced after which they comms shut down. The guards started reorganising before they went in. Riven stayed behind in order to guide us. "Oh, they are with us." I stated as I pointed towards the 2 at the back gaping at me. Ellis and Luke walked forward while I joined the two at the back. "What are you doing? They are going to find out we didn''t come here for inspection." The girl whispered in panic. "Relax those two are the personal bodyguards of the imperial prince. I just got them out for a walk today, seeing as the 3rd prince has been cooped up in his lab for the past 1 week now, leaving those two alone and bored. Besides, they got free access almost everywhere in this empire." I stated while pointing at the 2 poker-faced dudes in front of me who had no idea what I was playing at here. Sure, they had free access, but I had even more access and authority everywhere in the empire, second only to the emperor together with the commandments. "Won''t you get in trouble for doing this?" Dean asked me. "A drop of water won''t affect the massive ocean. I am neck-deep in trouble already with quite a lot of people, this little trouble won''t add or change anything." I explained. "But still ..." The girl went off, but I held up my hand. "Don''t bother. I said I would do this for you, and I would. I have been bored for quite a while seems like this prison visit will liven things up for a bit, for me. Also please don''t reveal to anyone that this was a last-minute operation. I don''t want to set aflame, the thin rope we are walking on, in fire." I warned both as we arrived at the warden''s office. Opening the door there were two people in there. One the warden. "Greeting esteemed guards of his imperial highness." The warden saluted both Ellis and Luke. The other... "Hey wassup, punks? Long time no see! How you y''all been doing?" ...he sat on the chair eating the popcorn chicken I made for him 12 hours ago. 143 Episode 142- Humanity "¡­" Albert stared back at me in equal silence. "Get lost." Was the first thing I said to him. "Don''t wanna." Was his reply. "Just pretend he doesn''t exist." I told everyone who came in with me much to their confusion. I saw from the corner of my eye the system user staring at Albert for a few seconds before he became confused. He quickly looked at me before looking at Albert in confusion again. He must have used his ''Observe'' skill on Albert and most likely have received a bunch of ''???''. Unlike my mind which I have set an active defence against these kinds of simple mental intrusions, most people don''t set any sort of defence against the parasites abilities. Due to this, most people''s information is laid bare before the parasite which is given to its host. However, when one is simply too strong or hold much more mental strength than the parasite or its host then it becomes harder for the parasite to infiltrate a person''s mind and gather information. Due to this the parasite simply sends a bunch of ''?'' to the parasite in order to say the parasite has no clue to their strength or information as it and its host is weak. As for the reason why I call a system, the parasite is for a simple reason, because it essentially functions as a parasite. Most systems need a living being or something with a conscience/ soul to function with like a parasite. Once a system attaches to this sort of being it starts guiding or growing that being from the background in return for specific demands from the host of the system, such as money, system points etc. Often these demands from the system will be much subtle like money or something which can be traded. But what these hosts don''t realise is that the system doesn''t care about the demands like money, gold, system points but rather the essence behind how it is collected. For example, if the system required money the user would start becoming greedier for money. When the host greedily starts collecting money no matter how good of a reason he is planning to use it for, it will create an imbalance in society or on a person for a few moments including the host. When a person expresses their emotions, it is naturally felt from the soul, no matter how deep or shallow the emotion is. Due to this, emotions release a simple form of energy from the soul which is derived from the soul''s infinite divine energy called emotional energy. The system harvests these energy sources from the host and these people who were affected by the host''s action no matter how far they are to empower the parasitic lifeform situated inside the hosts'' soul shell. It doesn''t always have to be negative emotions but can be any sort of emotions ranging from happy, sad, angry, mistrust etc. These takeovers usually happen in a life-threatening moment for the user, such as when the user is nearly on the verge of death and have no chance of coming back, but suddenly the system gives the user a massive boost in strength. This massive boost is nothing other than the illusion the parasite has placed on its host. From then on, the host will live a life of lie conquering worlds and beauties and die happily, or even be brainwashed by the system''s illusion without knowing their true body and mind has been taken over by the very parasite they trusted. At the same time as the host is placed in an illusion, the system will use part of its energy gained from accumulating emotional energy to teleport and heal the body of its host no matter how serious the wound was. From then on is the rise and comeback of the parasite instead of the host. And the worst part is system parasites are not natural-born beings but rather created. This meant there was specifically someone out there wanting to put a parasite in Dean''s body for some reason. "So, kid I heard you were planning to bring about some changes here?" Albert asked me. Instead of answering I just ignored him. "Mr Warden as I said before I am just here to inspect this prison for future development on prisons to improve security. So why don''t you tell me the general description of this prison." I asked the warden. "Oh me, me, me!" Albert excitedly raised his hand like a kid. Before I could ignore him, he started "This prison is ¡­" Then started a long boring session of the prison history, its features, securities etc. "Is that enough info for you punk?" Albert asked. I shrugged my shoulders at that. "Ha made you notice me." He replied excitedly. "As a reward can I get a 50% discount coupon?" Albert asked with a puppy eye. "1-that is so disgusting when it is done by an old man. 2- get lost." I berated him. "1-this puppy eye technique is effective irrespective of age. 2-I don''t wanna." He replied. The warden rubbed his head in annoyance. "Please, you are both envoys from certain representatives of the imperial court take this inspection more seriously." The warden berated without knowing the true identity of Albert. "Envoys? Who supposedly sent you?" I asked Albert in amusement. "Well seeing as the 3rd prince send you, I was sent by the head of Thorn family." The old man replied. I could see both Ellis and Luke look at Albert with a look of "Really? That the best you can think of?" He just practically copied my same excuse. I came here saying I was sent by the 3rd prince when I am the 3rd prince. While he came here saying he was sent by the head of the Thorn family when he is the head of the Thorn commandment family. "Well since you both came for inspection; I can guide you at the same time. Where would you like to go first?" The warden asked. "How about we start with visiting the cell of a certain prisoner named ''Dominic''?" Albert said with a smirk. Hearing the name froze the 2 people behind me. I sighed at this amateur trick Albert was pulling. "Yeah let''s go." I said and turned around to leave with Albert while leaving the flabbergasted warden behind. "Wait." We both ignored the warden as Albert led the way, as he probably knew it like the back of his hand. Ellis and Luke nudged the unsure siblings to follow as. After going through lots of gates and guards, which were opened by the grumpy warden, we arrived in front of a cell. "All clear from me." Albert said without even looking. "Same, but my subordinates need to investigate in detail. Mr Warden, can you please open the cell for my subordinates?" I asked while looking at the tear-filled siblings as they saw who I assumed was their older brother, ''Dominic''. Dominic''s condition was pitiful. It was not because he was living in a harsh cell, but he had a lifeless and hopeless look in his eyes as if he had given up on the world. He sat in a corner looking at the air blankly, with his unshaven beard and uncut long hair. "But¡­" The warden started off. "Seriously we got 2 sword whisperers here, why are you so afraid of a Rank 2 magi user?" Albert interrupted him. After a few moments of struggle, the warden relented. "Ok if anything goes wrong it is on both your heads." The warden tried to scare us into backing off as he opened the cell door. "Please." I waved towards the siblings who rain in with happiness along with some sadness, shouting "Dominic!" "Brother!" "So, you know who they are?" I asked Albert. "Did you bring them here without knowing about them?" Albert asked back, to which I nodded. "What made you do that?" He asked me. "I was bored and thought I could do some drama after I saw the look of hopelessness and desperation in that girls'' eyes." I said. "And it definitely was not because the boy suddenly advanced as an apprentice magi in front of your very eyes?" Albert asked. I shook my head. "You forgot he ate my food. He was meant to advance anyway after eating it." "I call bullshit on that. Especially when there was a 2nd surge of magi particles. Just say it, you are curious about what happened with that brat." Albert stated. "Nope, I was curious when it happened, but I had figured out what happened after a few minutes." I said after which I yawned and stretched. "You did? So, what was it?" Albert asked me. "Go figure it out yourself. You are one of the strongest magi, consider this as a challenge." I said to him which annoyed him. "So, about those siblings? Are they related to the rebellion in the north somehow?" I asked as I saw both siblings hugging the brother only for him to lifelessly stay there ignoring them. "Yeah. Typical stupid lower nobles annoyed the villagers with their stupid rules and restrictions. Then the idiot noble''s son raped those kids'' mother for 3 days straight after kidnapping her to their mansion. The husband who went to ask for his poor wife got tortured and slaughtered by the tyrant noble. The wife unable to bear the suffering anymore hung herself on her clothes. The villagers went mad hearing this and revolted against them. However, few among them were quite the zealots and greedy people as they tried to amass even more people to join them for their now renewed cause of overthrowing all nobles and even the empire, using their parents as martyrs. The crown prince was sent for the mission to calm them down and to offer them a deal, but instead, he made it worse by killing one of the rebellion leaders. This made the situation even worse and he had to be escorted back to the capital quickly, while the rebellion grew in strength and numbers using the now-deceased leader as a martyr too. The 2nd Prince then had to be sent down there to control the situation with military force and after much effort, he managed to finally destroy the rebellion a month ago. However, in the process, he had to kill all rebellion leaders, and when asked for a sacrifice by the other pissed of lower nobles he had to pick a worthy lamb for those starving wolves." Albert explained. "So, was he one of the leaders in the rebellion as well?" I asked. "Yeah, he was the general in the rebellion army. All the other greedy and selfish assholes in the rebellion quickly sacrificed him to save their own lives and wealth they acquired from pillaging few noble families. He came with Jack without any complaints or resistance surprisingly. His only request was that his siblings should be left in peace to Jack." "So, you are here to make sure I leave them alone, as per his request?" I inquired while looking at the wailing siblings who were trying to get some sort of response from Dominic. "His trial is still going on, and it is, without doubt, he will be given public execution in order to appease the nobles and he knows that too. You can see that he has already prepared to move on. Don''t break that state of his by messing with his family. Don''t give him the desire to live when he has accepted his fate. Just leave them alone." Albert warned in an unusually serious voice. "Did Jack send you here?" Albert nodded to my question. "I hope you still have some decency left in you to grant him his last request." Albert said as he walked off disappearing into the darkness much to the warden''s annoyance at having a potential loose cannon in his prison amidst his prisoners. 144 Episode 143- Who doesnt love the Internet? "I will send a detailed report to his highness. He will consider the upgrades necessary for the prison." I said to the warden just before we left. As the 5 of us walked back to town in silence I broke the silence. "You should not visit your brother again." Dean looked confused as to why I said something like that while the sister looked nearly furious. "Your brothers'' mental state is quite unique at this moment. He has accepted his fate to die and has prepared his mind to not feel anything from the world that would make him desire to live again." I explained to them. "Visiting him again will make him slowly break out of that state of mind and will make him want to live. Trust me giving false hope to a dying person like your brother who has already accepted their fate is worse than torture at this point for him. Your brother has accepted death and is facing it like a brave warrior. Don''t turn his last moment to be that of a coward." I advised both. They remained silent until we reached the town. "This is where we split. It was nice meeting you both and your brother. Take care, bye." I said as I turned around to leave. "Wait!" The girl shouted. I halted my steps to her what she wanted to say. "Thank you for everything you did for us today. I will remember what you said and the favour you did for us. If we could pay you in any way just tell us." I could tell the girl was nearly on the verge of crying. I simply shrugged and walked away. "I don''t think you can afford my payment even if you were to sell yourself. So, forgot about what I did for you today, and pretend as if you never saw me." I warned them and left the area. I soon started focusing back on what to do now. I must not only get the court to my side but the public as well. The public must become reliant on my research department for the court to not consider disassembling it and forcefully removing me from the service. Sure the recent upgrade of live transmission device was loved by them all. But I needed something more solid than that to make sure they can''t ever replace me or in fact think of replacing me. After all, I need this lab to understand award, magi and possibly even cure my condition while building some things to protect me. I decided to create a phone using the current technology available here along with using magi. To do that I need to understand how some of the equipment''s function in this world. I walked back to the underground lab and started working on some communication device that worked like phones. Thus, I jumped into books and theories researching on how certain items like communication crystals work using magi along with experimenting with the electromagnetic frequencies to see how much of it was affected by magi and award. As for the award, I couldn''t conduct much experiment to it due to not having anyone with award available to