Chapter 18
“You have something to talk to me about, boy? I truly hope it lines up with what I need to tell you because after bringing back the Days of Many and leaving abruptly, you have a lot of explaining to do.” The Overlord took an offensive stance as Kalex made to reply. Before Kalex could say a word, Elder Urok ran up to them at a frantic pace.
“Overlord! There has been a message sent directly from the Potentate! The reading requires your audience! Please follow me to my estate, we must go quickly!” The Overlord turned to face the Elder. “The Potentate? Has he received word of this already? It hasn’t been a day since the sun came back to us.” The Overlord turned back to Kalex. “Come with me Kalex. For fleeing from an official of the Realm and running from your call to war, you are now under my custody and will follow my every order. Now MOVE!”
Kalex felt the word of the Overlord glance over him like a light breeze. The Overlord was not used to his commands being ignored and looked utterly annoyed at Kalex’s lack of action. The Elder caught the Overlord’s attention and urged him to hurry. While they exchanged words, Kalex mentally asked Lex what he needed to talk to Madison about.
“This is necessary for your growth in the long run, Mr. Wounder. You will need to explain how levels of power are now quantified by my system. After understanding the difference in ranks, Mr. Wickerwood will treat you differently and smooth out a lot of issues in which he believes he is superior.”
Kalex mentally responded. “That doesn’t sound like it’ll make a difference to him. And he’ll never believe me.” Lex only sent a warm sensation to Kalex’s brain.
“I guess it’s worth a shot.” Kalex spoke aloud. Madison and Urok both turned to Kalex at his statement and the Overlord was the first to respond. “I’m glad you see it my way, boy. Now follow me!” Kalex watched them turn around and spoke to their backs.
“I am not going with you and there is no way that I’m going to follow your orders, Madison. You may be strong amongst the general populous, but I am stronger.” The Overlord turned around with a grimace. “You may have been able to drain the vitality from that weakling Landor, and you may be adept at fleeing, but you are mistaken if you think you are stronger than an Overlord!”
Kalex scoffed at the Overlord’s display. “Look Maddy, when you give commands to people with the help of your spark, They usually do what you ask with no backlash, right? That doesn't work on me because I am stronger than you. I am two whole ranks above you and my stats are obnoxiously higher than yours.” Madison looked taken aback and confused at what he had heard and stated as much.
A bright blinking light from Kalex’s robe pocket caught everyone’s attention. “Information regarding the system will be sent to you.” Lex spoke to Madison and Urok. “With this, you will be able to glance at your personal information and be allowed to view others that are at or under your rank. Higher rank individuals will be able to grant status viewing permission to weaker individuals. The headache will pass momentarily.”
Urok and Madison grasped their heads and grunted in pain. They wanted to scream due to the head-splitting pain but had to uphold their status quo. “What kind of attack is this? Stop this at once or I will be forced to ta…”
Madison dropped his wound-up stance and looked forward in wonder. The look was perfectly emulated by the Elder who stood to his side. Almost in unison, they looked over at each other and glanced at their status. After appearing happy with their information, they looked at Kalex with a dumbfounded look. “It can’t be.” Madison whispered. Kalex allowed them to see his status and they paled at the information that was shown.
“Now do you understand?” Kalex tilted his head slightly. “The only reason I went forward with all those tests that you gave me is because I knew that there was little any of you could do to harm me, and frankly, I was curious about what those tests entailed.”
The Elder’s mouth moved up and down, but no words came to him. The Overlord had a look of consideration before speaking up. “These statuses have to be falsified. There are only two Overlords to each realm and other than the Potentate, we are the pinnacle of what is achievable on Enternia. The Potentate is said to have power equal to the Lumen, and we, mere mortals can’t dream to attain the power they hold.”
Kalex was surprised to hear about the power of the Potentate but had a feeling that Madison was inflating the strength of his leader. The Overlord continued. “You are still under my command and will come quietly. I do not believe in this screen your rock has shown me. You may have run before, but I will announce you as a threat to the realm and you will not be able to set foot into any populated area.”
