Chapter 553: [ DAWN Treader ]
Throne room.
Feriat silently followed behind Allen who arrived after everyone.
The hall was full of people on their knees showing their fealty.
Pin-drop silence covered the entire place. No one fidgeted in the hall, it was quiet enough to hear the sound of breathing. The only noise was from the master of this hall—Allen, and his follower Feriat’s footsteps, as well as the sound of the breeze blowing from the window and gaping collapse hole at the right side of the wall, where the beautiful sky could be seen in all of its glory, highlighting the entire dim and solemn place.
*tap tap Allen strode forward with his long legs and didn't glance sideways at all. He nonchalantly ascended the steps and sat on his throne. Feriat on the other went behind the throne and stood there without caring about anything.
Allen sat lazily, with his back leaning on the armrest and legs on the opposite armrest, with one knee up, stepping at the edge of the throne chair--looking extremely casual. He watched the scene below the steps on the throne. His arm on his belly while the other rested naturally on the backrest of his throne. He looked extremely lazy that Feriat can’t help but roll her eyes helplessly upon seeing his so-called majestic appearance. He called everyone here and yet, this was what he was showing them…? Not an ounce of regality on his actions…?
Although you’re not yet a real King, you are still sitting on a throne within a Castle’s Throne Hall!
You should at least know your own status…!
Feriat wanted to admonish him but endured it in the end. Whatever, it’s not like he would listen to her, in any case, ~ thus, she could only sigh in remorse.
Unlike Feriat’s disapproval, on the other hand, the people kneeling on the ground, upon seeing Allen was stunned.
Purely because the master they rarely saw and interact with, really had looks and temperament that were too eye-catching. They suddenly felt lost in another world...
This master of theirs, not only does he have the looks—even his figure is more stunning than a woman's.
The great master before them has facial features that were like a drawing—his skin was better than woman's, his flawless profile was simply like a piece of art. In fact, could his body be considered as that of a man’s? He had delicate snow-white arms with a tinge of pink. His arms could put a woman to shame. Slender and lean, yet not bony at all with just the right amount of muscle. Even a young lady’s skin couldn’t be fairer than his. His facial features looked the same. However, his face had become tenderer than before.
He was cupping his chin in his hand at this moment and looked towards all the people present with a lazy expression.
He has thick eyebrows and his eyelashes are long. His hair is messy and his red lips have a small cut in the corner. Even with his messy look, it won't change the fact that he's very handsome. Even the most hailed celebrity handsome genius in every sect pale in comparison.
They didn’t know why but at this moment, he was wearing only a black fur-lined coat darker than the night sky, with nothing underneath and black pants. Thus, anyone can see his toned body that could make any women drool in desire. Due to his current sitting position, the black coat covers his body only revealing a bit of his collarbone and chest and yet, the perfect tailoring black coat outlined his slender waist and he emanated a cold vibe from his eyes. His high nose, deep eyes as red as blood and lips stained with a light cherry color came together to form a perfectly stunning face.
Yang Qingyu had seen countless excellent and handsome looking geniuses in her lifetime but compared them to this man before her, they were suddenly much dimmer.
If they were considered handsome, then this man could disrupt a country.
“… …”
A strange and deadly silence filled the air.
As ordered by Allen, all the slaves within the ‘Ruinos Castle’ were immediately gathered together. But even so -- the throne hall was vast and the scene didn’t seem too crowded.
Although most of them are all criminals before and came from the notorious Evil Sect, however, in front of Allen, they would never dare show any kind of rudeness and displeasure. In fact, they didn’t even dare raise their heads and see him eye to eye.
They can act like Dragons and Phoenixes in front of Righteous Sects but in front of him, they would curl their tail and lay with their belly’s upward!
As the atmosphere was uncomfortably chilly, the whole space suddenly felt really cramped.
“…W, We greet the young lord!”
““““We greet the young lord!!””””
As the appointed leader of the slaves, Yang Qingyu grit her teeth in anxiety and started her greeting, which was then followed by the rest including her usually quiet and solemn sister; Yang Jiaoyao. All of their voices were filled with deep respect and veneration.