participate in my experiments. I looked through all the papers containing my experiment results. This world had something that functions like CCTV and a monitor, but it lacked a database/ computer to store data. It was annoying in a sense. I decided the next thing after inventing phones will be to invent computers just to make my life easier. It took a few days, but I managed to finish constructing my version of phones in this world. The annoying part of making it was waiting for the right equipment''s and tools to arrive to make it. During my spare time, I also made some equipment I needed if I ever got my ass handed to me. When designing them I made sure to add the feature so than when I roll out networking or simply known as the internet it will still be accessible on the phones without having to buy new ones. I lost count of how long I spent waiting and making things inside the lab while cooking in my restaurant during my free time. The detectives that I had hired, especially Connor and Amelia came to me with their finding almost every other day that I assigned them to investigate. I think I must have spent something like more than a week or 2 like this. I summoned a meeting with all the 10 leaders and their assistants in the underground research department when I had finished with my development. I decided to sleep as they took their time to arrive. "Umm¡­ your highness." Someone woke me up. The look on the face of the person who woke me up was that of worried and frightened. Must have been forced by his superiors to wake me up. I ignored his worried face and looked around. There were about a few dozen people gathered inside the room waiting for me patiently seated. "Ah, good you all arrived. Let us start." I said as I walked up to the podium. "I summoned all of you here to introduce you all to something I just recently built and wanted everyone inside the facility to start using it." I said as I pulled the sleeves of my cloak to reveal something like a watch on my wrist. "Behold my latest invention! The ¡­" I paused as I realised, something. "Never mind I forgot to name it. Let us get to the main point." "¡­" All of them stared at me blankly. "Actually, let''s just call it the portable communication device or just PCD for convenience sake." I instructed them which earned even more confused looks. "PCD is a unique product. Each PCD taps into a unique frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum thus giving it a unique ID¡­" I started explaining how to PCD uses frequencies to allow communications between 2 people. This started getting them excited as they thought of the possibilities they could achieve with using EM spectrum as I did. "You are all aware of the EM spectrum, so I am not going into too much detail to explain it. If you want to disassemble it yourself to understand how this works, feel free to do so. Now, what would make you use this device rather than a communication crystal you may ask? Well, unlike communication crystal, the PCD holds much more features, like taking and storing pictures in it, same for videos, checking the time etc." This got all their attention and soon they were looking at me like hungry lions. "Not only that I recently spend some time upgrading the live transmission device and integrated it in here to work with the EM spectrum. So now this device here lets you talk from wherever you are in the empire using live transmission, as long as a signal transmitter is within 100 km range of that area." I said. I could see all of them were salivating over the PCD. "I have worked on the signal transmitter and receiver. I want you all to start using it in order to make sure there are no problems with it before the live product is released to the public." I announced as took a box sitting next to the podium. Opening it there were few dozens of PCD. I casually started throwing around the PCD in the air much to all their annoyance as they quickly tried to catch it before it landed on the floor. Some even used their body to stop the PCD from touching the floor and shattering. "Start using it. I am planning to release it to the public soon if everything works out well." I said as I walked out ignoring their mad ramblings as they molested each of their PCD. I walked out of the lab to my restaurant to see Ellis, Luke and Titus there. "What?" I asked Titus. "I got information that you send these brats out to book a large venue for some kind of large public gathering?" He asked me in irritation. "Yes, you along with the rest of the court are going to want to join it." I said as I walked towards my kitchen to cook myself some dinner. "May I remind you what happened the last time you attended a gathering that you organised?" Titus asked me as he followed behind me. "No need." I answered him. Titus remained silent as he stared at me. "Whatever, your choice if you want to suffer!" Titus replied as he shrugged his shoulders. "What brings you here anyway other than trying to warn me?" I asked him. "To remind you once more that the meeting with the nobles you pissed off is in 3 days." He said. "Man, such a drag. Can I not just kill them and be done with it?" I asked back in annoyance which earned a frustrated look from Titus. "If you kill 1 then what is stopping you from killing the rest. Soon you will become a tyrant which we will all gladly kill instead of stopping. So, feel free to do it." Titus smirked excitedly as he motioned his hands. "Annoying morality and rules." I muttered as I started cutting some ingredients. "Anyway, about this public gathering of yours? What is it about?" Titus asked. "Can''t you just wait?" I asked him. "Nope. I have to discuss with other 2 on whatever bullshit you are about to pull on us and the empire before letting you do it." A frown appeared on his face. "Uhh¡­" I moaned as I threw him my PCD. Titus caught it and examined it curiously. "What the heck is this?" He asked in confusion. "You will understand in a few hours. Just take it back to Dexter''s residence and wait there. You will understand it''s purpose in roughly¡­" I thought how long I should wait before calling them on that PCD. "2 hours." I stated. "Can you not just make it easy on us by telling me what the hell this is right now?" He asked as he threw the PCD in the air and caught it. He repeated this for a while before I answered him. "Well in simple terms that there is part of a set of items that I am going to make, for which the public will love me more than anyone in the world. More than even the gods one day." I stated. This statement caused Titus to freeze and the PCD he threw in the air started coming down. However just before it hit the floor Titus swooped his hands and caught it like he was holding a delicate baby. "The fuck?! Are you serious or are you exaggerating right now?" Titus asked in bewilderment. "Quite serious." I stated as I started stirring the soup in the pot with a doubtful face of whether I wanted to eat soup or not. Meh, soups are less effort to eat as I don''t need to chew much. Titus quickly ran out of the kitchen and soon out of the building like his arse was on fire while holding the PCD close to his chest. 145 Episode 144- I believe...Actually I dont believe I can Fly or Touch the Sky! I ripped one of her wings and dipped it in barbeque sauce before proceeding to feed it to the cats. "I think cat''s love pigeon wings." I stated in amusement. As I was enjoying my beautiful life, I suddenly felt vertigo that was out of my dream. I opened my eyes to see I was being carried by a running and annoyed Maximus. "I can explain." I said to him, which he ignored as he came to a sudden stop. "I seriously can explain why I overslept." I tried explaining to him only for him to ignore me as he lifted me up like a kitten. "I was tired from making the PCD that I decided to take some reeeeesssstttt!" I shouted the last part as I flew. I saw a worried Ellis and Luke soon catching up with Maximus. Damn, I am going to have broken bones again, aren''t I? I sighed as I waited for my body to impact something. 10 seconds later I turned my head around to see I was approaching the very building I was supposed to have been in. *Crash**Bam* I smashed through one of the windows and flew past the gathered, stunned nobles and smacked onto the wall. "At this point, my bones should have the strength of steel from being broken and mended so many times, if the statement ''broken bones grow stronger once healed'' is true." I stated under the rubble, which I was buried under. "¡­" Everyone just stayed there not knowing what to do. 2 minutes later I felt someone pick me up. "Oh, so you are still alive." A masked Dexter smiled as he started shaking me to get the rubble and dust of me. "I am severely injured so I can''t attend this meeting. Meeting postponed until I am healed." I stated to everyone. "Do you want me to repeat what he just did to you?" Dexter asked, and I could feel the smile behind his mask. "Meeting is reinstated due to how benevolent I am." I changed my words quickly. Dexter carried me by the neck and placed me on the chair I was supposed to sit in. "Ahem, let us make this quick due to various reasons." I said as I sat still on the chair. "¡­" The gathered nobles still had no idea how to proceed. "My offer to you is a 10% discount offer which can be used for 3 times." I stated. They were all silent for a minute before they all had an enraged face. However, they didn''t act it out as they kind of guessed that it must be a commandment behind that white mask. Who else would have the courage to touch and threaten an imperial prince so openly other than a commandment? "Oh, don''t mind me. Feel free to tear him apart if you want to. Just make sure he is left alive by the end." Dexter stated before he disappeared through the hole in the window. "Asshole!" I cursed. "Umm¡­ I think I did. Why else would you guys be angry if I did not do it?" I asked back much to their growing fury. "However, how about 2 new offers." I quickly stated before they could get even more pissed off. This calmed them down. "30% discount coupon which can be used for a grand total of 4 times." They were getting infuriated by me. "What the hell is wrong with you guys? With the price, I am charging for high-level beast ingredients you can save 10''s of plat chips. In fact, if you were to sell any of these tickets to a commandment you could earn as much as 100 plat chips." I stated in annoyance seeing their anger. "Your highness you purposely jeopardised the future of our heirs and apprentices, along with insulting them. We require you to give us appropriate compensation for that." A buff man stood up as he confronted me. "If I could, I would stand up to retort you, but I am stuck here. So how about listening to my 2nd offer?" I asked. They all nodded and waited. Waited¡­ And waited¡­ "Umm, your highness?" A person asked me as they have been waiting for close to a minute for something from me. "Yeah." I answered. "About your 2nd offer?" The woman asked. "What about it?" "You haven''t told us what it is?" "Yeah, I know. I am waiting for my staff, to bring in the documents needed for the 2nd offer." I responded. They sighed in relief after finding out my 2nd offer was not simply a metaphor of nothing from what they observed from my silence. We all waited, and after a few minutes, I asked. "Did any of you have breakfast?" They just coldly stared at me. "Just making small talks. Never mind then." I said while aware lunchtime was over. *Knock**Knock**Knock* "Come in!" I shouted after having waited 10 minutes. Ellis and Luke soon entered holding stacks of documents. "Ah, there you are. Place these files in front of me." I stated. However, they frowned seeing the smashed windows and cracked walls along with the slumped and injured form of mine. They walked forward and placed the stack of documents on the table. There were about 50 documents for the 50 nobles, merchants and powerful magi''s here. "Both of you distribute these files to each of them. Along with that don''t open the file or peek at it until I tell. If you do there won''t be any compensation." I ordered all of them seriously, to which they all nodded. Ellis and Luke soon started distributing the files. Few people in the room kind of got worried how Ellis and Luke, who they have never seen before, knew all of them by name. "Ok, now you can open it. I just wanted to see the reaction on all your faces together and not miss it." I stated. They were annoyed but still opened the file to read it. I could see the change in their faces. All of them were pissed and worried at the same time. "These are the copies. So, which one do you want: offer 1 or offer 2?" I asked them. "How dare you insult us, your highness? Is this how you pay for our loyalty?" The woman who stood up earlier now asked me with a furious expression. Soon the other joined in and started shouting at me. "Your highness we are aware that you are planning some sort of large public gathering. You wouldn''t want chaos in such a gathering, will you?" Few threatened me. I just listened calmly while slowly falling asleep. "Seriously listening to all of you rambling at the same time is making me sleepy. How about this those who want offer 1 stay back. While those who want to go to complain to my dad along with facing the consequence of offer 2 please leave. But think twice before you pick offer 2. Your kids/ heirs did not commit simple crimes but rather crimes that could warrant death and lifelong imprisonment. Usually, my dad will close his eyes to these sorts of things as it is done by a few nobles. But if I bring these files in front of all the royal court you all are fucked." Seriously getting those detectives to do this saved my time a lot. They were all silent after hearing it and were getting worried. "I would make a grand exit now, but I got broken limbs so both of you have to carry me out on this chair." I told Ellis and Luke pitifully. As Ellis and Luke carried me by the chair out, I said the last thing to the pissed off nobles. "Your discount voucher has been sent to each of your residences. Hopefully, I will see those tickets back in my restaurant soon." I said as I left. They might want to complain, raise issues and make problems for me. But it will all be useless once the PCD is unveiled. Both the court and the public will ignore them in favour of me. We arrived at the store and took the backup food I stored in case of emergency and ate some of it. I popped my bones in place as I slowly healed. Man being a ''soulless'' has its advantage that solely belongs to me. For others they wouldn''t heal this fast as the energy from the food will be used for their accumulation (if one is magi), giving them energy (if one is an award user), or simply explode from energy overload if they eat too much without being either a magi or award user (due to not being to able to control the flow of energy properly). However, for me, I had no such problems and guided all those excess energies inside my body to heal me. I got up and prepared for the grand day. I had placed the underground lab in strict lockdown right before the reveal of PCD to not let information about the PCD to flow out. Many of the commandments were curious but didn''t try that hard in getting what I was planning for seeing how strictly Dexter, Maximus and Titus guarded the area to block out any kind of information. Few people in the lab were angry at being confined to the lab due to missing out on their dates or other plan but they had no choice. They agreed to this when they signed the contract. However, most of them were simply to fascinated by the PCD and was dissecting it to understand its anatomy even right now. Due to having not created any sort of paperwork or blueprint while making the PCD no one had a clue how it worked or anything to reference it on. Might take