RICKSTON

We travelled by carriage; there was no train system to Lylia's estate. She was old-fashioned.

Mind you, I also designed parts of her estate.

"So, how have you and Kassie been?"

Lenin removed his mask and gave me a thumbs-up, "We just had a kid, Maro."

Okay, if that wasn't earth-shattering news, I didn't know what was. "You're joking, right?" I nervously chuckled. "You have a kid now?"

He nodded, "Yeah, we do."

I rubbed my temple, "Things change, huh? I can't believe you managed to be with Kassie."

"Hey!" Lenin grinned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I gave him an all-knowing look, "If I do remember correctly, we used to be the biggest douchebags."

His mind suddenly stopped before he could say another word, "Fair point." He muttered. "But hey, everything happens for a reason, right?"

That couldn't be any more true.

Our carriage stopped as I looked outside.

"Are we here?" Lenin asked curiously.

Looking at the outside world, I knew we were here.

There were no questions asked.

I didn't need to tell him we were there; he knew to wear his mask.

"One more thing." I added, "You feel that small red button."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Press it."

He pressed the button, waiting for something to happen, "Uh. . . Is something meant to happen?"

I chuckled, shaking my head; that just meant it worked.

We stepped outside and entered a new world of grand architecture, beckoning at us.

"You weren't kidding when you said this place was amazing," Lenin muttered in awe.

If anything, this was one of the best estates that I had ever designed in my life.

It was simply beautiful to my eyes.

We weren't the only ones here marvelling their eyes out.

Nobles from The Kingdom of Juvo had come to attend this venue, bringing their champions to represent them in the fight.

We made our way to the line of people waiting to enter Lylia's amphitheatre.

One thing for sure was that we were undoubtedly the outliers among everyone here.

I mean, we were getting looks for our clothing.

I couldn't care less about wearing a suit; I was an artist for crying out loud, not a damn businessman or politician.

We finally reached the front of the line as the guards towered over us.

"Name."

"Rickston Flag."

The guards checked on their clipboards as their eyes widened ever so slightly.

"It's good to see you, sir. We'll take you to the elite section while your champion waits with the others."

I nodded, smiling over at Lenin.

I didn't need to see his reaction behind his mask; I already knew he wasn't looking forward to this.

The guards chauffeured me to where all the other nobles were currently at.

In a bar.

Not just any bar, but a bar that practically conjures up any drink you desire.

One thing that was important in these parts of the place was that Solum was crucial to the everyday person, but to these people. . . They could care less about it.

They spent Solum wherever the hell they wanted. Nobles bet with Solum, which was enough to understand that this was the last place I wanted to be.

While the usual laughter and chatter circulated in the air, it soon died down as the one and only Lylia made her entrance.

She had placed everyone in a chokehold with her impending presence here.

She walked almost as if she were gliding through the air. She stood elegantly and tall, examining everyone.

"I hope you have a joyous day." Her voice softly spoke, "Please place your bets." She bowed deeply.

Soon, images of all the champions popped up at everyone's respective tables, showing every little detail about them.

Lenin, or Constan, should I say for now, had randomised information about him, making him the average Joe.

Of course, some people were betting Solum on their guys, and others were placing their best bets on the most apparent champions who appeared the strongest.

I was just lucky that rarely anyone would take a look at Lenin.

Please don't disappoint me now, or I'm going broke tonight.

The return for Lenin would be all that I needed because the payout would be huge with him.

I placed my bet, waiting for what was to happen.

We watched on a screen as all the champions were released in a style similar to gladiator fighting.

As everyone cheered on, I was having the time of my life. I watched closely, watching every move and opponent.

"Never in my million years would I have thought you would come here."

Lylia softly smiled, sitting beside me.

"Ah, Lylia, I thought you wouldn't have recognised me."

She chuckled lightly, "I could smell a stank from a mile away."

I rolled my eyes, grumbling, "I see you're the same as ever."