Kalex again scoffed at the Overlord’s boastful remarks. Without saying another word, Kalex turned in the direction of the gates of the city. “Stop right there! If you continue your attempt to leave, a bounty will be placed on your head with the order of mercenaries! You will be hunted down like the coward you are! I said STOP!” Kalex continued to casually walk. With his presence sight, he could see a stunned Elder and a red-faced Overlord. He grinned at the commotion the interaction was causing as a growing group of Grangarddians encircled the area in front of the pastry shop that he’d never been able to peruse.
Quicker than the blink of an eye, Madison shot forward, intending to grab Kalex’s shoulder. With the help of his high stats and presence sight, Kalex was quicker. He grabbed the Overlord’s outstretched hand and easily overpowered the large man. Kalex effortlessly surrounded the man with his presence and opened up his status. Keeping an eye on Madison’s maturity and rank, Kalex began to pull. The Overlord’s maturity was drained to zero in an instant but he continued to absorb the energy into his inner world to be processed.
Kalex was curious about what would happen when the maturity continued to drop after it had reached zero. He had done this before but had never seen what happened within the status screen. The Overlord lost his rank of Platinum and his Silver maturity began to drop as well. As it reached zero, Kalex intended to stop, but due to Madison being who he was, Kalex thought that taking him down a peg to copper would serve him right. As that thought crossed his mind, Lex chimed in.
“Mr. Wounder, although I agree with your conclusion about this man, there is an issue that I have noticed the previous times this has been executed. At the copper stage, the core is not strong enough to fight against the pull of your presence and their cultivation of power isn’t the only thing you consume. The energy that allows them to live is also siphoned off, leaving them crippled and fading. I’d strongly advise against this in the future if at all possible.”
Stolen novel; please report.
Kalex stood wide-eyed at the information Lex gave him and immediately ceased and looked upon the Overlord who was barely standing. With heaving breaths, Madison looked at his status and his whole body grew tense. “What have you done to me? This window shows that I went down almost two ranks. I feel weak compared to a moment before. What have you done to me, you monster!”
After letting the man go, Kalex walked away from the scene toward the gate of the city but was interrupted by the sound of running and a meek voice.
“Sir, I’d like to thank you for opening my eyes. This revelation has answered questions I’ve always wanted to know and I promise to use it for the betterment of Grangardd. I have to also thank you for bringing Madison down from his pedestal. To be honest, he was a scourge on this city and everyone hid in their homes when he arrived. To add to that, if it wasn’t for his attitude and blatant disregard for human life, I would hold the moniker of Overlord. After he threatened my family, I had to step down from the running to become Overlord. So you have my eternal gratitude.”
Kalex turned back and saw the Elder moving towards Madison. “Come now Overlord, I will assist with getting you to my residence to read the Potentate’s message.” Urok slung the Overlord's arm over his shoulder and proceeded to walk towards a path that Kalex knew was a very long route to the Elder’s home.
Kalex shrugged and continued walking to the gate. He could’ve transported himself directly out of the city, but he still wanted to see what some of the shops carried. He had his fortune from raiding Fulrog’s coffers and he felt it was a good time to offload some of his pocket money.
The shops in Grangardd were blossoming with things to purchase. Kalex stopped by every pastry shop he found and picked up a few of their baked goods. He made his way to the shops that carried clothes and light armor but was disappointed to find that what he was wearing was superior to what was being sold. His robe had a surprising amount of stats as well as his worn pants and boots. He sent his question about the garments to Lex who responded with an explanation about how being equipped caused changes, and in turn, made them stronger. Pleased with the purchases he had made, Kalex checked his quest to see what the next step was in its progression.
The Elder’s Grandchild
* Confront Madison Wickerwood in Grangardd
* Wait for the event in Grangardd (Estimated time: 4 days)
* Optional: Assist farmers with storage crisis
"There’s going to be an event here?” Kalex questioned Lex. “Yes Mr. Wounder, an event will happen in the near future that will be pivotal in your accumulation of power.” Kalex looked from the gate to the farming district of town. “Well, I don't have anywhere I have to be right now so it looks like I’m helping the farmers.”