them few days to work it out if all of them pooled their thoughts and ideas together, which the 10 superiors had started doing since yesterday. The venue for the first reveal of PCD was set in a large open field. Those that held the ranks and titles of nobles were given luxurious seating arrangements. While for the commoners it was just standing or sitting down on the ground. I had arranged food stalls and shops to be in the area so people could go for refreshment, while for the lower nobles they would be guided to a V.I.P room served with food. As for the nobles of the imperial court, any commandments and emperor that decide to turn up, they will have their own personal room designed to accommodate them throughout the whole event and watch it at the same time. Dexter and co had forced me to extend the convention to next week due to needing to get as many people to join and make people waiting in anticipation excited for what the 3rd imperial prince or better known as their ''hero, was inviting them for. 146 Episode 145- The Convention Johncon "Long live your imperial highness!" The gathered nobles bid the emperor their salutations as he dismissed them. The emperor sighed as he looked at Albert as all of the nobles left. Emperor: Should we act now or wait until the supposed public gathering of his is over? Albert who was sleeping with his head down, was silent for a while before he woke up and looked around. *Yawn* He stretched his arms while yawning. Albert: I think we should wait. Emperor: I thought the same thing. He won''t purposely agitate and anger all those nobles without having a backup plan. Albert had a confused look on his face. Albert: What are you talking about your highness? The emperor looked at Albert in confusion as well. Emperor: What did you think I was talking about? Albert smiled cheekily while looking around to see if anyone was there to help him out. Unfortunately, all the nobles had left leaving just him and the emperor alone in the room. Emperor: I don''t have time to waste Albert. Albert: Of course, it was about whether to go and eat at John''s restaurant after the event or before the event. Is it not? Emperor had an annoying tick appear on his head, while Albert looked at him innocently. Emperor: Get out and do something useful. The emperor ordered as he stormed out leaving Albert wondering if he had given the wrong answer. Albert: Meh, Smith will deal with it. Albert shrugged as he left. ---------------------------------------- [About a week later- Ez PoV] ???: "You¡­highn¡­wak¡­p! Someone was trying desperately to wake me up, but I ignored them as I blissfully embraced my dream. Wait a minute. Wasn''t that Ellis'' voice? It sounded pretty urgent as well. I quickly shot open my eyes, but it was too late as someone grabbed my leg and smacked me to the floor. *Bam* Son of a rotten mushroom! Do these people not know how to throw water onto a sleeping person''s face or to scream into their ear? My nose had broken along with several bones in my face along with ribs. It looks like soon my ribs will become an iron fortress for my heart at the rate it was being broken and healed. Someone pulled me up by the collar and I got to see the face of my assailant. Maximus: You are late again! However, I just stared at him instead of replying. What was with him and brutally assaulting people who are sleeping? Maximus threw me to the side. Maximus: Feed him the emergency supply quickly. Majority of the high nobles, about half of the commandments and the representative of the other half commandments and Smith who is there for the emperor are waiting for you and you have the guts to sleep? That was what I intended to say but what came out of my mouth was blabber and gibberish due to all my facial injuries. Maximus just stared at me. Luke brought a large bowl of emergency food I kept in stock which I quickly ate. My body soon began to heal and repair itself. I repeated what I had tried to say earlier to him. Maximus: Your injury can be fixed, but your punctuality cannot be. Stop dawdling around and get moving. Tens of thousands of people are waiting for you. I sighed as I walked out of the small building that was constructed just for today''s convention. Life is so easy sometimes when you have high ranking magi''s at you beck and call. Outside thousands of people were walking around with a festival atmosphere. Stalls were on the side serving all sorts of items and luxury goods. While every few meters there were buildings erected just for the purpose of today''s convention. Maximus guided me to the entrance arranged for those with titles and noble ranks to arrive in. I had to wait for 20 minutes before the first V.I.P even arrived and it was a high noble. I looked at the masked Maximus in annoyance. Ez: 20 minutes of my peaceful sleeping time. Maximus: Your event schedule suggests high nobles and those with higher rank has their arrival time at 3 pm, which was 20 minutes ago. The nobles who came parked their luxurious carriages elsewhere and just walked in through the entrance. We greeted each and everyone who came in from then on. Of course, most of those nobles had slight trepidation in seeing me but I ignored that as I put on my nice face. They bowed towards me and especially towards the masked Maximus who they knew as a commandment. After all the high nobles had arrived the commandments started arriving. I bet these guys purposely planned to come late after being aware of everyone arrival time. Of course, I saw a few familiar faces. Albert: Hey punk, tell me what you have¡­ Ez: Next! I shouted ignoring him much to his amusement as he stayed behind and started talking with me. Albert: ¡­and he asked me if we should wait or not? All I said was yes and he just stormed off in anger¡­ Good thing I had met people more annoying than him, otherwise I would have personally ripped his mouth off. Maximus: Can you shut up for just 1 minute? Albert: I can shut up for 1 second if you want? Luckily for Maximus, just as he was about to enter a brawl with Albert, Smith arrived. Albert: Smith! Just the person I needed to see. Last week when the emperor asked me¡­ He went to annoy Smith who quickly increased his walking pace and didn''t even bother to look me in the eye. Soon another person I had seen a long time ago arrived. Ez: Well hello there, sis! I smiled towards Natasha who bowed her head towards me respectfully and quietly before walking in. After a few more minutes of idling around and greeting people, it was about time. Ez: Well is that everyone? Maximus: Yeah that is everyone. Ez: Stupid rules about giving respect and showing hospitality. Maximus: You are already ranked number 1 on almost all of their kill list, so this is the only way to make sure they do not somehow try to jeopardise the PCD release. I shrugged and walked in. Ez: How many times do I have to tell you they can try but it would never work? Trust in me and the public. It was 4:30 pm. Just on time. I walked towards the stage. Screens started appearing all over the field for those who were too far back to see me up close. The loud field became quiet as they realised the event was about to start. Ez: Well everyone it is good to see you all. I won''t bore you with long words so this will be a small intro. I appeared on all the screen. The crowd cheered and clapped as my voice was perfectly heard throughout the whole area. Ez: You might be all wondering why I had suddenly mobilised such a large scale event on such short notice. Well, it had to be done for what I am going to introduce to you all today. Technology. Just as I said the word technology the screens started showing a short video of cogs and gears that were struggling to move at first before it gained momentum and rapidly started moving. Then the camera zoomed out to show an automated carriage being moved by the cogs and carriage. The people were fascinated by it, most have never even seen the inside of a carriage, while the few that had became curious about what I could be leading onto. Ez: I can see the fascination in most of your eyes from seeing the inside of a carriage for the first time. But that is not the reason I called you here. The reason I called you all here is to witness things much more advanced than simple cogs and gears which are powered by magi crystals, that moves a carriage. Ez: Before that let me introduce you to a new sector I had opened. ''R\u0026D'' These 3 characters appeared on the screen surrounded by cogs, gears, puzzles etc. Ez: R\u0026D stands for research and development. I had established this new sector about a month ago. As I talked the letter R\u0026D expanded to their definitions. Ez: Most of you who live in the capital might have heard or seen the recruitment process, some of you even participated in it. Ez: Many of you wonder what it is, and its purpose. I will answer your 1st question, as for its purpose by the end of today''s convention you will realise the purpose of R\u0026D. Everyone listened quietly most occasionally being distracted by the animation going on in the screen that I had set up beforehand. Ez: R\u0026D is the latest research unit I have established in the empire. We require not only scholars but also those who like to create new things or learn and apply new things. So, if you are interested in joining you will know where to find me. Spread the word to the whole of the Empire. Ez: I am not interested in your academic qualification but rather your capabilities which I will personally assess. Should I find it satisfactory then you are hired! Ez: Even if you are a beggar, child, someone in his/her deathbed, as long as you like to create things or have a talent at learning or building things or thinking up unique ideas just fill out the application which we will post throughout the whole capital starting in 2 days time and submit it to the address written below the application. Ez: If you are successful in your application, I will contact you. Remember there is no deadline for this application, however, you will only be able to apply once every 10 years. So, don''t squander your chance and think about applying carefully. I am pretty sure by now the nobles who were listening must be very confused. If what I said was true, then that means I will receive millions of applications by the end of this year alone. They must be wondering how the heck I was going to process all those applications. Ez: Now onto the main event! I announced as it got to 5 pm. Ez: I have invited a few of the researchers in the R\u0026D department to show you some things that they have developed or planning to develop since the 1 month that we have started. Ez: Make sure not to leave before the end as the final product is something I made for all of you, and you all are going to love it. I baited them so that they wouldn''t leave from boredom at listening to these bookworms talk. 147 Episode 146-Be kind! "Most holy one what is the verdict on the imperial prince from revealing this piece of marvellous technology?" An old woman asked Linda as she came alone to ask this question of her. "Since Lord Fake has not said anything, I assume it is left to our own discretion to do whatever we want." Linda replied with a visible amount of stress and weight on her. The old woman nodded as she walked back. A strange sight was to be seen as she got further away from Linda the younger, she got. "Your highness, what is ''your'' will upon the communication device?" The old woman who was now a dashing young woman asked just before she left the room. "That device will be useful to establish communication with all the faithful ones of Lord Fake. We can''t be everywhere for them, but the least we can do is let them be with us." Linda advised her. The beautiful woman nodded as she left with clear concern on her face seeing Linda''s state. The woman walked out with concern. As she was walking, she suddenly halted as she passed a room with the label ''Overseer''. Before she could knock a voice came from behind the door. "Come in!" "What is it Grace?" The young man whose eyes were glowing white, as he sat there with books rapidly flipping through pages simultaneously, asked Grace. "It looks like she hasn''t had any rest." Grace replied with concern. The pages of all the books and papers stopped flipping as the glow from the man''s eyes stopped. "Are you sure?" He asked. "Yes!" The woman confirmed with a worried look. The man sighed as he stood up. "I will go to visit her." Both left the room together but each went the opposite way. The young man went in the direction of Linda''s personal room. However similar to before the closer he got to Linda the older he got, with wrinkles and loose skin. "Holy one are you sure you don''t need one of us to assist you? You haven''t been sleeping for a few days now, always having to carry this burden. Let one of us carry it for you." The old man asked Linda. "I can''t let you. Anyone other than me who carries this burden will be affected by the passage of time permanently and will have their minds broken. What you are experiencing is just the side effect of being in the presence of the burden." Linda pointed out the reason why the man was getting old when he got near her. The man sighed. "Is there anything I can do for you to relieve this pain?" Linda thought for a while. "I would like it if no one would disturb me until the whole process is complete." "That I can arrange. Who would you like to have in charge, in your absence?" The overseer asked. Suddenly a heavy presence descended upon the area ageing everything in its area just as a black portal opened up. This included the overseer who soon died as his body aged beyond it was supposed to exist and dispersed into dust. Linda sighed at seeing the dead overseer and left the room by entering the portal. As soon as Linda left and the portal closed a body was soon constructed and formed in the form of the overseer. Soon the overseer came back to life and saw that the holy one had disappeared into the portal he last saw before he had died. He sighed as he left the room to inform the others of the Holy one''s decision. While as soon as Linda entered the portal, she appeared in an extremely dark place with the only light being in the centre of the empty place. There shackled in runes and magical construct, bounded was Zel. "All this for a drop of divine energy, you won''t even know when you would get? Lol!" Zel chuckled even though he was very tired from the process in which he was being drained. "You know this process will be very easy if you give it to us willingly." Linda stated. "As much as I hate to think, I know for a fact that once you get that single drop you won''t stop at just one drop. You will continue to milk me until someone comes to rescue me or I am set free somehow and escape this place without encountering you in your stupid gear." Zel smiled. "So, the least I can do is make the process harder for you." Zel said with confidence. "One way or another we will get it Zel." Linda said as she sat down and released her energy to hasten the process of gathering Divine energy. "Oh, you will, but it won''t be easy. I will make each attempt harder and harder for you to the point you will find getting divine energy from me is simply a wasteful way of using resources." Zel smirked as he felt a force tugging onto his well of Divine energy. ''What are you bastards watching from above doing? Go report this to God or get someone to help me.'' Zel visibly cursed in his mind, but he knew those watching from above preferred to watch rather than help. Even if someone attacked the source of divine energy or heaven using his divine energy, none of them will even as much as care, or even bother to report it. That is how bored they were. They needed entertainment and this was the perfect source of entertainment. -------------------------------------- [Present. Ez