After that cringy moment with Sixth when I formally became a Dread Lord, an entire year passed.

Thanks to the innate knowledge granted by Necromancy, I was able to understand and write magic circles. Which was useful when Old Arledge finally reached the Initiate Magus level four months ago, being granted territory in our Golden State Duchy. Since it seems he was in charge of copying Magic Circles before that.

Usually, old Arledge should have be granted territory in the Whitewood duchy, but he was already more than sixty and had no hope of becoming stronger and advancing to the rank of Baron, having to remain a Baronet for his entire life. Sadly, he would never be able to inherit the Flower Forest County with his strength, so he accepted to stay here.

He still spent most of his time in the Baron’s Mansion though, since his territory is just a large village in the westernmost part of Red Stone Barony. He stayed on the mansion at night, sharing a room with me.

Old Arledge also did the work of a scribe as a pastime, my old work to be precise, since it's easier. We chatted as we worked, so my days weren't boring.

After spending much time together, we both grew used to each other. Even though I still had my usual poker face most of the time, he already got the gist of reading my emotions, something only my parents and my only friend had ever been able to do after a long time handling me.

I never used necromancy after becoming a Dread Lord, nor did I imprint any necromancy spells on myself, until today.

Being only a weak Dread Knight, as the initiate level of Dread Lords is called, if any random Divine Servant of a Life God attacked me, I would be dead before knowing it.

Instead, I focused on gathering materials for a necromancy spell called 'Polar Dread Core'.

That spell made my Magus Soul share the characteristics of my Dread Core, transforming it into a ‘Hot Core’ whilst my Dread Core would be a ‘Cold Core’, allowing me to practice magic without caring about my Magus Soul’s grade, while depending on my Dread Core’s growth.

A hot core is a great advantage for a Dread Lord, since with it I can turn my Necrotic Energy into mana, and my mana into necrotic energy. Since they operate separately, that means I get to have the combined amount of mana of a Magus and a Necromancer. Necrotic Energy is two times as powerful as mana, so overall, I have three times more mana than a normal Magus.

I managed to get all the supplementary ingredients for the Magic Ritual Circle and already asked for a month-long leave from Lord Angus, which is within my rights, to go look for the core ingredient, the Crystal Fiber Flower.

This flower is generally used to repair broken Magus Cores, but it is also a supplementary ingredient in body-strengthening and regenerating ritual spells, so it is on high-demand and is also slightly expensive.

I was already packing in my room after saying goodbye to Old Arledge and Lord Angus, Sixth was still by my side, with a phone on his hand, reading novels.

After putting the two big bags with my stuff over my shoulder, I was ready to go when a message sound came from Sixth's phone.

"Hey, Kyle…"

When I looked back at him, he was smiling wryly, and his face was slightly red.

After a year with him, I got used to his behavior and learned to read his expressions. His current face said two things, "I am angry" and "You are in deep shit" the latter which is the expression I feared the most.

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"What is it…? Please don't tell me someone will try to kill Lord Angus again! Last time I had to hide on the hole where the servants shit!" I said, remembering an unpleasant experience from a few months ago.

But Sixth shook his head and said.

"I have good and bad News to tell you… Which do you want to hear first?" He said with a grave face.

Hearing him say that, I was scared and startled.

One thing I know about sixth is that he never helps me or reveal information without something in exchange, he just stands there and sees how I react to situations, and even when Lord Angus was an assassination target, he only made his "You are in deep shit face" instead of warning me. The biggest help I ever received from him was that one time he advised me that I couldn't remain a Scribe forever.

What is it that is so important for him to directly tell me?

"Okay… The good one first." I said calmly, but inwardly scared.

"You need to accomplish a task, and if you do so, you will be granted a single wish that can be anything. From immortality to power and money and even to ascend to the same level as me and become an omnipotent God. Anything goes."

Hearing that, instead of being happy, I got even more scared. It was obvious that this task would be anything but easy.

"What about the bad one?"

"You have to kill five people that were chosen as champions by five of my six brothers, all of them have cheat abilities as well as 'plot armor', so literally nothing below our level can kill them." He said with a complicated expression as if considering many things at once.

"Six brothers?"

Sixth nodded and explained.

"You should know that there are Gods in this world, but they aren't Gods like me or my brothers who hold unrestrained omnipotence. My six brothers and I are a group of omnipotent beings, and it seems they got interested in you, so they sent these five champions here and challenged you. Even though I say it's a challenge, you have no choice since their champions are already bound to come here." He said with his mocking smile.

When I heard that, I got shocked, but still had some hope.

"But since they were granted cheat abilities and plot armor, I can have those as well can't I?" I said looking at Sixth with pleading eyes.

"Yes, you can." He said with a sigh. "You now have the power to breach their plot armor and kill them, so they have to rely on their own abilities when fighting you."

Thud

With a dull sound, I fell to my knees on the floor with a despairing expression.

What kind of bullshit cheat ability is that? How can that even help me?

Seeing my expression, Sixth sighed and shook his head with sadness imprinted on his face.

"Don't underestimate that ability. Against them, who will be used to things going right all the time, that difference is enough to kill. You can also make them surrender if they accept, they have no choice but to kill you though." He said seriously. "And do you think getting that wish is easy? They must kill only you, but their rewards' limitations are much worse than yours! You can literally become omnipotent just like me! That's not something that can be easily acquired by killing just five people!"

"Also, you already don't have a choice. It's either you or them. At least, they don't know who you are, but you will be able to identify them first easily!"

"You read so many novels and watched so much anime, how can you not recognize a cheat character with plot armor? But for them? They would look at the current you and think you are one of those people that are described along with the background on a regular novel. You also have advantages!" He said, trying to help me get out of my despair.

Even after hearing him, I was still panicking and didn't get up.

I am just a normal person... I realized that when those assassins came time and time again. I can only run and hide in my current state, the mere thought of dying made me afraid, and having to face five Main characters coming straight from a novel is a death sentence to me…

But then I realized, Sixth was right!

Main Characters are Main Characters because of their plot armor, even though the Main Character may suffer for a while they will always come out unscathed and stronger because of their plot armor…

But that was useless against me.

Slowly I got up and straightened my back, tightening my grip on the two bags over my shoulders and walking out of my room.

If I keep lamenting myself, it would just be waiting for my death. Even though I was still afraid to the point my legs shook while walking, I had to keep going.

If I'm between a rock and a hard place, then I will slam my fists against the rock and try to break it!