Kalex teleported himself to the nearest farm that he could see. He appeared in the yard of the farmhouse to only be welcomed with a bout of vertigo. The last thing he remembered was the ground getting closer before he wound up in his area of darkness which wasn’t very dark anymore. Bright myst shone as far as he could see, and seemed to roil in unorganized motes. Kalex immediately attempted to calm the seas of his inner world but to no avail.
His whole body warmed. “Mr. Wounder, after achieving the rank of Axiom, I would highly advise against translocating yourself too frequently. Your core has become much more dense and moving yourself with your path takes a toll on your internal system. This is relatively harmless, but you may lose consciousness when arriving at your destination.”
Kalex stopped trying to wrangle his wild myst and relaxed. He knew that he wasn’t going to be able to leave until his myst system calmed. The thought of forcing his way out occurred to him, but after a momentary frost caressed his mind, he decided against it. Who knows what would happen if he gained consciousness with his myst in the state it was in. His defenses were strong enough to handle any harm that could come to him out here in the impoverished farmland of Grangardd, so instead of worrying about what was happening to his body, he instead pinged Lex with a request to view Elder Tora’s memories.
“I cannot show you the memories in full, but I will grant a small snippet.” Everything around Kalex changed. He couldn’t see his myst or his core anymore, just dappled light through his closed eyelids.
Opening his eyes, he was greeted with a sight he thought he might never see again. He saw the wilderness of Diat. Although very similar to Enternia, the various animals and foliage differed in small ways. The most apparent was the size of everything. Beers were on average around 3 rods tall or about twice the height of the average on Enternia. When he had the perspective of an Enternian in Diat, everything looked massive.
The largeness of everything was one thing, but the feeling of the myst was another. It felt powerful and welcoming, like a childhood home that hadn’t changed since it was left behind. The rays of the sun envigorated him and it felt like he was warm for the first time since his death. A small whimper broke him out of his reverie. Turning toward the sound, Kalex was met with a dazzling gleam of blue and a figure standing in front of it.
The blue light felt like a mirror of himself when he peered at the scene with his presence sight and he found moisture welling up in the figure’s eyes. Without a thought, Kalex willed himself to the side of the weeping woman. Shock filled him as he looked at her face. Elder Tora’s face was the last thing he saw before leaving Diat, but he didn’t picture her looking this way after he left.
Her face was in a hard grimace as she held back tears. Kalex sat down to her side as she fell to her knees. “I shouldn’t have gone through with the mission. Begging the Council to remove me from their tyrannical plans did no good.” She softly spoke to herself between sobs.
“I should’ve forfeited my life, Instead I took a life that could’ve helped us all through this. The Council. I will not be led by the nose by the Seven Sages any longer! The life of one that you care about is worth more than the fear of affliction. Thank you Kalex, I know that now.”
Tora stood and sent a resolute gaze in the direction of the Citadel where the Seven Sages resided. She pulled out her storage cube and retrieved a long piece of green cloth and spoke. “Forgive me Kalex. I will no longer be at the mercy of the Council. I will bring life back to Diat and save the other Seers from the life they are forced to live.” She tied the cloth loosely around her neck as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Kalex abruptly found himself back in his body in Enternia. Seeing the moments after his death sparked a sadness in him and he could tell he had been weeping during the last parts of the memory. As he went to wipe his tears away, he found that his arms were underneath a very heavy blanket. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see that he was in a small room. He began to stir as he pushed the quilted fabric from himself and slid out of the admittedly comfortable bed.
The door opened a moment later. Kalex went on alert as he hadn’t noticed any presences close to him. The only thing he saw was a homely-looking woman with a bright smile adorning her face peeking through the partially opened door. Kalex relaxed a bit as she greeted him.
“Hiya! You’re a heavy sleeper, aren’t ya!” Kalex only nodded as he slowly began to back away from the entryway.