PoV] It was finally 7 pm. The time for the reveal of the final event. I walked up to the stage after everyone came back and sat down in excitement. Many who understood what was being displayed and shown before by the other researchers from my R\u0026D department became even more excited at what I had to show. "It has been said we as humans are a social species, which means we as humans need to be as a group. And when in a group there is always a primary rule to make it an effective group. The need for communication." The screens started showing images responding to each of my words. "A good source of communication can win wars and a bad source of communication can bring about the ruins of a kingdom. So, for this reason, the magi''s and our beloved scholars of the empire had invented the communication crystal." I held up a communication crystal. "However, the problem with communication crystal is that it is expensive and not affordable to many, it requires constant fuelling by a magi who has very good control of magi particles, along with sometimes having the problem of the crystal not working occasionally in certain locations. So, therefore, I decided to solve this problem¡­" I paused. Many looked in interest while few looked bored seeing it was another communication device and not something that was useful for them. I smiled "Thank you for waiting. Without further ado let me reveal to you the invention that will change the world and change your lives¡­" I said with a smile as opened my arms wide. "The PCD! Short for portable communication device!" I pulled up my sleeve to show a simple watch and it appeared on all the screens. "Rather than explaining it to you all let me demonstrate it. I need 1 volunteer from amongst you." Many hands popped up from the massive crowd and I just picked 1 person from the crowd randomly. "You boy, with the green shirt standing next to the girl with the pink dress eating a lollipop." I said and pointed towards the boy at the very back standing next to his family. Suddenly his face appeared on the screen with an expression of confusion, followed by panic and excitement. However, his parents had a worried expression on their face. "Follow the guide next to you." I said to the boy of probably only 7 years of age, while his parents quickly turned towards the guide and said something to her in panic. The boy was frightened not expecting me, a royalty, to pick him along with something else. "Your highness the boy''s parents are saying he is affected by stammering. They are asking if you can kindly reconsider it otherwise, he would embarrass you." The guide communicated with me through her communication crystal. "No problem, send him in." I told her back with a smile, quietly through the device. He came up alone guided by a woman with worry. The woman left as she handed the boy to me. "What is your name little one?" I asked with a smile. The boy bowed in trepidation before he said "M..m¡­my¡­na¡­name is¡­ Ru¡­ Rufu¡­s." The boy struggled while his voice was magnified through the venue. Suddenly everyone roared to life and started laughing, while the boy looked down in embarrassment and shame having thought he humiliated me. "Look up Rufus." I told him amidst everyone''s laughter. The boy looked up with tears welling up in his eyes. "Am I laughing?" I asked him. The boy shook his head while looking at the crowd of people laughing. "Do I look embarrassed by you?" I asked him as he started sniffling. Rufus shook his head with tears. "Then why are you looking down at yourself?" I asked. He tried talking but stopped himself not wanting to further embarrass himself and me. "I don''t care about what they think Rufus. I picked you even after your family informed my guide that you had stammering; do you know why?" I asked him as I knelt before his crying face. The boy was silent as slowly everyone became silent and seeing something was wrong with my behaviour. "I don''t care if you have stammering, or are disabled, old, young, dying or a prostitute. I see everyone equally. You live and breathe just like everyone here and one day you will die like them. To me, you are no different than my father. Understand?" I said with seriousness. He was shocked at hearing me say this along with everyone in the crowd. To most lower nobles they would have taken my words as a personal insult to the emperor having compared him to a commoner, but to those higher nobles and above they saw my words as nothing more than an act of propaganda. While for the commoner there was no honour greater than being compared to an emperor. If someone from their own rank had done it, they would have been sentenced for execution but having that done by the son of the very emperor himself was something else. Rufus nodded after a while. "Great. Now let''s start from where we left off." I said as I stood up. "How old are you Rufus?" I asked him who looked more confident and happier. "Ei¡­ghttt." The boy said with much less embarrassment however this time no one laughed. "What do your parents do Rufus?" I asked him. "My da¡­dad works in in a a biggg off¡­office, my mum loo¡­ooks after after me a..and my si¡­sister." He said with slight happiness. "What''s your sister''s name?" I showed an equal amount of excitement. "Me¡­me¡­Mia." I nodded. "How old is your sister?" I asked him with a smile. "Fa¡­Five." I could see his confidence was slowly rising. "Sweet. Rufus, I need your help today to try something out. Will you do it for me?" I asked him. "Yes!" He nodded quickly wanting to help me. "Awesome. Show me your hand." I told him as I took another PCD out of my pocket. Rufus showed me his wrist in excitement. I put the PCD on his hand. "Go on examine it." I told the curious Rufus who stopped himself from doing anything to it. As soon as he received my confirmation he felt over the PCD on his left wrist using his right hand. "Wow, so..ooo shaa¡­iny!" He said in amazement as he felt the smooth PCD over. I smiled at him while the audience simply waited up in excitement wanting to see what PCD could do. 148 Episode 147- Dance with me! A blue holographic screen appeared. There were few options: call, message, camera and showing time in the background. Rufus tried to touch the screen but his hands passed through the screen. "Just simply hover your hands over any of those icons and press into them Rufus," I told him to which he nodded. "Call allows you to call anyone linked to your personal and unique PCD code," I informed Rufus as he pressed the call button. On his list, only 1 number appeared. "Click on it," I told him. He nodded and clicked and suddenly my PCD started beeping. I pressed the button on my PCD for a similar holographic screen to appear in front of me. I clicked the option to accept and moved backwards away from Rufus. Suddenly my face appeared on his screen just as his face appeared on my screen. "Wow!" Rufus said as he waved through the holographic screen. I ended the call and urged him to press the next button. "Message lets you type a message to anyone that is on your call list." I said as I typed ''Hello Rufus'' on my screen and hit send. Suddenly his screen was updated with the ''Hello Rufus'' message. "Next is the camera. Click on it, Rufus." Rufus nodded as he clicked. Suddenly a small hole popped up from his PCD, while his screen started to show what was in front of him. "Point the PCD towards me and click on the button on your PCD," I told him to which he did. Suddenly there was a flash before my image appeared on his PCD. "Camera allows you to take pictures and store it in your PCD. Along with that, it allows you to take videos as well." I explained which fascinated the whole crowd "All this feature in just a simple wristwatch. All for the price of..." I paused as everyone prayed for it not to be too expensive. "...50 silver," I stated and soon there was a loud cheering through the entire crowd seeing as the price was still affordable for many middle class. After all to the middle class 50 silvers was like ¡ê500. The whole crowd were ecstatic about it. The total manufacturing cost in building a PCD including the material only took 25 silver with all the materials which were very easy to procure. Normally people would have been worried about selling the PCD for such a cheap price. But the real trump card wasn''t the PCD but what was going to come after them. Once the people got comfortable around the PCD I would bring forth the PC into this world, then after that will be the almighty internet. Once that happens, I will be rolling in money, not that I care about it. "The PCD will be available to the public in 1 week. So save up and get ready." I told them as I ended the convention. As everyone slowly left, I saw a few suspicious groups of people in the crowd I had not expected to. ''Time to test out some things.'' I smiled seeing them. As Archer, Luke and Ellis were busy sorting out certain things I quietly left the area. I have been needing an award user to experiment on for a long time now. I walked through the busy marketplace. Not many noticed me due to the hood covering my face other than the assassins following me identifying me by my umbrella. I walked up the stairs to notice one of the assassins in the group was quickly approaching me from behind. 10 meters. 5 meters. I slowed down while still climbing the steps 3 meters. I heard him unsheathed his blade. They were not here to kill me. Killing me was if all else failed. They were here to capture me. "Don''t move¡­" Before he could finish, I pulled his hands that were slowly moving to my throat forward throwing him off balance as he stumbled forward. As he stumbled forward I backflipped before resting my legs on his back as he went down. Everyone froze, including the people in the crowd. I pulled my right leg of the body of the assassin who was now lying still on the floor. Everyone saw the blood dripping off the blade that came out of my shoes. I ignored everyone as I stepped forward with my right leg away from the now paralysed and slowly dying assassin. As soon as my leg touched down the blade disappeared into my shoe. My left leg came off showing a similar blade. "Come let''s dance!" I faced forward with the assassins behind me as I lifted my hands and invited them while I carried on moving forward. I carried on walking up the stairs, while the crowd split apart for me. The assassin kept following me. They weren''t conquered by fear but rather the emotion of desire overriding their sense of fear. I started running which caused the assassin to run after me. Unfortunately, they were assassin trained to kill not trained to capture targets. Before they could slow down, many of the assassins charging ahead dropped down after their head left their body as soon as they went past the assassin that was already downed. "Ahhhh!" Someone in the crowd screamed which cause people to set off and start running. The only clue to how those assassins died is the tiny amount of blood and bit of guts hanging on an extremely thin string. I tapped my watch and something slammed into my back softly before climbing inside my body. "Don''t keep me waiting," I told the remaining 2 assassins with a smile as I kept climbing the stairs to the residential area. They moved towards me as I kept running. Ahead of me, I saw 3 unexpected people. I smiled as I saw them. "Welp I guess you noticed." I approached Archer, Ellis and Luke. "But the fun has just begun." I did not stop and ran past them with a smile. Many assassins came out of all the building surrounding us and Archer removed his gloves in annoyance. Ellis and Luke unsheathed their sword and held the assassins back as I went ahead. 3 against hundreds of trained assassins. Unlike me who was only ordered to be captured, they could now go all our against the 3 of them. I looked at my PCD and smiled. I ran into an alleyway unexpectedly and stood there waiting with my umbrella. An old man approached from the entrance of the alleyway. "Your highness please surrender." The old man begged. "I am afraid I can''t," I told him with a smile. "May I ask why? Since you are incapable of both wielding an award and magi." He asked me showing he was aware of the award. "Oh, so she informed you about award users as well. But I don''t think you have an award. At most, you are a rank 5 magi but seeing your look I presume you must be a rank 4 magi. As for why, just because I feel like it." I smiled at him. ??Then you must forgive me for being harsh. She will only let me live by capturing you for her." He came running forward however just as he approached the strings, I set up he jumped over them and gracefully landed before running forward. "Oh! So, you must be a wind magi then." I smiled at him as his speed increased very quickly while dodging the many strings and approached me slowly. As he finally stood before me, I smiled. "Forgive me, your highness!" He shouted as he proceeded to grab me by my throat. However, before he could he stopped and looked down to see the large hole in his heart in shock. "Well it is a good thing that you are a magi, that can''t rapidly heal. Even if you could, I designed this specifically to stall award users and for the beings in the grey zone when I was informed to go there." I said with a smile as I caressed the black floating sphere. I touched his forehead with my umbrella and he fell back. The black sphere soon dissembled and went inside my shirt. I tapped my watch. Suddenly all the wires held together by the two small metal on each side of the wall flew towards me after they attached together with the wire. I held up my arm as the metal pieces attached to the metal plate on my arm and travelled down just above my heart through the magnetic plate I was wearing. I walked forward and stood in the middle of the alleyway. "Come out sweetheart. I have not got all day for this. I ran away from everyone just to have the dance with you tonight." I said with a smile. A few seconds later Sophia appeared before me. "Cold day for a dance don''t you think?" She asked me with her seductive smile. "I am afraid not Ms Sophia. The dance with death is appealing to lady death no matter where or how we are." I said as I walked towards her. "You are certainly impatient to see her," Sophia said as she disappeared. I move my umbrella backwards just in time to stop her hands from reaching out to me as my umbrella stood on top of her chest. "You have no idea how much I long for death to embrace me, Ms Sophia. I yearn for her cold embrace to wrap me and take me. But unfortunately, I have to extend my appointment to see her due to certain reasons." "How about I embrace you in my warm chest?" Sophia asked as she moved the umbrella out of the way and walked forward. "Your power is interesting Ms Sophia. As long as a single part of a being, let it be blood or hair, is taken you can submit them to love you unconditionally. They will follow your orders no matter what out of their love for you." I stated her ability as she walked closer and took a strand of hair from me. "Unfortunately knowing my ability isn''t going to help you." She told me as she held my hair in her hands. "So long 3rd imperial prince John Emberson." I felt something attacking my mind, but that was it. "Unfortunately knowing your ability will help me," I told her as I turned around to face her. "You see the attraction and feeling a desire towards a person is the result of a bunch of chemicals released by our brains along with some hormones," I spoke to her shocked face. "Luckily, your ability isn''t to control those chemicals and hormones but rather to cause them to be released at a very large amount to make someone fall in love with you and make an imprint of your self in their conscious and unconscious mind in order to follow any and all orders of yours. So, all one has to do to counter your ability is to simply stop the production of those chemicals and hormones for a while." She couldn''t believe hearing what I was saying. "But you are too uneducated to understand what even a chemical is let alone hormones. So, adios." I smiled as metal parts suddenly flew through the air and bashed at the back of Sophia who simply stood there ignoring the metal that bashed against her with a look of surprise. Metal parts kept coming and bashing against her from random places, but she was just staring at me. "Ahhhhhh!" She suddenly screamed with a look of ecstasy. "I have decided. I will make you mine!" She screamed as she began to stretch her hand towards me having just experienced a sexual bliss. However, as she tried to move, she found she could not move her arms after a certain point. She looked at her arms in panic before looking at my eyes with an extremely growing desire. "Like I said adios Ms Sophia. You will enjoy being my lab rat." I told her before her eyes rolled back and she collapsed as the metal parts enveloped her. Before it completely enveloped her, I looked at the place where I stabbed her with my umbrella to see an extremely small device blinking red light. The metal box turned invisible before it floated away as I finished tapping something on my watch with a smile. "The time for fun and games are running out. The time for my dance is getting close." I spoke to no one and removed the EM field I had activated to stop anyone from trying to spy on me using Magi or any sort of electronic device. I checked my PCD to see there was still no one around my vicinity. "Oh well!" I walked towards my restaurant eager to start my experiment. 