She rested her head on her hands, watching the massive fight unfolding. "It'll be a pleasure to watch your champion die," she said.

"You're still as sadistic as I remember, huh?"

Lylia shrugged sheepishly, "If you wanted to win, you should've betted for the obvious choice."

She looked at the battlefield, "These people are so exploitable, and all I have to do is sit back and watch my empire grow." Lylia clapped in delight.

I looked at Lylia's face, seeing an expression of shock and delight, and I was witnessing what was happening.

I, too, was interested as well.

"You know, you would earn more Solum if your champion decides to kill them." Lylia watched with great interest.

I scoffed, "Yeah, I'm not some sicko."

She sighed, a small smile flickering, "A great pity."

LENIN

WHOOSH

SWOOSH

Everywhere I went around the arena, there was at least someone flying to the other side knocked out cold, or better yet, dead.

What made it worse was that we could hear the nobles from where they were watching, cheering as the scenes were unfolding.

I did my absolute best not to hurt anyone too much.

The nobles selected these champions; if I have to be honest, they were disappointing.

Everyone went down like flies until only five of us were left.

One tried rushing straight towards me without a strategy; his bravery was respected, but his actual skills... not so much.

As he tried to reach out to my face with his hands, I ducked under his attempt, kicking his back and causing him to fall onto the ground.

Another attempted to jump onto my back, but I swiftly evaded his attack.

Similarly, he tried the same thing, and I did precisely the same thing to the other person.

These champions may have had some skill, but they lacked brains.

By the time I was finished handling them, there seemed to be only one more person I had to face.

His body was drowned in blood as the splatter of blood dropped to the ground; something told me that was not his blood at all.

But the blood of everyone that he had killed.

With a devilish grin, he looked over to me and said he had a thirst for more blood.

Suddenly, I felt a tug on my sleeve.

I instinctively attempted to attack whatever it was, but I managed to restrain myself.

Only to see that it had been some frail guy.

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"P-Please don't hurt me." He shook in fear. "I-I'm just trying to survive." He fumbled with his words as his lips continued to turn purple, quivering.

What kind of sicko would have enlisted him into this?

But what was more impressive was that he could survive this long in the arena.

He seemed to be pretty young compared to the rest of the people there, and I knew he wouldn't have a chance of surviving with the other person staring at us.

"You'll be fine, " I told him reassuringly. Just stay back there."

He nodded.

I turned my look over to that crazy man with a reasonably deranged look.

WHOOSH

He's fast

I could see why this man had survived in the arena for this long; he had some skills compared to everyone else.

WHOOSH

WHOOSH

BOOSH

He also wanted to end this fight as quickly as possible by using blows that would severely injure a person.

It meant one thing. . . He was getting tired quickly.

So, I would exploit that as a tool.

I continued to evade his punches and kicks with minimal ease; the way things were going, this fight would be in within a few seconds.

From the looks of it, his punches got sloppier, his breath grew ragged, and his shoulder hunched.

I stood still, watching over him as he threw a punch right towards my face; it didn't connect, dropping to the ground altogether in exhaustion.

The laughter of the nobles instantly died down, clearly surprised at the outcome.

No one expected someone like me to win; if only they knew who I was.

I looked at the other remaining person with a gentle smile as he nodded back, a sense of relief washing over his shoulder.

I looked over at Lylia, who was currently watching the scenes. She had no other choice but to give me the victory.

RICKSON

"Good job out there." I patted him on the shoulder, "You weren't trying at all, were you?"

He chuckled, shaking his head, "No, but it was a good warm-up."

WHOOSH

The doors flew open, and came Lylia, looking over at us.

"Congratulations." Lylia begrudgingly muttered to me.

Seeing her like this was always a fantastic sight to see.

"I'll transfer the Solum." Lylia acknowledged as she looked over at my so-called "Champion."

"You did well out there. A pity you didn't kill anyone in the arena, though." She added.

"You know that's not my way of doing things." He chuckled, putting his mask aside.