Allen ignored their greetings and lazily yawn. After a long while, Allen lounged lazily on his seat and looked at the people before him indifferently, “I apologize for gathering all of you here.” He apologized in an unrepentant tone. This is just for show, but apologizing was still important. Gathering everyone was Allen’s decision alone, but this was to let his underlings know that he trusted them.
“As for why I summoned everyone here, I will explain in a moment.” He started.
“… I think you should already have some understanding as to what kind of place you are in right now. That’s right, this is a Trial Ground, or should I say, the infamous Despair Grieving Mountain…”
“Despair Grieving Mountain?!” Yang Qingyu exclaimed in shock. Suddenly, she suddenly realized that the surrounding became quiet. Yang Qingyu’s face instantly ashened. She had actually forgotten where she was due to her shock.
Despair Grieving Mountain was that too famous for her… after all, this is a playground only those for Righteous Sects. A playground filled with opportunity and treasures! Even among Evil Sect, this place was greatly coveted by them…!
But still, she actually interrupted their master’s speech… what kind of guts does she possess…?!
She nervously raised her head and indeed as expected, two beautiful eyes were gazing at her intensely.
Like a galaxy full of stars, his eyes are shining brightly. His lips curved upward which gives him a naughty look despite his cold and aloof facial expression. Though whether the possessor of those beautiful pretty eyes was looking at her smiling was completely another matter…!
As if she was bitten by a snake, Yang Qingyu went stiff. She cannot help but stare back at him.
They both stared at each other without even blinking. Yang Qingyu feels suffocated. She doesn't know but she feels that the surroundings become cold all of the sudden.
“Hm? What? Did Qingyu not know of it? I should have already told this to you all before though?” Allen muttered with an unusually soft tone.
“Ah! That’s, that’s…” Yang Qingyu stuttered.
Seeing her sister acting like this, Yang Jiaoyao couldn’t help but facepalm. As expected, she wasn’t listening at all. When Miss Laura had appeared before them a few days ago, her sister was busy reading a book full of cultivation techniques and her mind was too focused on it… thus, she really didn’t spare any thoughts about miss Laura at that time…!
Didn’t she say, ‘I understand!’…at that time? Understand my ass…!!
Sighing bitterly, Yang Jiaoyao spoke on her behalf, “Young lord, please forgive my sister! She was, she was just too focused on cultivation until now that she had forgotten about the matter regarding the Despair Grieving Mountain. I implore the young lord’s open-mindedness!” She prostrated on the ground.
“Jiaoyao!” Yang Qingyu muttered blankly. She understands that this time, it was really her fault… no, a grave mistake she had made!
Without hesitation, she followed Yang Jiaoyao and prostrated on the ground, trembling; “Please forgive this poor slave, young lord!”
“Hmph!” However, before Allen could respond, a sneering sound came from behind. Feriat raised her hand and a sword materializes in thin air, pointing it towards Yang Qingyu as if wanting to cut her to pieces. Yang Qingyu trembled and her face paled.
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“Irritating,” A cold voice, and it was then followed by a wizzz. sound as if the air was being cut.
However,
“Enough,” Allen muttered while frowning as he grabbed Feriat’s sword with bare hands that were flying towards Yang Qingyu—though, there’s no killing intent, so Allen was sure that Feriat didn’t intend to kill anyone only punish or probably scare her. “…I thought you like women, aren’t you quite heartless?”
“I like them but I despise humans!” Feriat snorted. What she liked was Baishe and the others, after all, they are not of humanity… it can even be said that they were similar to hers. As for humans, she didn’t like, and that includes women as well!
She has her standard and humanity, which was full of dishonesty and betrayal was just too disgusting to her!
“… …” Allen sighs at her hatred for humanity.
This girl… just what did she experience before?
Where did her hatred for humanity rooted from…?
Allen can feel that Feriat’s hatred for humanity was not a half-assed thing. Though, with their current relationship, Allen can’t do anything recklessly such as asking her this kind of question. After all, who knows what kind of wound he might open just by asking it…?
A second went by, two seconds went by, three seconds went by...