149 Episode 148- The end of a long trial They didn''t take my word for it when I told them I wasn''t being controlled by Sophia. "What happened to Sophia, your highness?" Archer asked me for the 10th time. I shrugged my shoulder as I walked on. "Like I told you. As soon as she realised, I could resist her influence she started screaming something about making me hers in ecstasy before running away." I removed the wires attached to me as I explained to Archer who didn''t look convinced by what I was saying. However, all of them had no choice but to believe me. I walked back to my lab away from my kitchen. A few minutes later I was in my lab. I placed a do not disturb board on my door. *Snap* The nanobots moved systematically to reveal the tunnel they had crafted for me. As soon as I walked in, I looked behind to see the hologram had started up to display me in the lab pretending to do some sort of research. I turned back to see in front of me was just a dead end. As I took the first step the tunnel got larger while the entrance got covered up. Each step I took seemed like I hadn''t moved at all, this was because the tunnel in front of me extended while the wall behind me slowly got filled the further I went in. After a walk of 1 minute, I appeared in a large cave. I smiled as I saw Sophia along with few other people in containers with fluids with all sorts of wires going through them. She barely had any strength and didn''t even bother to struggle. Sophia was barely awake, but her eyes got its strength back as soon as she saw me. She couldn''t speak due to the mask in her mouth and being surrounded by red translucent fluids. Her look of desire kept on piercing me, but I ignored her. *Yawn* "As sexy and hot others might consider yourself as, beauty has no value to me. I have seen and interacted with women that can cause heart attacks with just their smile let alone a mere bimbo such as you. However, do not fret, cuz I do value you. I value your body for the tons of research value it holds for me." She looked at me with slight disappointment. "These people barely gave me any sorts of results from my experiments." I pointed at the people in the tube. "But you will be different. I will get everything I need from you." I smiled and pressed something on my watch. Suddenly all the other people in the tubes slowly started dissolving until nothing remained of them. "I am going to give you my undivided attention. So, shall we start?" She didn''t look worried at all and just stared at me with her eyes of desire being even more persistent and convinced. ------------------------------------------ [Steven''s office (Commandment who supports Jack)- At the same time] "What about John?" Steven felt there was something wrong. "From the tests that were run on him, he seemed to be perfectly fine," Isabella answered. "How did he do it?" Steven muttered hearing Isabella''s answer. "My lord how as in: how did he escape from Sophia or how did he stop her powers?" Isabella asked back. Steven chuckled before he shook his head. "As in how did a soulless defeat and restrain or possibly even kill a rank 3 award user so quietly?" Isabella''s eyes widened hearing Steven''s answer. "That can''t be possible!" Isabella stated in disbelief. "Exactly what he wants everyone to think. I am the only person in the world who knows Sophia well enough to completely predict her actions. The one thing she desires the most is wanting to find someone who can escape her abilities control. Even if it is her worst enemy, she will make them a part of her life at any cost if they can resist her ability. The test results show John had not been under control which means her powers definitely did not work on him. Then there is nothing to doubt she is with him. But how did he capture her? That is the question that is bugging me!" Steven stood up and looked at the dark sky. "Could she have hidden and is planning to work with Prince John from the dark?" Isabella stated a possibility. "No. She hates playing games and hiding in the dark. She had been hiding for 1 month and that must have taken away all her patience. There is no way she will continue to hide even if John could resist her award." Stephen touched the window. "Then¡­ but that cannot be possible." Isabella simply couldn''t accept that a soulless could stop an award user. "Wait! Bring me the post mortem report of the body we found in the alleyway." Something was bugging Steven about that person''s death. ----------------------------------------- [1 week later- Imperial Capital] Everyone was excited to get the new PCD. Needless to say, all the stores were wiped clean on the first day itself. Every day new batches of PCD kept coming out only to be wiped clean. This kept on going for 2 weeks before the hype slowly died down and almost everyone who could afford it in the capital was seen with a PCD on their hand. Everyone slowly got accustomed to the PCD and started exploring its features. Time went on and 1 month later an announcement was made. A new feature was released on the PCD. Everyone who wanted the feature should either buy the new PCD or take their current PCD back to the store to be replaced by a new one for the simple price of 5 silver. The new feature was called a health monitor. The PCD could display ones heart rate, body temperature, environment temperature, how healthy a person was, how much energy they had spent, how dehydrated they were etc. Needless to say, everyone stormed off once again in waves to replace their current PCD. The new PCD soon started to be used by healers and doctors alike instead of their usual equipment to check a person''s vitals. One by one, piece by piece Ez kept releasing updates throughout the following months. Each update made the lives of people simpler and at the same time integrated their lives with the PCD so much that they were now becoming dependant on it. 7 months after the release of the PCD, Ez released his final update on the PCD. It was released on the anniversary of the plague that nearly crushed the empire last year. This new feature allowed to let someone know if they were poisoned or caught any disease as long as someone just dropped a single droplet of blood on the slide that came out of the watch. However, this feature was not 100% guaranteed and people were told to still go consult a doctor/healers if the PCD gave them all clear and they were still unsure or had certain symptoms. ------------------------------------ [John PoV- 4 weeks after releasing the last update.] I closed the screen containing the countless data I acquired from everyone''s PCD. Just a drop of blood was enough for the PCD to record their DNA and transmit the results to me. It had taken me a while, but I finally managed to unlock the secret of being an award user. However, to do that first I had to become a completely normal human. Currently, my whole bodies genes were slowly transforming with each higher level of food I was eating. I took a vial of syringe I had prepared months ago for this moment and injected it directly into my heart and sat down on a chair inside my secret lab. I looked up to see Sophia watching me with eyes of fear and that fear wasn''t without any base. She has seen my works for the past few months and is aware of what I am truly capable of on the intellectual level. I closed my eyes and waited as my body naturally transformed back to how I was roughly a year and 3 months ago. A completely normal human that was known as soulless. I lost my capability to control my hairs and everything that is in my body to an extremely fine degree along with my huge endurance level. After 3 minutes I stood up with a smile. Sophia visibly struggled to find a way to somehow stop what I was about to do but the medication running through her system along with the fluid constantly around her prevented her from doing anything. She was frightened and her fears were well placed. I smiled and went back to gather the substance I have been growing for the past few weeks. I took a petri dish out of a pink liquid. Opening the dish, I looked at the substance and smiled. The key to making an award which I got from a combination of: experiments, DNA of all award users I had acquired from PCD and a big chunk of Sophia''s harvested organs, which I had to keep regrowing with my medications and food. 150 Episode 149- Power Ultra Plus!!! However as one ranked up a section was filled up in certain form and colour. I concluded the colour and form must depend on the award user''s ability and the sections filled represent their rank. Since Sophia''s was a rank 3 award user and due to her unique ability, it caused 3 sections of her strand to form a pink gaseous strand, while leaving the other 7 strands simply blank as usual. I concluded that when once reached rank 10 some mutation might happen to the gene in order to let them rank up to rank 11. It was a good thing I had an award user to keep on extracting this blank strand and experiment with during these times. I took a syringe and drew up the foam on top of the petri dish and placed the foam in a test tube mixing it with the pre-arranged chemicals. I proceeded to place the test tube in a rack connected with plenty of tubes and wires linking all back to a certain large desktop. Connected to the desktop also was a helmet. I walked towards it and admired the beauty I had built using all my resources for the past 7 months. I took the helmet carefully and wore it on my head and sat down. Unlike what people thought an award was not formed completely randomly when awakened. To a certain degree, each award was influenced during its awakening by the users desire, memories etc and to a specified level the emotions and desires of people around them at the time of awakening. All of this factor was taken into consideration when a person developed their award. I had found this while manipulating the award genes and experimenting with it. Another thing I found out was that an ability granted initially by an award could be vastly superior to a similar award ability of the same rank should certain conditions, limitations and weakness are placed upon it. I called these limitation, conditions and weaknesses negatives. These negatives were usually permanent and could be only removed or changed by ranking up twice. There was also something called positives as well. Positives gave the award ability more advantage at the cost of making the award very weak and generic. Similar to a negative it could only be removed by ranking up twice. The more negative factors acting upon an award the more powerful an award is to the point it becomes unchallenged in the same rank. However, the opposite also applies, like more positive factors there are in ratio to negative factors, for an award, the weaker it is as an award ability. However, I wasn''t most award user. "Welcome to a new genesis!" I smiled towards Sophia who was looking at me in fear while trying to struggle as much as possible in her weakened state as I activated the activation process. I ignored my pain receptors which were screaming in pain and concentrated on what I wanted as my award. I imagined a safe dimension where I could stay in. This was the ability I wanted as an award. I wanted this award separated from this reality and all its influences and attacks. This was a positive factor. The negative factors were as follows: the separate dimension was only accessible to me, the dimension would not be able to interact with the world in any way possible other than opening a gate to enter or exit, the gate that is opened should only be used for going in and out of the dimension, and finally the dimension shouldn''t be used for defensive or attacking purpose but to simply walk away and rest from the world. With this many negative factors, the safe dimension I could summon would be insanely powerful from the attack of all sorts of award ability. One may ask what use would I gain from such an ability? Obviously to satisfy my desire of lazing around and sleeping forever. Screw politics and screw living. I am just going to sleep for the next 24 years only coming out to buy food and to eat. Not to mention what I planned to do with it as I rank my award up. As I felt the process of award forming slowly, I suddenly felt divine energy around me. I opened my eyes to see one annoying pigeon in front of me smirking. "Go suck your ¡­" Before I could finish time rewound back and I was standing in front of the helmet. Not willing to accept my fate I tried again and just like before as I was about to succeed that sorry excuse of barbeque appeared before me smirking. "I can do this all day!" She stated before time rewound back to when I was in front of the helmet. "Fuck you bitch!" I screamed in anger. Sophia stood still seeing me lose anger for the first time ever. She knew something must have gone wrong and increased her struggles. I calmed my racing emotion and tried again. "Try a different ability loser. I don''t want you coming back to heaven this easily or even better not coming back at all." She mocked me and send me back in time once more. God, what the heck are you doing? Oh, right holiday, but at least put that pigeon face on a leash or something. Ok! So that pigeon will keep sending me back in time until I chose a different ability. Ok Back up ability- everyone forgets my existence. Thinking up a few positives and negatives I tried again. "Nope, this is still too easy for you." I once more wound up back in time. Backup ability number 2- Everyone considers me as insignificant. "Nice try but no!" Backup ability number 3- Spatial manipulation "This is for calling me pigeon!" Backup ability number 4 "This is for torturing me in your dreams!" Backup ability number 5 "This is for¡­" This kept on going until Backup ability number 1479. I had grown numb at this point getting all my backup abilities getting rejected by her. I could not even complain to God at this point due to him being on holiday. My entire fate was on her hands and I could not choose an ability to simply laze around for 24 years of my life. As it was near completion, I felt divine energy as usual around me and I sighed expecting for