(This is before Ellis swan dived into an active volcano)
Name / Nickname
Ellis Vincere / The Last Winner
Race
Human
Class
Monarch Master (Rank A)
Level
500 (MAX)
Titles
Proud Owner of a Rock, Fell the Mighty, Heptad Attuner, Indulger, Resilience Incarnate… ▽
~
~
Health Points
59,500 / 59,500 (+300%) | (+600%)
Mana Points
5,525 / 5,525
Armor Points
0
Might
1100 (1000 + 10%)
Agility
1110 (1000 + 10% + 10)
Vigor (P)
1700* (1500 + 10% + 50)
Mind
1105 (1000 + 75 + 30)
Spirit
1240 (961 > 1025 + 20% + 10)
Perception
300
Charisma
100 (45 + 15 + 40)
Attunement
100
Luck
2
Unused
92 > 380
There is a reason why I haven't allocated my stat points yet. I checked my available classes. Only S-rank. The first time I saw this rank of class.
There were two.
One was called [Imperial Monarch Master], which sounds like the upgraded version of my class. The next one was related to masochism, so I ignored it completely.
[Imperial Monarch Master S
Even those with the greatest dominion will bow their heads]
[Beat Me Harder S
Sir! Madam! Please!]
It's safe to say I picked the first option. Let's check the requirements.
[Standard S-Class Requirements:
Advance your stats (Not Completed)
Advance your Health (Not Completed)
Advance your Mana (Not Completed)]
[Imperial Monarch Master Requirements:
Become the Ruler of a nation (Not Completed)
Have at least one S-rank skill (not including [Servitude to the Monarch]) or no skill below B-rank (Not Completed)
Level [Servitude to the Monarch] to rank S (Not Completed)
Have a minimum of three 'servants' at level 500 0/3
Be known in the minds of the masses or those who hold significant power (Completed)]
I guess I have to ask my Masters about the 'advancement' shit... as for my actual class requirements, at least I have one of five completed. Also, [Servitude to the Monarch] is my taming skill, which should level as I evolve my beasts. Completing one requirement will complete another.
Until I know what 'advancing' my stats means, I'm withholding allocating new points unless necessary.
~~~
Jumping into the volcano had a funny secondary effect. It raised my resistance to fire up to the cap of 999... but it's not like that did anything since I'm still being gatekept from reaching 1k.
I'm standing in tattered, burnt clothing made from tough reptilian leather held together by carved pieces of bone. I'm barefoot and stained with blood.
I couldn't find an 'appropriate' place to clean myself after the battle, and the elves did not mind my ruined state. I used dirt to remove and clean the blood off my body, then scrapped the 'mud' when it dried.
My clean and refined hair is also stained with blood and dirt as it grew well past my ears over the two months.
I look around the dark room. I'm standing in front of a metal shelving unit with many obsidian cubes stored on it. The walls are reinforced, and there is only one door out of here.
A series of letters and numbers label each box, and a clipboard attached to the shelving unit catches my eye... as well as a familiar-looking pair of gloves.
It's in a glass case attached to the wall, like an emergency fire extinguisher. The case is locked. I smash the glass and pull out the gloves.
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[Gloves of Fracture Handling A]
I see. These are the gloves the bald piece of shit who threw a fracture at me used. I must be in a FIB fracture containment site... I take the clipboard and examine that as well.
It has the names of the fractures next to their designated code. I don't find [Isle of Ancient Dragons] on this list. Huh. Are they hiding it under a different designation?
I examine the closed obsidian box, the one I 'spawned' in front of, and barely notice a seam. I pried the box open, which was surprisingly difficult, and inside was the little model of a primordial island, one with a volcano in the middle.
The serial number says that this should be [Meadow Grove]... Secret fractures?
Forget about that! Let's leave! I walk up to the door and notice the lack of a handle. I touch the door... and nothing happens. [Scientific Insight+] tells me it's a durable door.
I punch the door. My blow doesn't even echo, and my hand even hurts after. There's not much oxygen in here, huh.
Welp, a door's a door. I use [Master's Magnificent Mansion] and summon the glowing white portal. I walk on through, and my feet touch down on familiar land.
My mansion stands quietly. If my beasts were in here, they should have known I was here as soon as I entered since one of my skills gives them my location as long as I'm not in a different 'fracture' than them.
I call for them, and nothing. I look around the premises, and there is no sign of them being here for quite a while.
Huh.
I leave my mansion and reenter the containment place I found myself in. I then proceeded to steal everything that wasn't bolted down.
~~~
There's a storage rack in my [Crossroads]. I registered twelve new fractures, and twelve new doors appeared. If nothing, spending two months in that place netted me some fractures.
I leave my mansion and contemplate ways to leave this metal room. The door is extremely durable and resistant to impacts and scratches, so punching or slashing my way out of here will take too long.
At that point, I might as well wait for someone to open the door or attempt to make enough noise to warrant an investigation. Maybe stealing the fractures tripped a silent alarm.
But I still want to get out of here as soon as possible. My skill that lets my beasts know where I am should’ve alerted them that I’m no longer stuck somewhere, assuming they are also planet side.
I activate [Master’s Whistle] and summon one of my beasts to my location. If they weren’t planet side, the skill would’ve failed. But it didn’t
Prometheus appears at my feet and starts chirping and gurgling, wiggling around me, making various noises. I pick him up and hold my molten ooze. The room instantly becomes sweltering as Prometheus inadvertently deactivates a trait that keeps his heat contained.
“I missed you too.”
If I can break the door down, I might as well melt it down.
~~~
P.O.V shift. Two Months Earlier.
