The people Alyssa brought swore fealty in a moment and rushed to start their construction. Mark didn’t know if it was fear or if they trusted Alyssa implicitly, but he was pleased with the result. Few of them were combatants, while most wanted to get into various non-combat professions. A few of them used to work in construction, and there was even an architecture student among them. They set to work, mining rocks and planning a city around the tree.
The mountain didn’t have that much space at the peak, but Mark knew he could change that, and before the eyes of the gawping crowd, the space expanded around them, leaving them with an uneven plateau. They looked up with awe and fear but didn’t dare make a fuss. They simply started working with newfound vigor.
As the weeks passed, buildings sprouted up on the plateau, and Mark made some more areas for them, creating tiered plateaus down the mountain.
They didn’t need that much space now, but if things went as Mark expected, they would become necessary later.
More people showed up and swore their allegiance, though some refused. They were transported back down the mountain and left to their own devices while most remained.
After three months, Mark had gotten a relatively large force of people under his wing, and Alysssa, along with another three Royal Guards, took up position around the top of the tree’s trunk. Mark had spent most of his time cultivating and had reached level 39. His stats had made significant progress, as had his skills. The area was simply perfect for him.
A somewhat surprising fact was that the Royal Guards leveled with him, but they felt hollow in a strange sense. That sense of hollowness was only alleviated by cultivating and training, so Mark ensured they did just that.
Their skills revolved around protection, and they gained a significant boost when fighting for someone else. That boost increased when fighting to protect his subjects, and likely even more so for him.
It was a strange feeling to be in charge of so many people, but he didn’t really have to do much since the Advisors and Lords had arrived a few months after Alyssa. They took over the day-to-day, leaving him to cultivate and experiment with his skills.
He also learned a lot about the tree and the mountain. The System had seeded the tree, and its roots had dug deep into the mountain. The tree’s power had suffused the mountain to such a degree that they were virtually indistinguishable, and that’s what gave Mark so much control over it.
He could will the tree to warp space around the mountain, making climbing it easier or harder. He could also change the trials provided, but he had to design them himself. The System had designed the current ones to make him use his Concepts and as an excuse for a trial. It couldn’t give anything for free, but it could change the difficulty and base it on the general population. If anyone without his particular skillset had tried that, they’d have had a lot more trouble than him.
His thoughts were interrupted by a slight cough, and he opened his eyes. Alyssa stood at a discreet distance and waited for him before she spoke.
“We’ve got a large group of new people at the bottom of the mountain who’d like to join.”
“Very well,” Mark opened a path for them, and he saw a few hundred people start ascending. “Anything else?”
“Yes,” Alyssa said. “Some of us are getting antsy here, and there are many who would like to head out and hunt. People need some training and activity. The mountain is safe enough, I think, that we could afford for them to head out.”
“True enough. You have my permission. I can defend the mountain well enough, though you should leave a few on rotation.”
“Of course. Thank you.”
Mark settled back to focus on his senses and his cultivation. He had managed to keep his cultivation running while doing other things, and as he expanded his senses through the spatial mana surrounding the mountain, he watched over his new subjects.
The idea that he was now a ruler, a monarch, was strange, but he wasn’t opposed to it. Watching all the people work hard to build something on the plateau he’d made for them was satisfying.
He watched as people scurried into caverns and mines to carve out the necessary stone while others used the already-gathered materials to start construction. The building began near the tree trunk.
The System had thrown everyone for a loop, and while it provided the few with a rise to power and fulfilling their dreams, most were left in the dust, hopeless and fearing for their future. Looking at the people working on their new homes, he could see a spark of hope enkindling in their eyes. Stability, safety, and a chance to live a good life brought hope to the people, and Mark was confident that he’d see several new powerhouses rise from the masses in due time. When the construction was completed, and people had settled and adjusted, they might look to broaden their horizons.
Mark took stock of his advances and the new skills he’d gained.
Name: Mark Johnson
Race: Karphan Human(F)
Class: Child of Cosmos
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Level: 39
Stats:
Strength: 36
Dexterity: 38
Endurance: 39
Intelligence: 3303
Wisdom: 62
Free Points: 0
Truths:
* Cosmos
* Space
* Void: +120 Intelligence. +15% Intelligence.
* Movement
* Distance
* Fabric: +120 Intelligence. +15% Intelligence.