a rejection. I looked at Juliet who was smirking at me with her gloating face. However strangely this time she didn''t stop me. "Well, this is interesting. I will accept this. If you fail with this ability you are definitely granted a one-way ticket to hell no matter what. Hahaha!" She laughed like a pompous ass as she disappeared. Welp! I am screwed! She was right if I failed in surviving for 24 years with this ability I will be sent straight to hell. But since she forced me to choose this ability, I had no desire to fail. Backup ability number 1479 also known as Network Parasite. Positives- Everyone no matter how strong a person is they will be affected by Network parasite, the stronger a person is the weaker the effect of Network Parasite, but an effect will always be present there. It is not possible to detect the effect of Network Parasite. Negatives- I cannot accumulate to rank up. I have to train my body to acquire the strength of an award user. Network Parasite base ability is to manipulate a person affected by network parasite subtly to do what I told them. It is like planting a suggestion in their head and they do it while thinking they are willingly doing it. My negatives stated I could not accumulate to rank up, but it never stated anything about manipulating genes to rank up. All I have to do is acquire some principle particles. As for the effect of Network parasite ability I had planned for each stage of it from Rank 1 to Rank 11. The reason why I would be screwed up if I didn''t survive for 24 years, is because the end result of my power requires countless people being murdered, manipulated, screwed in life with my abilities end result. ------------------------------- [Unknown Location- Few moments before Ez got his Network Parasite] 100''s of people dressed in priestly attire stood before a large black ominous gate. They were chanting as if they have been doing it for countless years. They seemed to be in some sort of massive, white sealed hall. As they chanted a white source of energy left their body to reinforce the gate. Just as Ez got his power the gate shook with force from the other side which worried all the gathered priests. A tiny crack appeared on the ominous gate exposing everyone to what lay behind the gate. However, strangely there was no sound or anything one could see behind the gate. "AHHHH!" All the priests inside the hall screamed in agony as they fell to their knees holding their ears. They were bleeding from all their orifice. Suddenly every single priest that was there had their eyes turned blood red, while their veins started popping out to their surface "CORRUPTION!" Someone screamed from outside the hall in terror seeing everyone inside the hall being corrupted. However, before all the priest could fully become corrupted a being in all red appeared and crushed all the priest present there to a fine paste. No one could see the being in red as a red radiance was emitted from the being. "Why did a crack appear in the gateway to the dream world?" The being looked at the crack in the gate in worry. The being raised his hand and at the same time, all the bodies in the hall turned into particles of white light and went towards the crack in the ominous gate. The crack soon fixed itself. Soon another wave of priests came in and stood by their positions and started doing the same thing as the now-dead priest. The being in red soon vanished as the priests had started their chanting once more. 151 Episode 150- Kicking Out! I got up and stretched. "Good news for you Ms Lab Rat. I have successfully attained an award." I saw the fear in Sophia''s eyes. "As for its abilities, it will be a secret. Can''t tell you everything can I?" I walked towards a small cube. Pressing the button, the front panel opened allowing me the enter the cube. There was just a small green cuboid placed into the wall along with a red and green button on the wall. I walked in as the panel behind me closed, leaving me isolated inside the cube. I took the small cuboid and bit into it. Finishing with the final preparation I pressed the green button. Suddenly the roof of the cube slides back to reveal plenty of small holes. A brown liquid started pouring from holes and slowly filled the cube. ''I got the enhancing liquid as perfect as possible. Alas, the only problem is I could not get my hands on necessary resources to change its colour and turn it into a gaseous form. Well, gotta deal with what I have.'' The liquid soon submerged me. The small green cuboid allowed me to breath as the liquid enhanced my body. Countless years of training to reach my bodies utmost limit was being done in a matter of minutes. 30 minutes later I felt I had reached my bodies strengthening limit. Even if I stayed in this liquid for decades my body won''t enhance itself anymore. Why didn''t I do this before? Because I was to darn lazy and thought I would just use my head to work through every single problem. I pressed the red button and suddenly the floor slide open revealing countless tiny holes. The liquid started draining to be sent down and purified into a harmless normal solution before being pumped back into the soil. As soon as all the water left I clenched my fist. I was god darn strong all right. Much stronger than I ever was in this world. My ability to control my body and its insane accuracy was lost but in return, I gained insane strength, speed, endurance, and healing factor. This was the body of a rank 0 award user. Not just that I felt my brains processing ability had improved as well to keep up with my speed and perception. I was a bit sad at losing control of my hair and my fine precision over my body, but I felt I could get it back within being a rank 2 or 3 award user. For now, I had enough control to cook all my food without any problems. I walked out of the cube and walked towards Sophia. "Sleep well my lab rat. I will release you after I am done with this empire." Suddenly I felt a sense of connection being built with me and Sophia. The order passing through this connection was to ''sleep well''. This was my ability. Network Parasite. The connection will keep feeding her soul shell, body and mind over a period of time with my command even if she has fulfilled the command until I release the command. However, due to her overwhelming strength, it would take some time for the command to affect her. I couldn''t care less about that. A technological boom was happening to the empire right now on the information side. Obviously, the whole court was not happy that I was the sole owner of all these inventions. But what could they do? They tried moving a few of the head researchers towards their side in order to kick me out from the facility. It is truly annoying when they bring politics into the scientific community as well. I walked out of my secret lab. Just before I exited I activated the invisibility feature on my watch turning me invisible. I exited my private lab into my normal lab where my hologram was working in place of me. I walked in place of my hologram. I turned off the invisibility just as the hologram disappeared. I smiled and walked out of my lab. Truly walking around with strength was a different feeling. I really should sort out my lazy behaviour and focus on gaining strength maybe? Nah too lazy. This place had gotten more researchers and scientist after the convention last year. All most everyone in the empire applied. I had to spend a month vetting the application with the help of my A.I. before calling in the people for interview. Out of the 100,000 applicants about that was called in for an interview only 7,568 made through. Due to this, the underground facility had to be expanded once more. I would have long ago entered debt if not for my store supporting my finance. I walked towards the meeting hall where the 10 researchers were gathered. "Your highness, have you made the decision?" Dr Whizz asked on behalf before I could even take my seat. Oh, trying to show who is the boss around here, are we? "You have to either make the choice of surrendering your control and peacefully work in your lab under our supervision or ¡­" "Yeah, yeah I got it." I stretched. I took out 10 paper from my pocket and threw it on the desk. "What is this, your highness?" Dr Whizz asked me with a smile. "I think due to me not taking any action and ignoring all your political meddling, allowing you to do as you wish and our recent success for the past 1 year had all got you the wrong idea about who the boss is around here." I smiled at them. "Your highness may we remind you that we are the counc¡­" *Plop* The woman who spoke suddenly plopped forward. Everyone looked at her in confusion at what happened to her. I walked forward with a smiled and dragged her out of the chair by the neck and placed her in front of me. Everyone looked at me in worry. "What are you doing your highness?" I ignored him and looked at the woman who had a worried look at what was happening. *Bam* I smashed her head on the ground. "Do not¡­" *Bam* "¡­ever talk??" *Bam* "¡­when I am¡­" *Bam* "¡­talking!" *Bam* "You understand!?" I smiled at the woman who was dead with her broken nose and cracked head. Bits and pieces of the ground and her brain matter oozed out of her head. "I am asking if you UNDERSTAND?" I shouted at the council members. "AHHH!" "GUARDS!" All the council member became hysteric and moved back in fear. The guards soon ran in. I threw the woman aside and looked down to see the cracked floor with few bloody teeth on the floor. "Arrest him! He killed a councilwoman!" Whizz shouted in fear while pointing at me. The guards became defensive and got ready to attack. "As I was saying you are all fired. Kill them." The guards ran towards the council members. "What are you doing?" "We are the council member!" "The court won''t spare you for this!" They shouted at me and the guards who began killing them one by one. "Fools first rule in politics. Know your allies and enemies well before you enter the playground." I went forward and sat on my seat. Just as one of the guards was about to kill Whizz I stopped him. "Your¡­ highness¡­ forgive me. Spare¡­me." He crawled towards me on his knees with blood leaking from his mouth. "Open transmission to the whole facility and those political assholes in 10 minutes," I ordered. ------------------------------------ [3rd person POV] Suddenly everyone''s PCD started showing a transmission in the whole facility and those that moved their strings in the facility. "Hello, fellow researchers and members of the royal court." Ez''s voice came through everyone''s PCD. The emperor who was in the royal court halted his meeting as the PCD of certain members in the court came to life showing John sat in his chair with severe injury. "You may all have thought you could do whatever you want in my domain since I have relaxed for the past 1 year." Everyone saw Ez wiping the blood on his hands with a paper towel with a smile. The emperor had a bad feeling. "I have been watching you all play around and let you do as you wish. Many of you have taken advantage of my kindness and leniency. However, let me make this clear¡­" Many scientists in the facility were confused as to what was prince John ranting on about. However, few of them knew what he meant. "This is my domain! Challenge my authority here and I will make sure you face the consequence." Suddenly the video shifted to the dead head scientist and Whizz who was barely alive. Many of the scientist in the facility had their blood drained out of their face seeing the gruesome scene. "Any attempts at planning for my assassination and I will have your head." One of the guards came forward and executed the barely alive Whiz. Many of the scientist in the facility were shocked to hear that the head scientists were planning to kill the 3rd prince. However, those in the royal court knew it was a clear warning to them to stay out of his facility. "I hope I made myself clear." The camera came back to John''s smiling face. "Now to all the guards in the facility. Strip naked all the people whose PCD displays red and throw them out. Don''t let them grab hold of even their PCD or a shred of paper. I want all those who collaborated with these 10 head scientist for my assassination out of my facility in 4 hours. I may be cruel to my enemies, but I am not heartless. As for those who don''t have a red light on their PCD leave them alone. If any of those with red PCD tries to run kill them." Saying this the transmission closed. ''We royally pissed him off once again.'' The emperor thought in frustration. ''No wonder he was quiet and ignored their provocations¡­'' Albert smiled as he turned towards Dexter and cor. ''He intended to kill them from the very start¡­'' Steven looked at Albert with a mocking smile. ''¡­To make a lesson out of their death to everyone else.'' Dexter smiled while looking at both Steve and Albert. ''He perfectly saved himself by instigating those 10 fools were planning to assassinate him as well.'' Smith thought in worry. The court suddenly blared to life. Back in the facility, the guards started to get in action. All the researchers and scientist looked at the PCD and sighed in relief seeing their PCD was not red. Suddenly amidst the group of a scientist, one of their PCD turned red. All of the other scientists avoided him like a plague. "This is a mistake. I didn''t do anything. Trust me." He begged as a guard came for him. The guard tore his clothes apart leaving him in his boxers. The guard dragged him back to the entrance and threw him out after taking hold of his PCD. Many more were joining him including women. The women were left just in their innerwear''s. They all sighed and walked out in frustration and cursing to even join back their head researcher. This got the attention of many of the people who were going about their daily lives outside the street. They wondered what was going on seeing hundreds of people walking out of Prince John''s store naked. Suddenly every single person''s PCD inside the empire had an alert popping up. ''A new product will be released in celebration of the 1 year anniversary of the arrival of the PCD. Please check the respective stores in 1 week for the new product SAD(Stand-Alone Database).'' An image of what looked like a large bracelet that fitted their whole arm appeared on everyone''s PCD showing what a SAD was. A video demonstration showed the SAD having a much larger screen projected from the bracelet. Pieces of information appeared showing what a SAD allowed one to do. However, both Dean and Lawson instantly recognised what SAD was primarily. ''It is a computer. A high tech digitalised computer but still essentially a computer.'' Both of them thought in excitement. 