Brute. Savage. Ignorant. Uncultured. Disingenuous. Any of these could be used to explain Leondirac’s behavior. Their founder, a level 192 [Warrior] subtype, carved his Kingdom with his immense power. It is hard to argue. In this world, and many System-ruled worlds might make right. A revolt of the masses was as ridiculous as a swarm of ordinary ants attacking an ordinary person.
The number of rumors and tall tales circulating is uncountable. If anyone needs an example, go no further than the debacle surrounding the First Hero and the Death Princess. Nobody would believe I was both at the same time. Worse when you add Apricot’s condition. People with her syndrome are usually babbling idiots. I was glad I could help Hazel overcome her limitations. Her poetry was beautiful.
The third point is that people usually judge others by their own values. When it comes to predicting behavior, more often than not one wonders what would one do if they were in the other person’s shoes, not what the other person would do. To predict someone else’s choices, you need a sophisticated degree of empathy and knowledge about the other person’s motivations.
All that created a Kingdom where strength is highly prized with highly skeptical rulers. Leondirac's ruling family was composed of singleminded tyranical morons. If I was as powerful as the rumors said, I would’ve gone on a worldwide conquest in their little imagination-starved heads. Because that’s what they would’ve done if they were me. Since I’ve shown I care for people, they took it as leverage.
They made a hideous mistake.
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I let the full power of my kitsune-bi fire. Jets of flame carrying several types of elemental power shoot from my tails in all directions, burning, freezing, tearing apart the tents. This was a low-powered attack that wouldn’t kill the people around the camp. It was just to clear the field and force the rank-and-file soldiers to GTFO. My issue was with the [General]. At the same time I threw a {Champion Challenge} at him, I activated {Barbarian Rage}, gaining 16 points on several Attributes including Magic thanks to {Shamanic Frenzy}.
“Overcharge M.I.T.H. Homing Force Javelin!” I drew the spell circle. I didn’t go with {Prismatic Spray} because it would be too messy.
Like an anime missile barrage, the Javelins spread in an arc, splitting and curving to hit the [General] from all sides. He crouched jumped backward, drawing his longsword at the same time. Smart move. Since the arcing trajectories took more time to travel, he would force the javelins to come from a single direction. Too bad that was not my only move. I immediately used {Ritornelo} and {Reprise} to fire another two volleys and started to cast my next spell. For the low, low price of twenty-one million Energy, I summoned twenty levels 180 Kythaurpódi behind him. He sensed the gigantic tentacle monsters with enough time to spin and slash in a wide arc. The soft tentacles were severed by the dozen, growing into as many level 140 monsters.
Barbed tentacles came at the [General] from an arc around him while the swarm of javelins closed the pincer attack. He summoned a magnificent tower shield from somewhere and dug down into the earth.
“{Force Bulwark}! {Hold Ground}! {Mage-Killer}! {Aura Shield}!” He activated his Perks and Abilities.
The shield glistened and glimmered as if it was covered in shrinkwrap under the sun. The javelins impacted the barrier and splintered like glass. I could see each javelin draining part of his MP reserves. The Kythaurpódi lashed at his sides and back but the [General] shifted sideways without moving the shield and parried as many tentacles as he could, severing a few more. He didn’t seem to catch the secret to defeating these summons. More tentacled abominations sprouted around him, surrounding the man and threatening to engulf him.
I became invisible and intangible, making my way toward him in stealth. As I went, I triggered {Zerg Rush} once the number of attackers reached the critical point. Only a few seconds had passed since the start of the fight. I was nowhere to be seen by design. The last javelins hit his ensorcelled shield, draining three-quarters of his MP pool but without any other effect. The Kythaurpódi caused minimal damage against his armor and mitigating Perks.
“Rah! {Entrench Position}! {Enduring Bastion}!” He let go of the shield and the damn sheet of metal locked in place as it stretched to cover ninety degrees around him. The shrinkwrap shimmer remained. He summoned a heater shield to defend against the tentacles. He started to use the flat of his blade, dealing blunt damage.
* Contested Dexterity check won.
I drove my claw toward his neck. But he had another trump. “{Prescience}! {Rogue Smasher}!”
His sword blinked and came my way. Aborting my failed sneak attack, I dodged with aplomb.
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“Fight like a true warrior, coward,” he taunted me. I mean, {Taunted}.
* Contested Charisma check won.
He attacked again and I jumped backward, putting some distance between us. He couldn’t follow as most of his attention had to stay on the Kythaurpódi least he became overwhelmed. This fight was already taking fifteen seconds too long. If stealth wouldn’t do, it was time to brute-force the ending. I cast {M.I.T.H. Homing Force Javelin} one after the other, abusing {Ritornello} as much as I could.
Sensing the incoming barrage of Force spears, he dismissed his heater shield and took the one stuck on the ground, defending it with its enhancements. He moved away from the rather slow Kythaurpódi, greatly reducing the number of tentacles that could hurt him.
