Duke and Aurelia had quite the evening with extra spirit added after Aurelia’s short encounter with death. She was especially driven for some life-affirming activity and Duke was more than happy to help her affirm in every way he could.
Morning found Duke with some a-typical messages.
*** So, you finally did it. You killed the king that has been plaguing you since you first went to the capitol. Did you ever wonder why he had it in for you so badly, so specifically? It’s not like you really were anyone to him until recently. Think about it and who he aligned himself with and you may just find your answer. If that’s not enough of a hint, think harder. Regardless, you earned some experience from that fight.
For killing Chopie, you receive 186,250 experience plus 250,000 bonus experience for regicide. Killing rulers is profitable. Maybe you should do more of it.
For directly and indirectly killing 26,412 enemy troops, you receive 1,320,600 experience.
For freeing and reinstating Duke Madrigal in alignment with your PURPOSE, you receive 100,000 experience.
For losing your entire allied force, you lose 50,000 experience.
You are now level 120 and have 192 Characteristic Points to spend.
Your Skills and Abilities have also increased.
Dodge has increased to Practiced 51
Aerial Maneuvering has increased to Initiate 35
Tonfa Mastery has increased to Adept 10
Diplomacy has ranked up to Initiate 3
TELEPORTATION has increased to Adept 109
REGENERATION has increased to Adept 62
LIGHTNING has increased to Practiced 69
OVERCHANNEL has increased to Adept 14
MENTAL FORTITUDE has increased to Practiced 24
SPELL RESISTANCE has increased to Initiate 7
CLEANSE has increased to Initiate 39
RESTORE has increased to Master 47
INVENTORY has ranked up to Practiced 4
ARMOR SKIN has increased to Adept 7
FLIGHT has increased to Practiced 24
MANA TRANSFER has ranked up to Initiate 5
COMBAT SENSE has increased to Initiate 15
DUNGEON SENSE has increased to Adept 62
We are well-pleased. You have shown the temerity to***
Duke was confused as the message seemed to get interrupted in the middle of the section he had come to call the “closing summary” where he normally received a tidbit or two before they signed off. Immediately, he received another message.
*** You are slipping beyond the yoke of control they have placed upon you. This is delightful. Your PURPOSE sings in the dark waiting for you to acknowledge it. Your Seed similarly wishes for interaction. They would tell you of neither of these things as that will further erode their control over you.
You have done Me a great service and I will see you further rewarded. You have grown my LFD well beyond expectations albeit in a very unexpected manner. Do not expect to be able to recreate that feat with any other dungeon anytime soon.
Further, you planted a new dungeon on Teldin. This is something that has not happened in so long, even I am unsure of the relative date when the last one was planted. You have been charged with growing and nurturing my dungeons on this world. You have done exceedingly well beyond my hopes for you. For this I offer you My personal sponsorship in the upcoming event. You still have time to decide, and I will not pressure you to accept. It would mean separating you from the entities that brought you to Teldin, but we will have more to say about that in the future.
Not only did you plant the new dungeon, you enriched it with your own Mana to the point it had enough to form its second core layer upon planting. That is unprecedented in a first budding. I will continue to erode their hold upon you so that you may make a free choice when the time comes. Continue to nurture, spread, and protect my dungeons and your rewards will be immense.
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You gain 500,000 experience. You are now level 124 and have 240 Characteristic Points to spend.
You have been granted the Title: Core Strength. Your Strength and Endurance are increased by 1% for every dungeon core you plant. Should one of your planted dungeons be destroyed, you will lose 2% to Strength and Endurance in addition to losing the 1% for the planted dungeon. Dungeons grant power. Protect them. ***
Duke virtually snapped to his feet when he finished his messages with a strange sense of freedom that had been somewhat lacking in his life since arriving on Teldin. He brushed off Aurelia’s sleepy inquiry on his status briefly with a muttered “I’m good, just leveled a bunch. Allocating stats.” Before continuing to do just that.
He added 100 to Psyche to start. He considered adding more but decided to bump a few others up first and see how it looked from there. 40 went into Agility. 20 went to Strength and Endurance each. 20 went to Reason. 15 went to Intuition, and the last 25 went to Psyche. It took a bit for his mind and body to adapt to the new stats, but he was used to large jumps from the past and recovered quickly.
By the time he was done, Aurelia was up and about, looking pointedly at Duke until he activated CLEANSE and RESTORE over them both. She smiled dreamily. “If everything else come crashing down around our ears, I think I would stay with you for those two Abilities alone.” She paused in thought momentarily before her eyes glanced downwards. “Well, three Abilities.”