152 Episode 151- The rise of housefly My name is Victor, and this is the story of how I met a ROB. Covid-19 is a bitch. True due to covid-19 I got the chance to binge-watch and catch up on an all my anime, manga etc. However, the problem began once I finished watching all of the contents. When I googled when the next season of a certain anime I liked would be released I was informed all the production of my favourite anime has been pushed back by a few months due to covid-19. Depressed I decided to take a walk when I realised that in a certain way the pandemic really sucked. A truck carrying metal sheet passed me. *Swing* Huh? Why is everything going upside down? Why do I feel so sleepy? I closed my eyes feeling extreme lethargy overtaking me. "Wake up child." I heard a sweet voice. Opening my eyes, I saw the most beautiful woman chick ever. "I am sorry to inform you Victor, but you died." The chick told me. Ok¡­? "One of the metal sheets in the truck came off loose and chopped your head off clean." I winced hearing that. That is bloody gruesome. I placed my hand over my neck to see it was still intact. "Are you joking?" Victor looked at the woman. "No. You died that is the end of that." Strangely I was calm hearing that. Guess reading all those isekai novels helped out huh. "I am Lucy and what you call a ROB." Lucy extended her hand. I gulped and shook her hand. "I am Victor." "Excellent since we got introduction out of the way let us get to the matter." Lucy took her hand back and became serious. "Normally you will be sent off to reincarnation cycle or whatever afterlife process that is meant to happen in your world. However, I decided to snatch your soul from the afterlife in order to give you an offer." "Why?" I asked with a bit of excitement. Anyone who read enough novels should know where this is going. "Because I require your help, Victor¡­" Lucy began her explanation. Apparently, there was some kind of dark entity in her world and she needed to send forth her champions to defeat the dark one. "But why me?" Victor asked Lucy who pushed a strand of her golden hair behind her ears with a smile. "Because you Victor are special. I can''t say how and why but just know you are." Lucy smiled with encouragement. "Ok, but how am I supposed to defeat this dark one? I could barely hurt a spider let along a dark one." Victor pointed out. "Because Victor I am going to give you my blessing just like I have given my blessing to my other champions." Here it comes. "What sort of blessing?" Victor asked in excitement. "The power of evolution," Lucy answered. Ok, that is fucking OP. "Yes. Absolutely yes!" I agreed without giving her the chance for any take-backs. "However, there is a slight problem," Lucy said as she lifted her index finger. "You won''t be born as a human." Uh oh. "You will be born as a fly. Or rather what is known as a beast fly of that world." "Huh?" Well, there goes that. "But why?" I asked in restrained anger. "Your soul is simply too weak to handle such strong blessing of mine. Which means I have to condense your soul and my blessing together which will cause your soul to be incompatible with a human body." Lucy explained. "But why not other animals like monkey, tiger, snake etc?" I asked. "Your soul will be too incompatible with any of their bodies. I am sorry Victor it''s either this or no power. But on the bright side, the possibilities you could evolve to are endless and you can use magic as a beast just as soon as you are born." I sighed. A few hours later. I opened my eyes for the first time in this new world I was transported to. I felt the extra appendages I had, wings while being tiny. From what Lucy told me I had 15 years to get as strong as possible before the Dark one begins his attack. -------------------------------------- [Ez- 2 weeks after the release of SAD] I am rolling in money right now. I might be one of the richest person in the empire right now. Alas, only problem was I wasn''t interested in money right now. I was more interested in acquiring principle particles in order to increase my rank now. An award user ranks up differently to magi. The more an award user familiarise and use their power after each rank up the more principle particle they accumulate to use for ranking up. Once an award user uses their award plenty of times and gathers enough principle particle it will rank up on its own. This was why it was important for an award user to have a clear picture of what route they want to mutate or evolve their ability towards because an award could rank up any moment. Not having a clear picture while ranking up means that the ability will randomly mutate in any way possible. However, unlike others, I couldn''t accumulate principle particle like a normal person as it was one of my negatives. So that left me the option to take the accumulation of other people from them. I had already devised a method to do this but to do that I first need some materials to build the equipment necessary to take other people accumulation for myself. This causes me to reinvest all the money I acquired from the selling of SAD back into the facility to acquire the materials needed for my equipment''s. "Your highness." Luke walked into my lab carrying 2 files. "The detectives you hired asked to give you these files." I nodded. "Thank you, Luke." I smiled as he left. I proceeded to read the files. This was enough evidence to get those nobles to do what I wanted. I took the picture of all the files and forwarded them to Dexter. 20 minutes later I received a call on my PCD. "What do you want to do with all these incriminating evidence?" Dexter asked in annoyance. "I want the death sentence of Dominic revoked to a life sentence," I answered which earned a frown from Dexter. "All this for a death row prisoner who led a rebellion?" Dexter asked to which I nodded. "What is it in for you?" Dexter looked suspicious. "I am a nice person with a loving heart who can''t see family broken¡­" Before I could finish Dexter hung up. "¡­apart." I finished the last word. "¡­" At least wait for me to finish my epic heart-warming speech of family and the power of unity I had prepared. People these days. Back in my time¡­ Never mind, just remembered I barely had any social interaction in my time in heaven. 1 hour later I received a message on my PCD announcing that the punishment for Dominic changed from death sentence to 10-year life sentence. I felt a grin emerge at this news. 153 Episode 152- Chosen one! This was the 15th grey zone I was sent to in the past 2 months in order to wipe it out of existence. I was the best grey zone destroyer in the history of the empire. Send me in and a few minutes later the whole place collapses. "Remind me why I am doing this again?" I spoke to Dexter in annoyance. "You cooped up in your lab for the past 1 year without doing anything and had a bunch of accumulated mission you needed to do in order to gain favour from both the court and the people in our own faction to see that you have your worth. And I have got to say the court and everyone in our faction is pretty impressed albeit not showing it. Clearing a grey zone of level 3 or above consistently and efficiently without any resources or outside help is excellent. If only others weren''t concerned about your lifespan and soulless condition you would have been declared the unchallenged next emperor due to your contribution to the empire with your inventions and rapid clearing of grey zone." Dexter had a smug look thinking I won''t be alive much longer. Unfortunately for him I no longer have the soulless condition anymore. It will be too late for them by the time they realise it. I shrugged my shoulders. "You got the things I asked for?" "Yeah just bring them over to my mansion when you come back." Dexter disconnected from the call. I looked at Luke and Ellis. During this 1 year, both of them had advanced in their magi rank due to constantly eating my food. Ellis being just an average capacity user had reached the level of rank 3 magi and was close to being a rank 4 magi from rank 2 magi in 1 year. While for Luke due to being a high capacity user he had barely managed to reach rank 4 magi from his rank 3. It would seem soon Ellis would overtake Luke in accumulation speed due to not being a high capacity user. I smiled at both of them. "How would both of you like the opportunity to be an award user?" Both of them froze hearing me. "Your highness, aren''t memorial stone only available once every 5 years? And wasn''t the last one brought 1 year ago?" Ellis asked in confusion. "They are. However, some memorial stones which are given to commandments are occasionally not used. Due to my contribution, I manage to draw some favour out from Dexter to give you two the chance to awaken as award users. How is it? Would you like to accept it?" I asked. "Yes!" "Yes!" Both of them readily replied. Especially Luke who seemed excited by the opportunity. After all, an award user is usually much stronger than a magi no matter what. ''So, you were an award user in your past life then.'' I concluded seeing the nostalgic look in his eyes. "Well, let''s move." We began moving. I could literally see the excitement in Ellis'' and Luke''s face as we waited for Dexter to bring the memorial stone after both of them were forced to make an oath to not betray the empire and be loyal to it. Dexter walked with Archer who held 2 small white square stones. Seeing the stones reminded me of what happened last year. ''How high the lowly has risen!'' I smirked seeing the two stones which had rejected me but now I was wielding the very power it refused me. "Place a drop of blood on the stone after which hold the stone with both hands," Archer instructed as he passed the stone to both of them along with 2 sharp needles. Both dropped their blood on the stone and waited while Archer left the room as he received an alert on his PCD. To be honest this was going to be my first time seeing what really happened when one awakened an award as nothing had happened for me last time. Words began appearing on the stone describing their power. For Luke, it was generating electricity from his fists. Seeing his reminiscent look, I figured he got the same power as his last life. For Ellis, it was simply a second fuel tank. This allowed him to last beyond any person in an endurance fight as when he became tired and out of energy he could start supplying his body with energy from his second tank. He could essentially use the second tank to double his speed and strength if needed as well until his tank ran out of fuel. The fuel tank essentially grew with his limit, which meant as an award user increased his/her rank they physical capabilities grew including their stamina. This meant the higher his rank was the higher his stamina and endurance became which in return will cause his 2nd source of energy reserve to increase as well. Ellis simply looked ecstatic with his ability which was to be expected as he was purely a physical fighter most of the time. "Thank you, your highness." Ellis bowed toward me in gratitude. "No problem." I smiled at him. "Thank you, your highness." Luke followed Ellis'' example to which I nodded with a smile. "Well, I got to register both of your ability with the court so they are aware of your powers," Dexter informed us to which they nodded. Dexter took a picture of both memorial stones before sending it forward. The PCD has simply integrated into everyone''s life way too much at this point in time. Everyone was slowly figuring out tricks and tactics to use the PCD for their own personal gain along with the SAD. However, this is all going to be overhauled next year when the internet rolls out. They will see a new world and the true face of every person. At that point, the nobles and every influential people will have to worry about what they do lest the emperor face extreme criticism from his subjects from the free speech online. Just as I was about to walk out Dexter''s PCD beeped as he answered the call. "My lord we found the 2 accomplices of Dan Stands." Archer quickly reported which made me freeze. "Where are they now?" Dexter asked in seriousness. "Knocked out and being transported to the capital. They will arrive in 2 hours." Dexter looked at me having heard Archer''s report. Dan Stands had informed me that I was a candidate as the chosen one of the Almighty One. But before I could acquire more details about this chosen one he had chosen to disintegrate. Now I don''t believe I was a chosen one or any kind of bullshit like that cuz I wasn''t. If anything, I was more of a threat to this whole universe rather than a saviour. I already had a rough idea about who this chosen one might be. There were 4 individuals who had the highest chance of being the chosen one. Luke because of him travelling back to his past. Dean because of his system. Then there was Lawson. I hadn''t really noticed him much during the graduation exam, but it was only after he began using the PCD that I began noticing him. After seeing Dean, I had set an algorithm in the PCD to point out to me any person who would use the PCD with extreme familiarity. Needless to say, Dean name popped up very quickly shortly followed by Lawson soon after I rolled out the update. After examining/spying on Lawson for few days I confirmed he was an earthling as well. From his occasional freezing and nodding at no one which I noticed from his webcam, I concluded he had some kind of system as well. But this system was different from Dean''s as this focused more on improving Lawson''s skills rather than the strength and observation system that was provided to Dean. This explained how he could have excellent control over his spells while being a high capacity magi. However, I suspected Ellis to have the highest chance of being this chosen one. The very first day I saw him in the alleyway bleeding to death I detected a surge of a minuscule amount of Divine energy around him. This was the only reason I found him interesting as I wanted to know the source of this divine energy. So far the only person that could use divine energy in this world was Zel and to my knowledge, Zel had most likely left far from the empire after he met me. Just that tiny amount of that divine energy was enough to make me the strongest person in this world, yet it was used to boost his luck temporarily so he could survive and get stronger. This usage was commonly known as the plot armour aka protagonist halo found in novels. This was why I said Ellis had the perfect qualities of a hero back when I was asked why I would choose Ellis out of everyone to be my bodyguard. Truly the most blatant waste of divine energy. Not that I should complain since I literally used to use divine energy to clean my room while in heaven. Regardless which of them were the chosen one all 4 of them were dangerous, especially Ellis. His rapid growth in skills, strength and ability to survive any situation attested to the might of protagonist halo. Not to mention from the way Luke was constantly wary of Ellis I knew Ellis had become someone pretty terrifying in Luke''s past life. I wanted to know more about these chosen one and their purpose. For all, I know this ''Almighty One'' could have sensed my presence, my activities and decided to send people to take care of me. If that was the case I needed to prepare for war. This was one of the reasons why I kept Ellis very close to me and attached to me. However, I had prepared for the worst-case scenario imagining all of them as the chosen ones sent to fight me and began my preparation accordingly 1 year ago. Them being award users was part of the preparation as well. Why is all the chaos in the world attracting toward the only person who doesn''t want them? 154 Episode 153-Mesiah! "She has taken them just before you walked in through the door. "Great I will begin." I smiled as I looked at the worried girl. "Name?" I asked in their language surprising the girl. "Anna Stands." The girl replied without any control over what she could say. "Explain to me the role of the chosen one." Her eyes widened as she desperately tried to not talk. "Father¡­ hear me and grant me salvation." She started her prayer for self-destruction. "To stop the rise of the dark one and¡­ Father¡­ hear me and grant me salvation¡­" The girl tried to divert the topic with her prayer but the truth pill forced her to say everything she knew about what I asked her. "¡­to the renewal of our faith." The girl had tears in her eyes. "Who is the dark one?" I smiled. "Father hear me and¡­ grant me salvation." The girl kept praying but that wasn''t going to be effective for her. "I don''t know." "What is his/her purpose?" I quickly asked back. "Father hear me and grant me salvation." "Dark one is the one whose purpose is to extinguish all life and create a world full of beings like them." Why does that sound so similar? Oh, maybe cuz that is what I plan to do with my ability. The