It didn’t matter. Each volley ate a quarter of his MP and on the second one from this new batch, the shrinkwrap glimmer vanished. The [General] was skewered by hundreds of magical javelins. I kept casting until I got the notification.
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For killing level 178 Warlord General, you gained 1,5 Trillion Exp (Base 2,900,757 x3,215 fast-learner, x3,38 challenge, x3,38 favored enemy, x4 Rank x4 Class Rarity).
0.1% of the Exp to my next level. Unless I found another farming spot like the demon gauntlet, I wouldn’t reach the level cap anytime soon. Three years without any level up was too much. Dismissing my annoyance at this world’s unfair leveling system, I captured the [General]’s soul before it could escape. It was a wilful one but not enough to resist my spiritual beguiling.
I dismissed the Kythaurpódi and stop the bleeding of 900k Energy per minute, after regeneration. I went back to where Mirina stood in her protective cocoon and quenched all the fires with a burst of pressurized arctic air.
“What were those abominations?” She asked me after I released her. The disgust in her face was heartwrenching.
“A monster I can summon. Sorry for the unsightly display. I should have pressed further with the javelins.”
“I’d be glad if you never showed it to me again.”
I nodded, “Next time, it will be dragons all the way. The lizards are four times more expensive, though.”
Equal parts suspicious and curious, she asked, “What are these monsters called anyway? I couldn’t {Appraise} them.”
“Barbed Tentacle Abomination,” I lied. I knew she would link the dots if I told the creature’s real name.
“Okay. Keep your secrets, Haru Stouthammer,” Mirina pouted. “Are you going to raze Leondirac now?”
I checked I had Isengar’s head in the item box. I did. “No. I’m going to rescue Euric and Helger, then purge the kingdom of all Royalty and nobility. We are probably annexing them.”
She sucked in a huge breath. “My father will be 'so happy' with it,” she sarcastically remarked.
“Lonid is welcome to submit to Windemere anytime you want if your family wants to retire. But I don’t mind keeping them where they are.”
“I don’t think they are keen on relinquishing the perks of Royalty.”
Oh. I had a minor epiphany, but an epiphany nonetheless. “Perks of Royalty. Right.”
“What?”
I focused on Pandora and searched until I found what I wanted. I was the Goddess of Windemere and the Auvani Empire. I selected all the Royals and checked the cost. A hundred thousand Divinity (Or GP as the System called it) for each member of the Royal family. I needed to visit Auvani and make sure they would work to repay the investment. Leaving them aside, I blessed Windemere’s Royalty.
> You granted Mirina Locksley a Royalty Perk.
>
> Human Royalty (very rare): +1 HP and +1 MP per level. You gain 1 per every 2 species levels and 1 extra at levels 10 and 20.
Mirina froze and her eyes lost focus as she read the notification. “Did you just grant me twenty-five more species Perks?”
I shrugged, “Yes. {Human Royalty} is too OP, it’s a cheat. The base HP and MP are also very good but all Royalty perks grant two resource points per level.”
She massaged her temples. In the distance, I could see Leondirac’s envoys and soldiers running up a hill trying to put as much distance between them and me as possible.
“Did all human Kingdoms have this Perk before you killed Bundeus?”
The loss of their divine sponsor was the main reason for the decline of human kingdoms all over the world. It was too overpowered. Never mind the Perk-giving Perk, the human shop where they could pull any Perk out of their arses was the real game-breaker. Losing Bundeus’ species sponsorship cut the chance of success by half. I told Mirina exactly that.
“That explains the report I heard. The human immigrants, especially the Adventurers that took residence in Windemere are gaining better Perks,” she shared.
It seems my regional blessing, more precisely a sponsorship was affecting the citizens regardless of species. It could be a problem if this became public knowledge and humans moved here in bulk just to gain this benefit. I also didn’t feel like excluding them. The gains of sponsorship outweighed the losses in the long term.
I should talk to Wyxnos. I opened a call to pester him about Lorna’s soul and dropped this tidbit of information. He agreed to lock the old {Human Royalty} and create a new version without the bonus Perk every ten levels. He also promised to tweak the odds of the human shop. Divine sponsorship should be around twenty percent cheaper but increase the odds by only half instead of doubling.
“Well, rejoice. The Gods are going to fix it. Nobody wants humans to dominate too much.”
However, power begets power. There are a lot of human-dominated kingdoms whose rulers remained on the top regardless of sponsorship.
“I’m summoning a dragon to take you home, Mirina. I need to strike before Leondirac knows their general is dead.”
“Good. Please be mindful of who you’re killing.”
I groaned, “I’m only killing the nobility and royalty. I told you. Here, let me promise you. I won’t kill anyone else, not even the palace guards and knights if that keeps your heart at ease. And I’m putting Isengar on the throne. I already negotiated with him,” I finished pointing at the invisible ghost floating next to me.
I summoned the low-level dragon and let Mirina ride it. Then I stretched my wings and turned on the {Fairy Invisibility}, flying to Leondirac with all haste.