At that moment, Lenin must have expected to see Lylia in shock, but that wasn't the case.

"About time." Lylia smiled.

Lenin tilted his head in confusion, "Shouldn't you be more surprised about this cool revelation?"

Lylia shrugged, "Yeah. . ." She looked at me, "If Rickston didn't tell me about it ages ago."

"Ages ago?" Lenin was calculating everything until he finally realised it.

"Wait. . ." He stared at me, "Don't tell me that you knew you were going to do this to me all along?"

I sniffed my laughter, "I can neither confirm nor deny."

Lenin rubbed his temple, muttering, "You probably don't even need the Solum, huh?"

"Nope." I declared, "Not at all."

He sighed, smiling, "So I'm assuming you're on board with this stupid plan." He looked at Lylia.

She returned the smile, nodding, "I had a feeling that something like this would happen. Besides, it was in my prophecy." Lylia declared.

"It was in yours?" Lenin asked as she nodded.

"Yeah, both Rickston and I had similar prophecies, and it turns out that. . ."

"It aligned with yours," I added.

"So you've known all along that this was going to happen?"

"Glimpses of it. Not the whole thing." Lylia commented.

Everyone who had Solum genetically in their blood knew they were destined for some Prophecy.

It was simply a normal thing to have. Most nobles had a prophecy, but it wasn't all that important. The closer your blood was to the royal family, the more significant your prophecy would impact the world.

Lenin was simply one of them.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush, but you know there's a bounty on your head, right?" Lylia spoke up, "You're lucky that you haven't been recognised, or people would be trying to kill you."

Lenin nodded, knowing she was right, "Even if they wanted to, they wouldn't be able to." He grinned.

There was that cocky person I knew.

"Still has that cocky attitude, huh?" Lylia whispered.

I chuckled, "No kidding."

Lenin paused momentarily, thinking as he looked up at us, "Lylia, hypothetically speaking, if you were to smuggle bags of Solum, how much could you do in a month."

She tapped her chin. " There are probably 50-100 bags of it. Why?"

A slight grin appeared on his face. "Well, I think I just discovered a way to make your job easier, Rickston." He looked over at me with a smile.

I knew what he meant by that; if he were thinking of what I was imagining, this would be one hell of a journey.

LENIN

"You weren't kidding when you said this place needs some fixing," Rickston muttered beside me as we took it all in.

I chuckled, patting him on the back, "Hey! You're going to love it here! Besides, you can do whatever you want with this place."

"Don't think it helps." He returned the chuckle, examining the space and resources he'd need.

Besides, Lylia would send us monthly Solum, providing enough Solum Flow to last a while.

"Lenin!"

A voice came calling as Lusan and Tara came rushing to us.

I smiled brightly, "It's so good to see you guys!" I hugged them all as they began looking over to Rickston.

"Is this?" Tara said in awe as I nodded, wrapping my arm around his shoulder.

"This man here will change The Village of Facia to something special. Meet Rickston Flag."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir!" Lusan exclaimed.

"Did you have to introduce me like that?" He grumbled beside me as I patted him.

"Of course, if you excuse us now, we'll head to the lab."

We made our way to the lab, but a voice interrupted us before we could step foot in it.

"Stop!"

We stopped in our footsteps.

"Just stay back for a second while I finish this."

It was Felix, who was currently working with Rachel side by side, both of them wearing their makeshift lab coats.

Whatever they were working on, it seemed like they were hard at it.

Soon enough, they created some liquid that they dropped onto the soil, and whatever it was, it looked like it was making the soil fertile.

"Isn't that just water he's using," Rickston muttered.

But before I could say anything, the soil became more purple, almost like it was. . .

"Purpura!"

"Holy shit." I chuckled.

He could turn average soil into Purpura, but that short success was over as the soil reverted to normal.

"Well, we're almost there." Felix smiled as he took his glasses.

Felix stood still momentarily, a wash of a big smile on his face as he looked at Rickston.