girl suddenly smiled. "Father you have heard my prayer and have granted me salvation for this¡­" As soon as I heard this prayer I quickly stood up and ran out before she could finish it. "Archer out now!" I shouted as I opened the door. Archer shut the door just as we heard the last bit of prayer. "¡­for this I thank you." I could see a bright light erupting from the gaps in the door. "Looks like she is a goner." I sighed. I quickly moved towards the next room. "Looks like you failed your highness." The girl who seemed to be the leader of the group smirked as she talked to me in her own language. "Bit of a bummer but I got what I needed." I smiled as I saw the smirk on her face falter. "It also seems like you are able to communicate with your authorities back home who have been spying on the other 2 secretly huh?" I sat in the chair in front of her. Revealing this annoyed her but she stayed calm. "So, you know of our mission, the dark one and the chosen one. Now that you know you know, you should know why it is important you come with me back to the holy sanctuary." "Nope." I shook my head in boredom. Before the girl could say anything I smiled. "Going with you means I have to start fawning over whatever crazy-ass stuck up asshole of a person you worship. And let me tell you I am done following religions and gods. I am already in this mess thanks to pissing off one." I tried to rile her up, but she was calm. "Nope! Not my destiny but the destiny of the chosen one you are looking for." I smiled. "Perhaps you aren''t aware your highness but you¡­" "Are a candidate for chosen one? Yeah I already know that from your friend Dan." I yawned. "However, unfortunately for you and your fellows, I am no chosen one. How do I know that? Because I am a soulless that will cease to exist at any moment." Her eyes widened hearing I was soulless. "That can''t be possible!" "Oh, year very possible. Your leaders are listening right?" I saw the answer in her eyes. "Good because what I am about to say is for them. Yo, you bunch of fancy-ass priest or whatever I got good news and bad news for you. Good news is I know exactly who the chosen one is unlike you guys who are only picking candidates." The girls jaw dropped. "The bad news is I don''t feel like telling you guys," I smirked. "I am sorry, but this is hard to believe your highness." The girl shook her head with a mocking chuckle. "You want proof right? Let me give you an insight into the chosen one. Who told you the chosen one is a single person?" A second later the girls'' eyes glowed white. "Tell me who it is boy!" An old gruff voice came out of the girl''s mouth while Archer pulled me back and stood in between me and the girl. "If you are thinking of forcing me to say, then I suggest you investigate why the empire allowed me to be a candidate for the throne despite being someone who is meant to die any moment." I stood up and walked out while Archer got ready to fight if necessary. "You will regret this boy!" The old voice from the girl warned. "Trust me I got better things to regret than a threat from a lame ass religious group who can''t even find their own messiah." I smiled just as the girl''s body burned to ashes. Archer looked at the ashes for a few moments before he looked at me. "What happened?" Archer asked. What was the reason I gave them last time with Dan Stands involvement in my assassination? Oh yeah, the church of almighty one is planning to get close to the imperial prince''s and influence them so they could secretly begin to control the empire. "I called their almighty one a stuck up asshole who rapes little kids when he is bored with his ant-sized dick in order to piss her off. But it seems I pissed off not just her but the people watching her from their ''holy'' country." I smiled awkwardly while Archer just looked astonished that I even had the guts of insulting the almighty one. "You do know although the empire doesn''t allow the influence of religious order inside the empire they still allow its people to pray to the deities?" Archer asked. "So what? What will the almighty one do to me? Send a lightning bolt over my head? Please I have a higher chance of vanishing in a moment that getting hit by a random lightning bolt." I shrugged as I walked out. Archer sighed. "Did you find anything from interviewing those 2?" "Yeah, their plan was to create zealots and missionaries of the almighty one and spread them inside the empire. For this they were looking around the empire for people with faith etc. This way when the new emperor ascends under their influence it will be much easier for them to move inside the empire. You know how it goes." I lied. Archer had a serious face as he nodded. *Beep* *Beep* I looked at my PCD which was alerting me of an incoming call. I answered it. "What''s up, bro?" I smiled at Jack who was looking at me inquisitively. "The court has decreed that you pass the control of the prisoner to me." He ordered. "Or what?" I asked back. "The court member will arrive in a few moments. They are men and don''t obstruct them. This is concerning the fate of the empire so be more serious about this." Jack calmly warned me. "I suggest you don''t send your men out." Suddenly I felt a link being made with me and Jack through my award. ''Got you.'' I smirked inwardly. "Those 2 just killed themselves." I yawned as I hung up the call and walked out of the interrogation room only to see 5 agents who appeared before me. I shrugged my shoulder and pointed at Archer. ''Got one prince, now for the other prince.'' I walked towards my restaurant. "Call James," I called out to my PCD. *Ring**Ring* "What do you want?" James answered in annoyance. "Just wanted to check up on ya bro. How you been?" "Piss of fucker." James was about to hang up. "I suggest you don''t hang up." However, James ignored me and hung up just as a link formed between me and James. ''2 princes in my pocket.'' 155 Episode 154- Particle Heist! It was terrifying. I was terrified! Throughout this past 1 year, I had tried not to integrate myself too much into the politics but naturally, I wasn''t able to. I was drawn into it without any choice and was forced to join my father''s faction. I began working with my sister Natalie in Lord Albert''s secret ops. He had extended the invitation to me after the bloody graduation dinner. I was reluctant initially to join Lord Albert''s information unit as joining them meant swearing in an oath of loyalty and sacrificing my freedom and I was least willing to do that. However, it was during this time I was taken to another visit to the game realm where I had the wildest idea and looked for something under consumables. [Name- Oath Removal] [Uses-1] [Description-Allows the user to remove the bondage of one oath they swore.] [Price-75 points] At this point, I had gotten used to seeing all the crazy things that could be bought from the game realm. Heck one could even be a deity if one had enough points let alone removal of an oath. Due to seeing this I readily joined the organisation in order to take advantage of all the information they had. I was placed under my sister''s covert unit and was given access to many of the classified information of certain levels in accordance with my rank after swearing oath to the organisation. One thing I learned from all this was how unruly and unstable the current political thread of the empire is right now. And in the centre of it all, weaving everything was my step-brother John. The more I knew about him the curious I became to the point I couldn''t restrain myself and used some points to ask some questions about my brother in the K.I. This became my worst mistake. "Why is everyone in the empire afraid of John Emberson?" [Price-10 points] I bought it and soon a screen with a message appeared. [Because John Emberson is capable of destroying the empire if he wishes.] "WHAT!?!" I couldn''t believe that. Father and the commandments wouldn''t allow such a threat to stand by. "How?" [Price- 20 points] I didn''t care about points at this point. [Using his vast knowledge and intelligence to develop the plague and other similar things.] There was only one plaque that I remembered that occurred during John''s lifetime after which everyone in the court began treating him fearfully. "Why would father and the commandments allow for him to live if that is the case?" [Price- 1 point.] Needless to say, I bought it. [In their eyes he is mad and won''t hesitate to do anything like destroying the empire one day if he is bored. So they are careful not to agitate him too much lest he does something crazy. It won''t be fun if he idles. So, I have fun by poking him and getting rid of his peace.] "I have fun by poking him?" I was confused reading this. What did it mean by I have fun¡­ I felt fear grip my heart seeing the attention of the Fake One was on me. It was terrifying. I was terrified! I waited for a while, but nothing happened as I sighed in relief. I quickly brought the necessary upgrades I needed before quickly leaving the game realm. -------------------------------------------- [Luke PoV- 1 week after acquiring award] There were too many changes in the past that the future had become too unpredictable now. Devices like the PCD and SAD were invented in the future, but it was a long time later and it wasn''t even advanced as these. I was even doubtful at this point if the 2nd imperial Prince Jack Emberson could even become the emperor as he had in his past life. In a way, I hoped he wouldn''t become the emperor which would initiate the devastating war between the holy countries and the empire. Not long after he had become the emperor in my past life the holy countries realised what his award was and became absolutely terrified and decided to destroy the empire before the emperor grew stronger. Because once he initiated the conquest no one will be able to stop him. That was how powerful and terrifying his award was. The power of Luck. The only reason the Empire was able to sustain and emerge constantly victorious under numerous combined assault of holy countries was that Emperor Jack used his luck on all his troops to successfully defend from the invasion numerous times. To be honest, even though we had lower troops compared to the holy countries they were never able to inflict too much damage on the empire. In fact, it was the opposite always. We inflicted numerous causality to them causing many of their troops to suffer. I just hope his highness finds a way to get rid of his soulless condition and ascend as the emperor with his knowledge lest I have to go through the same bloody war again. With his genius mind and capabilities, I felt even if all the holy countries were to challenge him they wouldn''t even get a chance to resist. My only comfort is that I had gained my award a lot sooner than I had expected allowing me to grow beyond my past limit. Especially with my knowledge of how to utilise my award I only need to practise for a while before I can quickly advance them. Not only that his highness was truly a genius. He gave me ideas to utilise my award that I had never thought of. Especially his ideas of creating an increasing the response time in the nerves in my hand to move my hands faster using the electricity that was generated in my fists. It was something truly dangerous which could fry the nerves in my hand if not for my insane healing capabilities. *Yawn* I have recently become more tired. Must be due to practising way too much with my award. ---------------------------------------------------- [Ellis PoV- 1 week after acquiring award] I had recently acquired the power of an award user and the sheer power from it was exhilarating. I trained with my award as much as possible. His highness had offered Luke and me countless ideas and ways to apply our award. Like for me, I had initially thought I could simply last longer in a fight with my fuel tank. However, his highness suggested to me that I could essentially use the fuel tanks to practically double my speed and strength or if needed double the speed of my healing. The only problem with being an award user was I couldn''t rapidly gain strength as I had before with his highness'' food. But at the same time talent wasn''t a factor for award users accumulation, just how smart people were in thinking applications for their award and their everyday usage of it. Due to this new power, I focused every day on training, not even going to the pub ''Drum and Flute'' to learn about the tall muscular man who carried a large 2 handed sword on his back. I was too tired by the end of the day to even go. *Yawn* I really need to stop practising so heavily. I went to sleep. ----------------------------------------------------- [Ez PoV- 1 day after Ellis and Luke acquired award] I had finally built the tool required to absorb principle particles from someone. The only problem was I couldn''t absorb principle particle from someone higher or lower rank than me. It had to be from someone in my same rank. This was because of the 10 sections of the strand found in all award users. It seems the principle particle absorbed by an award user at each rank was different. For example, the principle particle absorbed by a rank 0 was vastly different from the principle particle absorbed by a rank 1 award user as it was filled in one of the 10 sections. One could almost state that these were 2 different types of principle particles were made of different compositions. It was almost like if the rank 0 principle particle was square then the rank 1 principle particle was a triangle. Due to this, I needed to absorb from people of my same rank, and I had the 2 perfect volunteers to absorb from. Especially when both of them were rapidly producing principle particles like there was no tomorrow. The next day as both of them were practising in the research facilities training room I walked in holding a cube with random wires. "Ellis, Luke. 1 minute please." I called out to them and both of them quickly came up to me. "Don''t take notice of what I am doing to you and carry on accumulating." I gave both of them an order as I attached the wires on their fingers. Both of them nodded and quickly began practising while random number began popping up on the screen. ''Bingo!'' I screamed in excitement in my mind as I noticed the thread that formed between me and their soul shell. The command in that thread was ''Don''t take notice of what I am doing to you and carry on accumulating.'' Due to them being equally as strong as me the command began taking effect on them much quicker. Oh boy! I am loving this already. "Okay, I have gathered enough data. Thanks, guys." I removed the wires and walked out calmly. As night came in I added sleeping agent enough to knock them out for 1 hour. I tapped my PCD and activated my nanobots which were to go into their room and draw their principle particles via the PPE- short for principle particle extractor. 10 minutes later my bots appeared before me holding a container which contained nothing the naked eye could see. I smiled at this as the nanobots transformed into a needle and stabbed directly into my heart, pumping in the principle particles. I felt my accumulation increasing rapidly. This became a daily occurrence in my life for the next few days. Once they were asleep I would send my nanobots to collect the principle particles they had accumulated in their body every day. With my guidance and their daily practice, I gathered more than enough principle particles from them every day. I just needed to keep this up for 1 more week before I gather enough principle particles to increase my rank to rank 1. God, I love taking advantage of the chosen ones of the world. I even thought about to go and headhunt Lawson and Dean to quadruple my training time but decided against it. Patience was the key for particle heist.