* Tear
* Sharpness
* Phase: +120 Intelligence, +15% Intelligence
* Isolation
* Shift
* Star
* Radiation: +120 Intelligence, +15% Intelligence
* Heat
* Light
* Fusion: +120 Intelligence, +15% Intelligence
* Burst
* Collision
* Matter
* Gravity: +120 Intelligence, +15% Intelligence
* Mass
* Density
* Orbit: +120 Intelligence, +15% Intelligence
* Motion
* Spin
Skills:
Cosmic Manipulation
Blink
Cosmic Eye
Chakram Mastery
Spatial Sense
Royal Bond
Spatial Dominion
Starlight
Alter Gravity
Royal Bond was a connection to his court and guards. It made them level with him and allowed him to communicate and watch them from afar. It would even allow him to transport to one of their locations and vice versa; his guards could be at his side instantly if necessary.
Spatial Dominion was the skill that allowed him to change the mountain, what let him expand the area where his people were building and change the challenges during the climb.
Starlight was a buffing skill. He could create small stars that hovered around him and direct them to others. While hovering around someone, they provided a 10% boost to various stats, depending on the star. He could summon one star for each stat or merge them into one that boosted everything. He hadn’t practiced much with it, but he believed he could summon more with some training.
Alter Gravity did as advertised; it let him alter gravity. He could strengthen or reverse gravity in an area, though it took a lot of mana.
It was becoming more apparent that his class was about leading and supporting, but Mark didn’t know how to feel about it. He had enjoyed fighting near the end of the Tutorial and the journey to his family, and the mountain was filled with fights that made his blood roar. Alyssa’s remark about wanting to head out and hone herself also resonated with him. He already felt somewhat stifled, sitting on the tree, cultivating. He wanted some excitement.
For now, he had to wait. He wanted his people to gain some stability before he headed out, and he wanted the majority of his Royal Guard to be back before he went anywhere. So, he settled for watching over his Guards as they trained.
Mark closed his eyes and focused on the Royal Bond skill, and he saw Alyssa walking through the woods at the mountain’s foot. She held a sword, and a shield, though she hadn’t encountered anything yet. Alyssa didn’t notice the small, monkey-like creature hiding in the trees until it launched at her. She moved fluidly and raised her shield, making the monkey slam into it before it was swiftly decapitated. Mark saw the disappointed look in her eyes and knew she wanted a challenge. Smiling at the familiarity of it, he kept watching as she carved a path through the forest.
He checked in on a few of his other Guards and found Joshua fighting a huge gorilla, though he only caught the end of the fight as Joshua’s massive sword pierced through the ape’s heart.
Percival scorched a group of overgrown bees with a sun-based spell while Krister’s bow shot arrow after arrow at a giant praying mantis.
His Guards were getting used to their new powers and levels, and Mark could barely restrain himself from rushing out to do the same. Knowing his Guards were doing fine and that they could teleport to him or ask him for aid if necessary, he turned his eyes to the infusion array next to him.
The rings he’d received from the Tutorial lay there, and they were nearing completion, at least with the infusion part; he still had to enchant them, but that was a simple thing since he’d been working on the enchantment runes for a while. The four metal rings had been soaking in the concentrated spatial energies for a while, and they had taken on a dark purple hue, with sparkling lights speckled through them. It would only be a few more days now, and he could start the enchanting process.
Thinking of the future, his mind started drifting toward his purpose. Questions he’d been asking himself since the revelations of the Administrator.
Did the System just give him these powers, or did he actually earn them? Based on what he’d learned, the System could not grant powers that didn’t fit or resonate with the person. Did the System do this just to fulfill some Covenant, or is there another, larger purpose behind it? Lethralo had spoken about some purpose, and Mark felt that he was walking straight into it, but what could he do? Should he abandon the people who now relied on him? No. The System might have a plan for him, and he might be dancing to its strings for now, but he would use this power to do good, help people, and break those who would stand against him, hurt the innocents and the helpless. His Mountain would be a haven, a safe place for those who didn’t want to live in constant fear, but for that, he had to be stronger. His cultivation was progressing rapidly now that he was following his class’ purpose, but he needed to adjust, to learn how to use his skills properly and learn his limits. To do that, he had to push himself, to fight, and strive against strong foes.
“Guards, hear me,” Mark spoke through his bond to his Royal Guards. “I ask you to keep your eyes peeled for powerful foes. I expect you will also want to fight, though I ask you to leave some for me. You are not the only ones who need to hone themselves.”
“Yes sir!” everyone responded, and Mark saw through their bond that they all rushed off to find more monsters.
He didn’t expect them to find him any powerful beasts any time soon, and as he said, they wanted the fights themselves, but they were loyal, and obeying him was what gave them strength; just doing as he asked would be a power-up for them.
Mark settled back in position and cultivated while watching his subjects work. Already the first few homes were near completion. It wouldn’t be long until a small town sprung up at the mountain’s peak.