Allen’s cold gaze returned towards the prostrating Yang Qingyu and Yang Jiaoyao for a brief moment before he finally said without expression, “Whatever, let’s continue,”
Yang Qingyu had basically scared off so there was a thin layer of sweat on her forehead. When she heard Allen’s voice, she finally felt as if she was giving pardon and relief plastered in her face.
The master’s aura is just too intimidating; the way he looks at her makes her shudder...
“Continuing to what I was saying, indeed we are currently inside the Despair Grieving Mountain… though I like to call it the Trial Ground instead. And in addition, due to some accidental occurrence, the Trial Ground is currently ten times or probably beyond harder compared to the usual Trial Ground. Monsters here are all 5th rank and above, meaning the power of the weakest is comparable to that of an Emperor rank cultivator…”
“… …”
“Why am I telling you this…?” Allen’s narrowed. As soon as his voice died down, the pressure in the hall lowered and the man before them regained his indifferent expression.
Yang Qingyu could hear her own heartbeat.
“Just like what you are thinking…I’m planning to throw you out there,”
“…!?” All the people kneeling in the ground shivered. However, the moment they raised their heads, they were then greeted by a terrifying pressure from the woman behind Allen, causing for them to immediately lower their heads again.
“But young lord…!” But Yang Qingyu was different. Aside from the mistake she had made a while ago, she was still the appointed leader of the slaves, if the real Ten, the real members of the DAWN is not present, so she has the right to voice out in moments like this.
Feriat glared angrily at Yang Qingyu for her disrespect. To her, if Allen wouldn’t show regality on his actions and behavior, she would in place of him. Since he was her master, in which, she would not be able to change nor refuse in this life, she can only reluctantly accept it. Because of this, she can’t let anyone undermine her master, because that would be undermining her as well. That is a grave sin against her pride…!!
Her Master is a sole son of heaven, and so she would be as well…!
She can’t do anything to Allen if he behaves roguishly or unbefitting of that of a King, but she could make people act properly towards him, even if he acts like usual…!
“… …” Trying to ignore Feriat’s glaring gaze, Yang Qingyu grit her teeth. She raised her head and noticed her master turned to transfix her with a keen gaze. There was no reading his expression. He looked like he was brimming with anger, but at the same time, he appeared quite bemused.
“… Of course, not because of whatever you are thinking,” Allen seemed distracted with a thin layer of frost covering his face and seemed somewhat distant as he continued plainly, “This is a Trial Ground as what I had said before, so this is a training ground for you as well. You are still not official members of the Dawn and instead just slaves in meaning… still, this will be your test as well as opportunity. An opportunity to be a freeman and become a real member together with us…!”
“!!?” With those words, all the people immediately raised their heads and look at Allen with wide open eyes. Their expressions and faces colored with disbelief and astonishment.
“Of course, it would be not as easy as you think it to be… it depends on your contribution~”
“What kind of…contribution, master?” Yang Jiaoyao asked, hesitant and yet a bit hopeful. She doesn’t want to become forever a slave, so this opportunity of freeing herself, she would take it—no she must take it, together with her sister…!!
Allen nodded his head, “I take it, you all receive a metallic rectangular slim box, like this…?” he then waved his hand and a slim phone appeared in thin air, landing gently on his hand. He waved it in front of the crowd.
*nod nod, nodding, they immediately took out a similar phone-looking like things with 6.0" display screen and look at it. The power was obviously not yet turned on as the screen was still pitch black. They didn’t know what it was for. The one who gave it to them, Laura had only told them that this is called D-Com. And a very important device for every member of the DAWN Organization and must not be lost or destroyed no matter what happens and bring it with them whenever and wherever they go. Thus, up to now, although without knowing its purpose, they had treated it as their ancestor, even without knowing its purpose.
Allen can obviously see their confusion and he flashed a smile, “This is known as D-Com. or you can also call it as DAWN Communicator or Terminal… a device that you, from now on, will use for many things.”
“You can make unique codenames you wanted, whichever you desired. Each of those Dawn Communicator, when used can only be used by you and no one else can. There, you can talk with other members, communicate, find missions to complete… and most of all, exchange and trade things, with the other members or… with the system no matter when or where you are or at.”