He immediately gave him a big old bear hug, "How have you been?"

"Well, being here is not good." Rickston joked, "This place needs a lot of work on."

"Tell me about it." I chuckled.

It surprised me that we had been gone for a few weeks because it didn't feel like that. There was only one place that I wanted to visit now.

While the two of them were catching up, I, too, needed to catch up with my own family.

Luckily for me, I had already spotted them.

"Lenin." Kassie smiled, wrapping me in a hug. "How was the expedition?" A smug look appeared on her face.

"Funnily enough, still in one piece." I gestured to myself as Kassie rolled her eyes playfully. "How's Maro doing?"

"Pretty well; I've been teaching him some classic history." She smiled brightly. "If only there were an actual school institution for every other kid here."

I nodded, leaning against the table, "Actually, I have good news, Ri-"

"Rickston is here." She smiled softly.

Wait to ruin the surprise.

"What?" She chuckled, "Just because I haven't seen him in a while doesn't mean I can't recognise his Solum pattern."

Kassie never seemed to stop impressing me.

"Hey, mind sharing your thoughts with me for a second."

She nodded, sitting beside me, "Of course. What is it?"

"The way we're going with this. . . Making The Village a better place at the cost of bringing even more danger to us?" I paused momentarily, "Is this the wisest choice to make?"

"Well, you're helping these people here, giving purpose in their life. I mean, look at Felix; he's doing amazing now."

I sighed, smiling. "Yeah, I suppose you're right with that. . . Things will change now," I declared, looking at Maro playing with his little blocks.

"And we'll change with it." Kassie added, "Like everyone else, we face our upheaval. All we can do now is support Felix and guide him."

I nodded, knowing that she was right.

"Speaking of helping Felix, there's a meeting that I have to attend. See you soon." I smiled, and Kassie nodded, leaving me to my thoughts as I went to the meeting area.

Everyone was getting ready, and I took a seat beside Rickston.

"How are you finding the place?"

He shrugged, "I've just been developing blueprints in my head now." Rickston looked at his surroundings, "It's a whole new environment, but other than that, it'll be fun to work on."

"Alright, may I have your attention, please?" Felix clapped his hands together, and everyone was looking at him.

He spoke about the progress we had made due to our remarkable findings. However, there seemed to be some problems, noticing that there had been signs of a village expanding more than they usually do.

"They think we're probably a threat now because of that last encounter." Zac stood up, "If that means anything, we'll have to be ready to defend ourselves."

"Violence shouldn't be our first resort." Felix attempted to calm down the situation. "After all, we entered their territory first." Felix managed to add.

Felix made a good point; if it hadn't been for us, we wouldn't have had this problem.

"That's why I've decided that from now on, Lenin will be in charge of foreign affairs." Felix gestured over to me with a gentle smile. "If you have any questions regarding scouting, please ask him."

It seems as though everyone was pretty satisfied with Felix's decision.

"Now, everyone, you are all dismissed."

Soon, everyone left their seats, leaving only the three of us hanging around.

"I'm assuming this is where the real meeting begins?" Rickston raised his eyebrow.

"Correct." I stood up, "You're a quick learner, you know that,"

He smiled, shrugging, "That's why you brought me here."

I nodded, "Well, what do you need from us?"

He tapped his chin slightly, "You certainly already have the resources and more from Lylia."

Felix instantly looked at me and said, "You got Lylia to be part of this?"

I smiled, nodding.

"Moving on," Rickston commented, "As much as I can create the blueprint myself, I need workers. A bunch of them."

"How many people do we have?" I asked Felix.

"Around 1000." He declared, "Probably less. . ." He muttered.

"That's our first big problem; we need more people to work on these building constructions. We should use as many people as we have here, but there comes to an extent where we must use other ways." He answered.

I placed my hand on my chin, "Just what are your blueprints?"