~~~
Duchess knew something was wrong on the first day of Ellis 'falling' into the fracture. A few hours after Duchess and the rest entered the mansion, an emergency council meeting was held. And Dylan wasn't immediately kicked out.
AND that Duchess' master was extremely static and was disconnected from the call. The way he was positioned made it look like he was crouching in a tree somewhere, completely naked.
Everyone was stunned for a moment before Val broke the silence.
"Was my brother naked in a tree for a split second, then left the skill?"
"Unfortunately, yes," replied Free Chains.
Rain wears protective gear and is in the middle of haphazardly mixing chemicals in a cocktail shaker. "We all have our hobbies. Let's not judge."
"Hey guys! What is this? I know one of you. Hey, the scary snake is here!"
"...who is this guy?"
"I'm Dylan! I used to live with Ellis! Now, I manage the internals of the graveyard under lord Rob. Did you know this fracture has great religious significance to my god?"
"Ellis kicks you from the meeting every time. Hey, I vote to kick him!"
Eventually, he was kicked off the call...
The meeting then divulged into hypotheticals about why Ellis would call them while naked in a tree.
"My brother has gotten stuck in two different fractures before. Maybe it happened again."
"Ellis would've probably died before the Gi my father made broke. Plus, the arm I made him is gone. Something must have happened, and I think the bigger question is why he was naked, not where he is."
"I completely disagree. There are more ways for clothes to leave a person's body beyond complete destruction."
"Exactly. If we find out why Ellis was naked, we will learn what happened to him. His prosthetic was missing. That shouldn't happen."
"I feel like this conversation is derailing. Has anyone tried contacting Ellis?" Asked Free Chains, interrupting the conversation between Val and Rain.
"I have." Charlie, who was silently watching this entire time, pipes up. "The phone went straight to voicemail. His phone is never off. Ellis likes to let it ring to completion if he doesn't want to answer a call... Actually... I think he picks up every call... he doesn't answer if he doesn't notice."
"The only time his phone is off is when it's out of battery. Or he's in a place with no reception. I know what phone he has, as I helped him buy it... and I charge it when he's at the office. It shouldn't run out until next week at the minimum."
"Did it look like he had a phone on him? Where would he keep it?"
"I didn't see Ellis. I was busy looking at a finance report."
"[My master left a fracture a few hours ago, the one at the FIB headquarters. Thisss one smells foul play.]"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Holy shit. The snake can talk."
"['The snake' has a name... and is arguably the most intelligent here.]"
"...Can the rock talk too?"
"[No, sister of my master. Thisss one thinks not.]"
"So what now?"
"[Seeing as thisss one's master looked as he was recently mauled by a big cat, we should seek answers.]"
"I didn't notice any injuries, just blood."
"Yeah. Wounds don't tend to stick around near Ellis."
The [Court of Allegiance] didn't do anything drastic. They kept to their day-to-day. If they started freaking out because Ellis did something weird, they wouldn't have time for anything else.
...but that doesn't mean that they did nothing.
Free Chains learned everything he could about the FIB regarding their laws and regulations after Ellis started working for the Hazard branch.
That wasn't something Ellis told him to do, but something Free Chains did on his own initiative. He knows that understanding the regulations regarding workplace injury compensation and other similar things would one day be helpful.
The hazard branch may be disconnected from the FIB only legally, but that doesn't make it immune to laws... What Free Chains does is notify Val that, by law, the hazard branch has to inform the family if their family member is hurt, killed, inside, outside, trapped, lost, etc, in regards to fractures on their property... if the family asks.
If they don't, they only tell the family their member died from the decent amount of money they hand over to the next of kin.
Free Chains assists Val with the proper paperwork. Val marches down to the headquarters herself to deliver the document.
~~~
The FIB worked fast.
They informed Val via phone call that 'nothing is wrong.'
This phone call happened during the next day's emergency court meeting. Where Ellis was even more bloody and pissed off looking.
He's only there for what seems less than a second, but everyone sees him... unless they don't want to.
"So, this is officially concerning."
"I just want everyone to know that if Ellis Vincere dies, I'm going bankrupt. He's the only source of my main supporting ingredient, as I haven't finished the blood generator."
"How the hell are the potions approved for sale when human blood is swirling in them?"
"Besides the primary ingredient, ingredients don't need to be declared with potions and elixirs. As long as side effects are properly labeled, it's fine."
"What the lawyer said."
"Back to the issue at hand... What now?"
"Well... Let's do things officially. I'll have Val present another form, and as Ellis' lawyer, I'll submit a few more. I'll even leverage my authority to ensure our papers don't 'mysteriously' disappear."
"Oh? What are you going to submit?"
"To dumb it down a bit, it's essentially a 'request' to understand their investigation step by step and how they know 'nothing is wrong.' I'll also force their internal investigations team to handle the task."
"...what if they say nothing is wrong again?"
"If they lie on official paperwork a [Lawspeaker] asked for, I'll get their ass in court. I'll have a field day. Oh! Vanessa will have a field day with this, too."
"Who?"
"Ellis' public relations manager and technically the head of human resources at the guild. Rain, she's the one who hired those vendors that work in your shop."
"Her name never came up."
"Why are you guys so nonchalant about my brother going missing?"
"Listen, I know you know your brother more than I do, but I know him more than you AFTER he got his system. He practically lived at my dad's house for a few months. I'm not going to waste energy worrying about him."
"Not worrying and not caring are two very different things."
"Hey! I care. It doesn't seem like I'd be much help in this situation. At least I didn't mention the size and shape of your brother's dick."
Then, for seemingly no reason, Rain was kicked from the meeting.