“…And by the system, I meant the entire Organization’s treasury.” Allen grinned.
…?!!
“Wh, what kind of things can we exchange…?” Shaken by the explosive news, Yang Qingyu took the initiative to ask. As she stared at Allen’s figure—she started to tremble. No matter how stupid the person, her excitement was obvious to everyone. In fact, she wasn’t the only one, all of the people present couldn’t hide their excitement and expectation.
“Many things… Items, Weapons, Skills, Cultivation Manuals, techniques, and there are also magical beasts, (Pets)…” Allen patiently responded. “Of course, you can also exchange information with each other if you want…” Allen smiled faintly. “However, of course, everything has a price…”
“It’s not just money nor resources… aside from the trading platform where you can trade towards other members using things you had, all thing you bought from the system is brought using Points…”
“Points? What kind of points exactly?”
Allen turned the phone, towards the small camera position on the back metallic side of the phone. “Whenever you defeat a monster, found some magic items, herbs, minerals whatsoever—as long as it has a value, you point them towards the camera, press the icon for the trading platform and a notification will show up on the screen. You can just press on the Ok button and the things you offered will be absorbed, in exchange for contribution points. The rarer and higher the value you had offered to it will higher the contribution points you will acquire… simple as it can be, right?”
On the contrary of its classic look, it was a mass of highly advanced magic-science Allen had created from his studies in various abilities with the small snake transformer and other machines he had gotten from the Cybertron. Due to his interests towards it and his creation-type abilities, Allen had retained some of the lab specimens he had while he gave Mia most of them. Although he wasn’t interested in creating weapons such as nukes but knowing technologies gave him many kinds of ideas he wanted to create.
For example, this D-Com. The cam can actually be used as a camera to take pictures and also videos but other than that, the cam can also be used as the catalyst for the transition. Other than that, there were still many over tech features waiting for them to discover in that small frame of theirs. And Allen wasn’t going to stop thinking of further advancing it—after all, for him; this technology has yet to reach its end.
Not because of purpose but just for mere… hobby…!
“You can also offer a monster corpse… though, monster cores have a higher value than their corpse. And just like always, the higher and stronger the monster is, the contribution points you will acquire is also higher…!”
Allen’s words excited every people kneeling in the hall. In fact, they seemed to have already forgotten that they were kneeling as they look alternately on their phones and Allen who was sitting (lying) on the throne. However, as keen and perceptive as he can be, Allen noticed several of them held greedy expressions flashing on their eyes. Greed is good but too much of it would be dangerous…!
“Dawn is a Family… and every member is a Family…” Allen muttered coldly. “Arguing is good sometimes but, I don’t want any member started scheming against other members. Hurting is the same… you can kill your enemies but if you touch your family, believe me, I will be the one personally punishing you. And you don’t want to know what consequences there would be”
Allen saw that the people didn't make any sound in response. His aloof gaze rained down torrents of oppression and his tone was low and threatening, "Remember this, loyalty, family, respect—no matter how strong you are, if you don’t have it you won’t be able to become a DAWN Treader—A real member of the Dawn?"
The people before him, even including Feriat standing behind him was startled as they bore the weight of that oppression; it was as if their entire bodies were being pressed on by a huge mountain; their blood almost freezing. No Exception…!
Such pressure…!
What’s more, what Allen had used wasn’t an ordinary show of power but a skill called [ Frost Aura ] derived from the Ice Queen’s original aura. It was a special ability that damaged and slowed the foe through the use of extremely cold temperatures. At full power, it could even engulf an entire city and make them feel as if they were thrown into a winter land.
A wave of freezing cold expanded from Allen, instantly filling a radius of twenty to thirty meters across.
The temperature plummeted upon exposure to the intense cold, and the very air seemed to groan.
Fortunately, it was only for a moment as Allen drew back his aura. If not, most of the people would surely turn into icicles.
The momentary exposure meant that the savage, blizzard-like snap-frost had vanished as it had never been. However, it was no illusion or trick of the senses. The best proof of that was the fact that all the people kneeling on the ground tremble simultaneously and some were even had white colored ice fragment cascading on their clothes.
They all stared at Allen in horror.