2 weeks earlier

Max came into the High King’s chambers with a respectful smile, head slightly bowed.

“My liege,” he said. “Thank you for seeing me on such short notice.”

King Durum stroked his beard. “My affairs are vast and my time is short. But for a hero and a friend? I will always find a minute. What is it I can do for you?”

“I should assume you know,” Max said carefully.

King Durum had an unreadable expression. “Remind me anyway. It is the way of kings for their minds to be in many places.”

Max barely stifled a scoff. He could see from Durum’s face he knew why Max was here. “I was promised a reward, if I were to deal with the threat in the ruins.”

“Ah, that,” King Durum said and hummed thoughtfully. “It was indeed valiant of you, my friend.”

With that, the king let the silence fall on Max. Max bristled. King Durum was turning more and more like his predecessor, one that would play games and abuse his station.

“I am sure a man of your stature would like to honor his promise, if only I were to make an appropriate request,” Max said carefully.

“Indeed!” Durum said. “But I should be a just king. And has this situation not benefited you already? You have learned of your enemy and dispatched with all of them but one.”

Oh… I did not expect this.

Max had taken a two day rest at the outpost after his extensive fight with the lizards. He was absolutely certain there had been not a single obsidian dwarf watching him when he chased the lizards in the ashen plains of Dreadlands. The king had slipped. He was dealing with the lizards as well.

“A king should be as wise as he is just,” Max said, carefully watching Durum. “He should think twice over the friends he keeps. Surely a few paltry trinkets from your vast hoards would strengthen our bond.”

“Surely…” Durum said and paced around. Max could tell he was nervous.

“What did they tell you, Durum?” Max asked. “I know you’re a good man and we have rapport. You wouldn’t toss it away like this.”

Durum sighed and looked at him from the corner of his eye, as if asking himself how much he could trust Max. “They sent an envoy to stumble around in the ruins. My men found her and captured the lizard. She had a simple message to tell from her leaders.”

“Yeah?”

“Help us and be spared. Help the humans and be destroyed.”

Max let out a mirthless laugh. “And you know we won’t make such an ultimatum.”

“You are a gentler race,” Durum said and spread his hands in a powerless gesture. “I am your friend, Max. But first I am the High King of my people.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“They’ll betray you,” Max said immediately. “You’re better off fighting them than dealing with them.”

“You don’t know that!” Durum snapped. “It will not take long before both of you races are much stronger than any of us can dream to be. Even with the new knowledge of Cultivation…”

Max perked at the knowledge about Cultivation, but now was not the time. He had to press the argument.

“You’re going to have to take a blind bet anyway,” Max said. “If you ally with humans, you give us strength, we take down the lizards.”

“You have your own war to deal with,” Durum said and swigged down a cup of wine. “You cannot promise me anything right now. They will promise me destruction.”

Max stared the High King down. “Pay me back, Durum.”

High King Durum cast a nasty, covetous glance at Max.

“Pay me back,” Max said, softer this time. “And I promise to you that you will be fighting fewer lizards, if they ever come knocking down your doors.

Durum grimaced down at his empty wine cup, but he stilled. He thought, and eventually relented and bowed to Max.

“After this, I cannot have you return here.”

Max bowed back.

*

Durum was generous. He had given Max leave to study and take with him all but the most amazing of his treasures. He said those would be needed to fight off the lizards in case of emergency. Max would be allowed to take four C-grade treasures or two B-grade treasures. On top of that, he had shared his new insights on Cultivation from the books Max had recovered from the ruins.

Max spent a long time studying the treasures. There were swords, bows, armors, shields, even wagons, had they horses or other beasts to use them. There were cultivation treasures, such as more pills and talismans offering boons. They should be considered as well. In addition to all this were of course all sorts of tools for non-combat purposes. But it was combat that Max had his mind on.

Now that they had an outpost in the Dreadlands and Max had a massive bounty on his head, he would need any martial advantage possible.

He considered his situation.

“Hey!” Maverick had shouted. “Our situation.”

Max was a [Gravitician], a magic based class, specializing in gravity. He had a very special gun to go with that. Max also shared a magical Cultivation bond with said weapon. So what were his strengths and weaknesses in specific?

He was very mobile and Maverick was starting to dish out some serious damage. He was also great at controlling the battlefield and his enemies with [Tether] and [Gravity Well] in particular.

But that set up did come with an assortment of weaknesses. He was very reliant on Mana. It would become a problem especially if he wanted to use [Telekinesis] extensively, like flying would require of him. Another weakness was his damage output against multiple enemies. Whenever fighting multiple enemies, he had to control them, switch targets, stay on the move and shoot at whatever happened to be close. Max had no way to damage multiple enemies.

He was also very, very vulnerable. While his Constitution, Toughness and Resistance weren’t low anymore, he had no protective magic or equipment. If someone shot a nasty fireball or a well aimed spear at him, it could spiral a fight out of his control fast. [Tether] could keep him out of harm’s way for a long time, but he only needed to screw up once if the situation was risky enough.

Max wandered around and looked at shields, chain mails and helmets of various sizes and shapes. Some of the items were B or even A-grade. The A-grade items had some interesting effects.

[Sabatons of Furious War (A-grade)]

+11 Strength

+6 Dexterity

+10 Constitution

+8 Toughness

Special Effect: Wearer can activate the Mana inscription, [Relentless Assault], in these sabatons at the cost of 10 mana per second.

[Relentless Assault]:Reduce the Toughness and Resistance of anyone attacking you proportional to your Strength

That’s really interesting. But it’s of no use to me.

Max wandered around a little more, getting more and more disappointed by the lack of useful caster items at A-grade. Finally he came up to a little display table. On the table was a soft red pillow and a glass dome. Under the glass dome was a ring crafted from translucent crystal. Max lifted the dome and inspected the ring.

[Ring of Light Bending (Special-grade)]

Passive effect: When equipped, the wearer will become invisible if they remain completely still. This item consumes Cosmic Coins. It can be recharged.

Special-grade huh? That’s a new one. I suppose they don’t come with stats.

Now this one Max fell in love with the second he read the description. He could get into very unorthodox places with his abilities. This ring would not only allow for absolutely devastating ambushes, it would also allow for really easy escapes as long as the enemy was not aware that Max could turn invisible. There was no doubt in his mind. Max wanted it. Maverick made the equivalent of a shrug through their bond.

“What do you think?” Max asked Maverick.

“Not a fan,” the gun said. “How exactly is it going to give me more damage?”

Max had no answer to that. He only shook his head in disbelief and took the ring.

After he left the treasure, Durum and Max exchanged a few words. There was a heavy tension in the air. Max was escorted out of the domain of obsidian dwarves and he hoped he would not have to see High-King Durum ever again.