He smiled, "A school, bigger farms, bigger facilities." The more he listed the things he planned on building, the more excited he got. "I can assure you, these things can all be done within a couple of months if we have the workers on board."

Rickston paused for a moment. "I'll be honest with you: It'll take forever with the people we have now. But we can start now. Better to have something than nothing."

I looked over at Felix, who seemed surprised, too. "Alright, then, we'll plan an expedition to one of the villagers and see if we can hire some of their workers."

Rickston nodded, "It'd probably be best if you work them on a contract. Offer the village Solum a thank you, then start a trade with them."

"That sounds like a plan." I nodded. We'll start doing it as soon as possible."

Felix looked at us and said, "I should probably head back to the lab."

With that, we all left to our accords.

LUSAN

"Why do you think we're here for?" Tara muttered beside me.

"Whatever it is, as long we didn't get into trouble for something."

"The truth be told. Truth be told." Tara sighed.

The chatter died down between us as Lenin entered the room, and that was enough for us to listen intently to him.

"Thank you for coming, " he smiled at us. I don't want to beat around the bush, so we've been assigned another expedition."

"Another scouting?" Zac was the first to speak up.

He shook his head, "Not this time; we are visiting The Village of Ustrin."

"Ustrin?" Zac raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't we go to The Village of Scopa? They were the ones who ambushed us."

"True, but we can deal with them later. They're not as big of a threat as you think."

It seemed that Lenin was the only person Zac respected or cared to listen to remotely.

"Have you all packed your things?"

We all nodded.

He clapped his hands, "Good, we should get going then."

———

We took the same route to The Village of Ustrin, and like last time, nothing too interesting seemed to be happening except seeing the prosperous farming that we knew this Village for.

"Oh, excuse me."

We all looked to see a woman holding a sack in her hand.

"Do you need help finding our village?"

"Uh, yes." Lenin smiled.

The woman returned the smile, "Would you like me to lead you the way?"

We collectively nodded.

While we followed the woman, she revealed her name to be Kristle. She seemed friendly and easygoing, and we told her everything about what the Village of Ustrin had to offer.

Despite most of us seeming more at ease with her nature, I could sense that Zac was ready to let go of his nervousness about walking with a stranger.

On the other hand, Lenin didn't care about the world.

Soon enough, we managed to make our way to the centre of the Village, where it was even more evident that this was a farming village with animals roaming around.

"Our leader should just right down there." She pointed, having a soft smile on her face.

"Thank you for your assistance," Lenin remarked.

"My pleasure." She bowed before leaving.

We could keep walking down and make it in no time.

As we made our way, a couple of guards stopped us, but with a straightforward look, they let us in, smiling as they did.

These people were quite friendly.

We must have entered a garden filled with vibrant colours. Everywhere I looked, it was just popping.

Even the smell was intoxicating, luring me in to smell the freshness of the flowers.

But there, we say, was a woman all by herself, the most vibrant. Not even the flowers could beat her presence in this room.

She was minding her own business, humming peacefully to herself.

"Should we go talk to her?" I asked Zac.

"Why are you asking me?" He grumbled, but I could tell he was thinking the same thing as I.

She was a true beauty, that was for sure.

"Oh, I didn't see you there. Do what do I owe the pleasure." Her angelic voice called out to us, her hands behind her back as she moved closer.

Lenin was the first to step forward, breaking myself from my little trance.

"We were just hoping you could lead us to the direction of your leader."

"The leader?" She tilted her head as she began tapping her chin. "Well, if you want to find the leader, I can show you."

"Thanks." But before Lenin could move any further, she pointed at herself.

"I'm the leader." She answered a bit more seriously.

"Wait, you're the leader?" Zac blurted out of nowhere.

She slowly nodded, "My name is Eleanor. Is there a problem with me being a leader?"

Zac instantly shook his head. "No! I didn't expect it to be a girl."

I rolled my eyes; come on, Zac, you know you're not meant to be saying something like that, especially to someone who is a leader.

Now, shall we get started with this?