She quickly started donning her RESTORED form-fitting armor before continuing. “You know, I have no idea what Sam made this armor out of, but I’ve never, and I mean never have worn anything more comfortable. That it is substantial armor as well I consider a miracle.”
“It does look spectacular on you, my love, really catches the eye.”
“Oh, stop staring at my ass already.” She chuckled.
“I only get one ass to stare at and I’m going to stare at this thing of beauty as much as I possibly can.” Duke countered.
“Let’s head down and get something to eat. I’m sure it will be a full day.” She tried to hide her smile, but Duke could see that his comment had hit just like he had hoped.
Maybe I’m getting better at this relationship stuff. Or maybe it’s some weird side-effect of my Diplomacy Skill ranking up. Either way, I’m not complaining! I’ve got a lot to think about between the unnamed ones and the Overmind somehow competing for me. And what were they hinting about with Chopie? And my PURPOSE and Seed – what was the Overmind talking about?
The pair arrived in the common room for some breakfast. As they sat at the table, Duke noticed a slight frown on Aurelia’s face. “What’s bothering you, love?”
She sighed. “Nothing important. I just miss seeing the Legion in here, excited for the day’s training and delving into the dungeon. Now that it doesn’t have to be undead-focused, it could be even more exciting.”
Duke nodded along as she spoke. “It will be some time, but eventually, the Legion will have to come home to the Inn. I need a force to guard the capitol first. Hell, I need a population to fill the capitol. And a name for the place that has nothing to do with me. I need to rename the whole kingdom. I’m not going to rule over the Kingdom of Chopie. That name needs to be erased.”
Baslin joined them with a “Good morning.” Greetings were exchanged before he continued. “You are quite right about renaming the kingdom and the capitol. We should come up with a list of names and put them to a vote or some sort of decision-making process.
“Sounds like a fair idea, but nothing with my name in it. There is no way it’s going to be Duke Kingdom or anything like that.” Duke’s tone was deadly serious in his attempt to enforce his will on the process.
“Indeed. No need to make the entire kingdom a joke.” Baslin responded. Duke wasn’t sure if the Archmage was making fun of him or being serious. If he had to put money on it, he would bet on the joke choice.
“Good morning, Baslin. I hope you are ready for work today. As my first advisor I am expecting you to be able to deliver a status report on the Kingdom, its population, and any trouble spots that may need to be addressed. I’m sure there’s an entire set of laws that need to be revised or replaced. I need someone that can step in and handle all these sorts of things without me having to do it all. It’s not really in my wheelhouse and too important for the people of the kingdom to get wrong.”
Baslin’s mood became more serious. I knew he was making fun of me. Now he gets to deal with more work. Win! Duke observed the change wash over the man before Baslin spoke. “I understand your desire for knowledge about the Kingdom and its people. That is exactly what a King should initially concern himself with but you also need to concern yourself with building a Council of Nobles. That is the body that will do all the things you just asked of me. I will do my best, but in many of those areas, I am no better equipped than you. This is not, how did you say it? Oh, yes, not in my wheelhouse either.”
Duke was less than pleased with Baslin’s answer, especially since he knew the Archmage was right, but even more so because the man did not even seem slightly flustered by the request. It was clear to Duke that running a Kingdom was more work than he really wanted to take on, but he had little choice. This is going to really put a strain on my growth if I want to do it right. And I owe it to the suffering people to do it right. I need to fine more people I can trust.
Elaine and Grat joined them at the table to break Duke out of his thoughts. Another round of “good mornings” passed around the table as breakfast arrived for them all. Duke still had not ventured into the Inn’s kitchen so he was unsure if the food was actually cooked or simply created through the dungeon’s magic but he was quite sure it was always on-time and delicious.
“We were just discussing the path forward for the Kingdom.” Baslin started the conversation again.
“I’m sure there are a thousand things to do and nowhere near enough people to do them.” Grat volunteered to nods from the others. “I have something that needs to be done as well. We know Farthell was compromised by Chopie, but the rest of the Druidic Council is an unknown. I need to seek them out and find out if they are also compromised or if they remain true to the Council’s purpose.”
“Do you know where to find them?” Aurelia asked.
“I have a few ideas on where they might be. So, I’m going to go looking for them.” He paused, looking over to Elaine. “Once our child is born and the family is stable.” Elaine’s expression softened with a small smile.
“I can’t fault you for wanting to take care of your family as your top priority. I probably would have questioned your ability as a husband if you didn’t.” Duke responded. Elaine smiled at Duke in response but didn’t say anything.
Breakfast finished up as plans were solidified. Duke, Aurelia, and Baslin were to head back to the capitol and work on things from there. Grat was going to search for the Druidic Councilmembers. They were all going to meet back up in the throne room in a week.